360 OBDER 55. GROSSULACEJE. 



4 C. grandifldrus DC. Creeping, rooting; st. with about 5 angles; fls. 

 terminal aud lateral, very large, nocturnal ; petals spreading, shorter than the 

 linear-lanceolate sepals. From the W. Indies. Sts. cylindric or prismatic, 

 branching, the angles not very prominent. Fls. expanding by night, and endur- 

 ing but a few hours, 8 to 12' diam. Sepals brown without, yellow within. Pet- 

 als white. A magnificent flower, of difficult culture, f 



5 C. flagelliformis DC. SNAKE CACTUS. St. creeping, with about 10 

 angles, hispid; fla lateral, diurnal; tube slender, longer than the limb of the pet- 

 als. From S. Am. St. about the size of the little linger, cylindric, indistinctly 

 articulated, 2 to 5f long. Fls. of a lively pink color, smaller than those of the 

 last, and continuing in bloarn several days, f 



3. MELOCACTUS, Bauh. MELON THISTLE. TURK'S CAP. (Com- 

 pounded of melon and cactus, from its form.) Calyx tube adherent to 

 the ovary, lobes 5 to 6, petaloid ; petals as many as sepals, united with 

 them into a long, cylindric tube ; stamens and style filiform ; stigma 5- 

 rayed ; berry smooth, crowned with the withered calyx and corolla. 

 Sufiruticous, fleshy, leafless. Spadix simple, crowning the globular, 

 deeply-furrowed axis. Fls. terminal. 



M. commtinia Link. Axis ovate-subglobous, dark green, 12 to 18-angled ; 

 ribs straight; spines fasciculate, subequal. Native of the Caribbean Islands. 

 This remarkable plant appears like a large, green melon, with deep furrows and 

 prominent ribs, and is full of juice. It is surmounted with a spadix, which 

 ia cylindric, tuberculate, densely tomentous, bearing the red flowers at the 

 summit, f 



4. MAMMILA^RIA, Hawarth. (Lat. mamma, the breasts ; alluding 

 to the tubercles.) Flowers and fruit similar to the preceding genus. 

 Stock roundish or cylindrical, covered with conical or maminieform 

 tubercles, spirally arranged and tipped with a cluster of spines in wool. 

 Fls. sessile among the tubercles. 



M. macromeris Engelm. Bright green, with large, pear-shaped tubercles, 

 each surmounted by a cluster of straight, slender spines, and large (near 3' diam.) 

 carmine-roseate flowers, f From New Mexico. Other species are cultivated in 

 the green-house. 



ORDER LV. GROSSULACEJE. CURRANTS. 



Low shrubs, often prickly with alternate, palmately lobed leaves. CALYX 5-lobed, 

 adherent to the 1-celled ovary, bearing at top the corolla of 5 petals alternating with 

 the 5 short stamens. Anth. introrse. Fruit a 1-celled, inferior berry with 2 parietal 

 placentae. Styles 2. Seeds oo, embryo minute, in abundant horny albumen. (Figs. 

 67, 309.) 



Genera 1, species 95. The gooseberries and currants are natives of the N. temperate zone of 

 tli continents, hut unknown in the tropics or S. hemisphere, except S. America. 

 Properties. The berries contain a sweet, mucilaginous pulp, together with malic or citric 



both continents, hut unknown in the tropics or S. hemisphere, except S. America. 



Properties. The berries contain a sweet, mucilagin 

 acid. They are always wholesome, and usually esculent. 



1. RFBES, L. CURRANTS. (Named from the Arabic.) Character 

 the same as that of the Order. 



CURRANTS. Stems unarmed. Lvs. convolute in bud. Fls. yellow No. 1 



CURRANTS. Stems unarmed. Lvs. plicate in bud. Fruit hairy Nos. 2 4 



Fruit smooth Nos. 57 



GOOSEBERRIES. Stems spinescent. Lvs. plicate. Fruit hispid Nos. 8, 9 



Fruit smooth. Fed. very short.Nos. 10, It 

 Fed. long Nos. 1214 



1 R. auretmi Ph. MISSOURI, or GOLDEN CURRANT. Plant smooth; Ivs. 

 3-lobed, lobes divaricate, entire or with a few large teeth ; petioles longer than 

 the leaves ; bracts linear, as long as the pedicels ; rac. lax, with many bright yel- 

 low fls.; cal. tubular, longer than the pedicels, segm. oblong, obtuse; petals 



