158 Extension mid Use of (he Cacti. 



genous to the peninsula of India; and he adds that, in consequence of the 

 introduction of the wild cochineal on the Coromandel coast, it is almost 

 eaten up by that insect. In the north of India, where it is also found in 

 abundance, ami where it is known by the Sanscrit name of Nagphuni, respect- 

 ing which Wilson doubts as to its being a native ; but, at all events, if intro- 

 duced at all, it came much sooner to India than those Opuntia? brought to 

 Madras by Dr. Anderson, which soon spread all over the country ; it has 

 only been used as hedges as yet ; and, on that account, the introduction of 

 Opuntia vulgaris is desirable, on account of its well tasted fruit. 



We have but little certain information respecting the extension of the Cacti 

 in Africa. Desfontaines states that the yellow-flowering Opuntia is very 

 much valued by the natives, on account of its fruit. It is very abundant in 

 Greece, although not mentioned by Sibthorpe, and the stems are sometimes 

 of a remarkable strength and height. Desfonraines himself possesses stems of 

 Opuntiae from Napoli di Romania, which have about 2 in. of solid wood, con- 

 sisting of innumerable annual separate rings : the whole stem is 10 in. thick. 

 As to the extension of these plants over Italy and the Tyrol, and north from 

 Botzen, we may only mention that several species appear in the south ; and 

 in the north only O. italica Tenore, or O. vulgaris Miller, which is found in 

 many places in great numbers, particularly on rocky and barren grassy declivi- 

 ties, where no one would imagine the plant could grow. 



The most interesting point in the native growth of the Cacti in Europe is 

 in Spain ; because it gives rise to the question, are many of the species brought 

 to America from there, or, vice versa, were they brought from the new world 

 to Spain ? It is, however, very remarkable, that in all the Spanish American 

 colonies, where the Opuntia Tuna de Castilla is so much cultivated on account 

 of its edible fruit, the opinion every where is, that it was introduced by 

 the Spaniards. The name of Tuna, also, is by no means American, as it is 

 generally said to be, but originally Spanish. Tuna, or higo de tuna, higo 

 chumbo, means opuntia fig ; tuno, or higueral de chumbos, the opuntia forest. 

 The word tuno, also, has the meaning of vagabond : and tuna, playing the 

 vagabond ; andar de tuna, gipsies or vagabonds ; and, therefore, the name may 

 have been given metaphorically, from the miserable prickly Opuntias growing 

 on barren places, or in reference to the plant supplying vagabonds with food. 

 According to Baron von Karwinski, forests of Opuntiae are found in various 

 parts of Spain, particularly in the neighbourhood of Malaga and Almeria, the 

 historical existence of which can be traced to the time of the discovery of 

 America, and, therefore, to a much earlier period of cultivation ; probably 

 that of the Moors, as we read in a passage of Irving's History of the Conquest 

 of Granada, " that the Vega about the Moorish Veste Calobrena is adorned 

 with gardens, and surrounded with hedges of reeds, of aloes, and Indian 

 figs." It would be worth ascertaining if Irving really got this information 

 from an old book of chronicles. We are, however, far from believing that 

 the indigenous growth of the Cacti in the old world is here alluded to; 

 because, as many, with reason, believe that there was a connexion between 

 the East and the new world long before the discovery of the latter by 

 Columbus, it may therefore be supposed that the Cacti and many other useful 

 plants were brought over to the old world, and by the Moors to Spain, 

 whence they were afterwards reconvej'ed to their original native home. 



We have, unfortunately, but little authentic information as to the height 

 above the level of the sea at which the Cacti cease to grow in the old world. 

 Dr. Philippi states that the Opuntiae grow on Mount Etna, in warm valleys, 

 where they form complete forests ; and near Nicolosi they may be seen at the 

 height of 2,200 ft., where the Agrumi (Citrus tribe) are killed to the ground 

 by the frost. About Botzen, 0. italica is found at a height of J, 000 ft. above 

 the level of the sea. Von Buch states that the highest limit of the growth 

 of the Opuntia in the Canary Islands is 2,000 ft. Webb and Bertholet, on 

 the contrary, found small mulberry and almond trees growing with the tree 

 euphorbia 2,775 ft. above the level of the sea, in the valley of San Jago, 



