266 Cactacece. \RMpsalis. 



fern, with erect branches and sessile fl. ; male fl. : — cal.-segm. t 



linear-oblong, glabrous, stam. spreading, fil. much longer than 

 cal.; fem. fl.: — ov. faintly 8-ribbed, slightly pubescent, styles 

 much exserted, stigmas club-shaped ; fruit a little over \ in., 

 urceolate, truncate, 8-ribbed, slightly rough. 



Forests in low country to 3000 ft.; rare. Ambagamuwa and 

 Maskeliya (Thwaites) ; Maha-oya, Batticaloa Dist. (A.Walker); Kegalla; 

 Lagalla Dist.; Allagalla. Fl. March; September; yellowish-green. 



Also in W. India, Sikkim, Burma, Andamans, Java. 



Attains 14 ft. in circumference of trunk, and is completely deciduous 

 and quite bare when in flower. Wood very soft and light, pale yellow. 



LXI.— CACTACEiE. 



SUCCULENT, leafless perennial, fl. bisexual, regular ; cal.-tube 

 adnate to ov., segm. 4 or 5 ; pet. 5 or 6 ; stam. about 20, free, 

 inserted at mouth of cal.; ov. quite inferior, 1 -celled (incom- 

 pletely 3- or 4-celled), with numerous ovules on parietal 

 placentas, style simple, stigma 3- or 4-lobed ; fruit a succulent 

 berry ; seeds few, oblong, without endosperm. 



A large Order confined to the New World with the exception of a few- 

 species of Rhipsalis. R. Cassytha alone reaches Asia. 



RHXPSALIS, Gaertn. 



For characters, see Order. — Species about 40 ; 1 in Fl. 

 B. Lid. 



R. Cassytha,* Gaertn. Fruct. i. 137 (1788). Wal-nawahandi, S. 



Cactus penditlus, Willd., Moon Cat. 38. Thw. Enum. 129. C. P. 2976. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 658. Bot. Mag. t. 3080. 



Perennial, slightly woody at very base, stems fleshy, 

 slender, 4-6 ft. long, pendulous, cylindrical, much dichoto- 

 mously (or 3- or more) branched, very flexible, glabrous, dull 

 green, 1. quite absent but represented on the young shoots by 

 very minute, distant, apiculate scales ; fl. small, sessile, soli- 

 tary ; cal. -segm. unequal, broad, acute ; pet. oblong, obtuse, 

 spreading ; ov. glabrous, style longer than stam. ; berry small, 

 \ in., ovoid, white, smooth, translucent, at first crowned with 

 persistent cal. and pet.; seeds 8-16, in watery pulp, very 

 small, oblong-ovoid, faintly striate. 



* From its resemblance to that genus of Lauracece, to which, indeed, 

 Aiton and Miller had referred it. 



