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CACTI. 



The symmetry, beauty and diversity 

 of forms which occur in this large 

 family of American plants, nave ren- 

 dered the cacti favorite subjects of 

 study to prince and pauper alike. 

 With the exception of a few species of 

 Rhipsalis, which extend to Africa, 

 Mauritius and Ceylon, this family is 

 exclusively American, though some 

 species of Nopalea and Opuntia are 

 now so thoroughly naturalized in cer- 

 tain parts of the Old World and in 

 Africa, especially in the Mediterranean 

 region, as to have all the appearance 

 of being indigenous. Indeed some 

 botanists incline to the opinion that 

 some of the species may be really in- 

 digenous there, just as other families 

 and genera are represeted in the two 

 continents by closely allied, though 

 undoubtedly endemic, species. 



Eentham and Hooker, recognized 13 

 genera; Karl Schumann, in his mono- 

 graph, 21. Botanists usually accept 

 about 1,000 species as valid, but this 

 number may be greatly increased as 

 they become more fully known. Schu- 

 mann is credited with having ex- 

 pressed a belief in the existence of 

 some 6,000 forms (doubtless including 

 hybrids and minor varieties). Every 

 species may be expected to produce a 

 cristate or abnormal variety, and these 

 have always received names whenever 

 they reached European collections. 

 Every species with magenta, purple or 

 crimson flowers may be expected to 

 produce an albino and some of these 

 have received names. Varieties major 

 and minor, longispina and brevispina, 

 albispina and nigrispina, have also 

 added to the long lists of names before 

 us. Many hybrid-cultures have re- 

 ceived specific names, and I doubt not 

 many natural hybrids, especially 

 Opuntias, have received undue consid- 

 eration. 



The greater number of the names, 

 with which the nomenclature is bur- 

 dened, were applied to forms culti- 

 vated in European gardens and de- 

 scribed by gardeners in horticultural 

 periodicals; and a large number of 

 them could not possibly be recognized 

 as of value in a scientific revision of 



the family. Many of the so-called spe- 

 cies were founded upon single plants 

 received in a dead state; and the de- 

 scriptions are very incomplete, flow- 

 ers and fruit often unknown to their 

 authors, and frequently the native 

 country was not named. Naturally the 

 same species has often received from 

 two to twenty or more names, and 

 nomina nuda (names published with- 

 out descriptions) are abundant. 



Again, the number of names has 

 been incredibly increased by the trans- 

 fer of all the species published under 

 one genus to another generic name, as 

 when Otto Kuntze attempted to rerlre 

 the Linnaean genus Cactus for Mam- 

 millaria, and when Schuman trans- 

 ferred Anhalonium to Ariocarpus, 

 while similar action on a smaller scale 

 has been taken by many authors. 



Cacti find their greatest concentra- 

 tion in Mexico, rapidly decreasing in 

 numbers northward, the extreme 

 limit reached being about 50 degrees 

 north latitude. In the West Indies the 

 number of species is comparatively 

 small; but they abound in some parts 

 of tropical and subtropical Somth 

 America, and a few ocur in the tem- 

 perate regions of Chili. 



CULTIVATION OF CACTI. 



Botanists generally recognize more 

 than a thousand species of cacti, while 

 of varieties, and natural and artificial 

 hybrids, there is an unknown number. 



These plants occur in nature under 

 very diverse conditions; some in the 

 moist temperate and torrid 

 regions of North and South 

 America; some in the dense, warm, 

 humid forests of the tropics often 

 growing on the trees; others occur on 

 the fertile temperate plains of Mex- 

 ico; a great proportion, in point of 

 individual plants, are found in the arid 

 regions of the American continent, 

 where they are compelled to maintain 

 an existence sometimes for two or 

 three years without a drop of rain; 

 yet a few must be sought at high 

 elevations, where rigorous winters 

 must be endured. 



The cacti of the Rocky Mountain 

 region are widely advertised as hardy, 



