NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS 455 



the nearly full-grown green fruits and the leaves contain the pro- 

 teolytic ferment, Papain, which occurs to the extent of 5.3 per cent. 

 In addition to the proteolytic ferment, the latex of the papaw con- 

 tains 4 other ferments: a coagulating, rennet-like ferment, which 

 acts upon the casein of milk; an amylolytic ferment, having the 

 power to digest starch; a clotting ferment similar to pectase; and a 

 ferment possessing feeble powers of action upon fats. 

 Literature. Kilmer, Amer. Jour. Pharai., 1901, p. 272. 



CACTACE^E, OR CACTUS FAMILY 



A remarkable family of about 100 species of succulent plants, 

 growing largely in the arid regions of Mexico, Brazil and other 

 parts of America. They usually possess thick, fleshy stems, the 

 structure of which is adapted to a desert climate, the foliage leaves 

 being modified to thorns. Mucilage cells and lysigenous canals are 

 common to all of the plants of this family. In addition there are 

 crystal cells and laticiferous canals. Calcium oxalate is excreted in 

 enormous quantities, sometimes being present to the extent of 85 

 per cent of the ash of the plant. It occurs in the form of large rosette 

 aggregates, raphides, octahedra, and tetragonal and monoclinic 

 prisms. Sometimes they occur as spha3ro-crystals and may resemble 

 half-compound starch grains in the arrangement of their needle- 

 like crystals. Occasionally the crystals are contained in idioblasts. 

 In alcoholic material spharo-aggregates may crystallize out in some 

 of the cells. In Epiphyllum curiously shaped protein bodies are 

 distributed. The guard cells of the stomata are accompanied on 

 both sides by one or more subsidiary cells parallel to the pore. The 

 thorns are variously interpreted, as being either foliar organs, emer- 

 gencies, i.e., multicellular hairs derived from both the epidermal and 

 hypodermal layers, or transitions between leaf-prickles and trichome- 

 prickles. The tracheae possess either simple pores or spiral thicken- 

 ings; the wood fibers usually have simple pores; and the medullary 

 ray cells may become lignified. In addition, tracheid-like parenchy- 

 matous cells are found in the wood of Opuntia and other genera. 



CACTUS GRANDIFLORUS, HERBA CACTI GRANDIFLORI, NIGHT- 

 BLOOMING CEREUS. Cactus. The stems and flowers of Cereus 

 (Cactus) grandiflorus (Fam. Cactacese), a perennial, herbaceous or 

 shrub-like plant, having thick succulent stems and producing large, 

 fragrant flowers, which expand at night, lasting but a few hours. 

 The plant is indigenous to Mexico, Central America and the West 



