198 CACTUS FAMILY. 



4. EPIPHYIjLUM. (Name from Greek, meaning upon a leaf, i.e., 

 the flower from the top of what seera.s to be a leaf.) Flowers usually 

 in summer. 



E. fruncatum, Haw. Cult, from Brazil ; low, bright green, with droop- 

 ing branches ; the oblong joints scarcely 2' long, the upper end with a 

 shallow notch ; flower 2'-3' long, oblique, with petals and short sepals 

 .spreading or recurved, the former so arranged that the blossom often 

 appears as if 2-lipped. 



5. PHYLLOCACTUS. {Greek: Leaf-Cactus.) Cult, from S. Amer- 

 ica and Mexico ; flowers summer. 



» Flower with tube shorter than the petals, red, scentless, open through 

 more than one day ; petals and stamens many, except in the first species. 



P. bifdrmis, Lab. The least showy species ; with slender stems, and 

 two sorts of branches, one ovate or oblong, the other lanceolate ; the 

 latter producing a slender pink flower, 2' long, with about 4 slender 

 sepals, as many narrow lanceolate erect petals, with spreading tips, and 

 only 8-16 stamens. 



P. phyllantho)des. Link. Has narrow-oblong, sinuate-toothed, leaf-like 

 branches ; numerous, rose-colored, oblong and similar sepals and petals, 

 the outermost widely spreading, the innermost erect. 



P. Ackermdnni, Link. Like the preceding, but much more showy, 

 with bright red and sharp-pointed petals spreading and 2'-3' long, and 

 the scattered sepals small and bract-like. 



* « Flower sweet-scented, with tube 4'-10' long, bearing scattered and 

 small scaly sepals or bracts, which are considerably longer than the 

 numerous spreading white or cream-colored petals. 



P. crenatus, Walpei's. Leaf-like branches l°-2° long, 2'-3' broad, sin- 

 uately notched ; flower open in the daytime and for several days, 7'-8' in 

 diameter, with the stout tube 4 '-5' long, the outer petals or inner sepals 

 brownish. 



P. Phyl/dnthus, Link. Branches nearly as in the preceding ; but the 

 flower opening at evening and lasting only till morning, its slender lube 

 many times longer than the small petals. 



6. OPtJNTIA, PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS, INDIAN FIG. (An 



ancient name transferred to these American plants.) Flowers summer. 

 Fruit often edible. 



§ 1. Stamens not longer than the roundish, in ours yellow, widely opening 



petals. 



* Low, prostrate, or spreading ; native species, also cultivated. 



O. vulg^ia, Mill. Common Prickly Pear. On rocks and sand, 

 from coast of N. Eng., S., with pale and rounded obovate flat joints, 3'-6' 

 long, bearing minute appressed leaves, having bristles, but hardly any 

 spines in their axils, and a nearly smooth edible berry. 



O. Rafin^squii, P^ngelm. Common W. and S. W. ; deeper green, 

 with joints 4'-8' long, the little leaves spreading, several small spines and 

 a single stroimer one in the clusters, and flower often with a reddish center. 



O. Missouri^nsis, DC. From Wis. W. on the plains ; with obovate 

 joints 2'-4' long and tubercled, tufts of straw-colored bristles and 5-10 

 long and slf-ndcr spines ; the berry dry and prickly. 



O. Pes-C6rvi, LeConte. On the coast S., with small and narrow, 

 almost cylindrical, easily separable joints, their spines in pairs ; the berry 

 small and bristly. 



