OPUNTIA. 



115 



O. occidentalis. 



Stem stout, branches wide-spreading, often bent to the ground. 

 Joints 9 to 12 inches long by about 6 inches broad, flattened. 

 Cushions nearly 2 inches apart, with small, closely- set bristles and 

 straight spines, from | to H inches long. Flowers produced in 

 June on the ripened joints, nearly 4 inches in diameter, orange- 

 yellow. Fruit 2 inches long, " very juicy, but of a sour and dis- 

 agreeable taste." A striking plant when allowed sufficient space 

 to develop. It should be planted in a bed of rough, stony soil, in 

 a dry greenhouse. Probably hardy. California. 



O. papyracantlia. 



8 tern egg-shaped, 3 inches long, branched, the surface broken 

 into hump-like tubercles, grey-green, each crowned with a tuft of 

 short brown bristles, and two or three flat thin cartilaginous paper- 

 white appendages, which are neither leaves nor spines nor sheaths, 

 but probably modifications of the latter ; they are from 1 to 3 incho i 



Fig. 60. Opuntia papyracantha. 



long, J inch wide at the base, tapering to a fine point, the margins 

 more or less ragged. (Syn. 0. plumosa nivea.) This is one of about 

 half a dozen species characterised by flattened spines, and which 

 form the group called Platyacantha. They are all natives of the 

 Argentine Republic. (Fig. 60.) 



O. Rafinesquii. 



A low, prostrate, spreading plant, seldom exceeding 1 foot in 

 height, the main branches pressed along the ground, the younger 



i 2 



