86 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



ORDER XLI. CACTA'CE^E. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



Very fleshy and commonly leafless plants; the stems 

 globose or columnar and angled, or of flattened joints, mostly 

 prickly. Flowers solitary, sessile. The numerous sepals 

 and petals adherent to the 1-celled ovary. Style 1, stigmas 

 many. Fruit a 1-celled berry with many seeds on the walls. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. jflamilla'ria. Stems globose or oval, covered with spine-bearing 



tubercles, the flowers between these. 



2. Opnu'f ia. Stems of flattened joints, bearing- very small awl-shaped 



leaves with clusters of bristles in their axils. 



1. MAMILLA'RIA, Haw. 



M. Vivip'ara, Haw. Stems 1-5 inches high, the tubercles 

 bearing bundles of 5-8 reddish-brown spines, surrounded by 

 numerous grayish ones. Flowers purple. N. W. plains. 



2. OPUN'TIA, Tourn. PRICKLY PEAR. 



0. Rafines'quii, Engel. Stem prostrate, deep green. 

 Bristles reddish- brown. Spines few. Flowers yellow, some- 

 times with reddish centre. Point Pelee. 



ORDER XLII. FICOI'DE^. (!CE-PLANT FAMILY.) 



A miscellaneous group, embracing plants formerly in- 

 cluded in Caryophyllacese and Portulacacese ; differing, 

 however, from true representatives of these in having parti- 

 tions in the ovary. Petals wanting in our genus. 



MOLLI '<;o, L. CARPET-WEED. 



M. vertieilla'ta, L. A prostrate much-branched herb, 

 growing in patches. Leaves spathulate, apparently verti- 

 cillate. Flowers on long axillary pedicels, clustered into a 

 sort of umbel. Sepals 5, white inside. Petals none. 

 Stamens mostly 3. Styles 3. Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, loculi- 

 cidal. the partitions breaking away from the many-seeded 

 axis. Mostly in south-western Ontario. 



