OFUNTIA. 105 



3 inches across. Chili, whence it was introduced in 1824. Should 

 be grown in a warm greenhouse all winter, and placed in a sunny 

 position outside during summer. 



O. basilaris. 



Stem short, branching into a number of stout, obovate joints, 

 usually springing from a common base, and curving inwards, suggest- 

 ing an open cabbage. They are 5 inches to 8 inches long, about 

 | inch thick, covered all over with little cushions of very short, 

 reddish spines, set in slight depressions or wrinkles. Flowers rose 

 purple, 3 inches in diameter, produced in May. Mexico. Easily 



Tig. 53. Opuntia basilaris. 



kept in health in an ordinary .stove temperature. It varies in the 

 form of its joints and in its manner of branching, but it seems 

 never to develop the joints one on the top of the other, as do most 

 Opuntias. It is one of the best garden Opuntias. (Fig. 53.) 



O. Bigelovii. 



Stem cylindrical, stout, woody, bearing a dense head of branches. 

 Joints 2 to 6 inches long, 1 to 2 inches in diameter, light green, 

 covered with small tubercles and little spine-cushions, spines 1 inch 

 long. When wild, the young joints are often shaken off by the 

 wind, and cover the soil around, where they take root or stick to 

 the clothes of the passers-by, like burrs. Flowers not known. 

 Mexico, where it forms a tree 12 feet high. The skeleton of the 



