﻿PLATE DXIII. 



CACTUS HEXAGONUS. 



Great Torch Thistle. 



CLASS XII. ORDER I. 

 ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. About 20 Chives. One Pointal. 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 

 5 monophyllus, superus, imbricatus. Co- || Empalement one-leafed, above, tiled. 

 ■ many folds. Berry of one 



R. 



with an upright stern, tall and large, 



and eight-sided, angles distant, bearing 



y prickles. Empalement tubular, and 



green. Blossom rayed, and white: the 



outer petals slightly tinged with purple. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. A flower divested of the petals, and cut open to the base of the tube. 



2. The seed-bud cut transversely. 



3. One of the side shoots. 



wo genus of plants more remarkable has yet been discovered than that to which our present subject 

 Detongs, whether we consider their simple succulent structure, strange diversity of form and habit, or 

 the geometrical manner of their growth and disp j. Some of them, like the 



Opuntia and t icus Indica, grow like figs or cucumbers stuck one upon another ; others, like C. enras- 

 savicus, resemble a i little cushion stuck full of pins with the points outwards ; the C. Melocactus and 



S T? U l' (which Jacquin in his Histor y of the Wnts" oTAmericrtnformTus ^planted Tn the Island 

 ot M Lustatius round their towns as fortifications,) the coccinilifer and some others, have com- 

 ^nu Th V nC - Ph y»^ h - they are two-edged Twe L^S\rlngS, tetrads, penta- 

 ?0 4 d * hGXa fT S n ° W figlired) but which varies occasionally from 6 lo 8: we also have 7 - 8- 9" 

 an Vt"*" , :_ S^f 8 ' and , ev 5 n tbeir spines are regularly disposed in quincunxr- 



■jy^^y?^ * Voyage ifi^ ^*£5SX**+ of t 



" imery.inhisVoyageaGiiaxaca. infor. 

 posed ot 8 or 10 different species, from 



t (so essential in the fol 

 :inilifer and 



w^™^£22tt&ZE& 



. R Leatlu-s, who inform, me that it was J 7 feet high ; that tL- - 

 i ; l : v , an ' <f '","» •■' its as-ent, which subverted its otherwise naturally erect 



-..■■. ^ ;/:..■ " . - ■■■■ ■-- -• ■-...-. >k -r -: 



■ 



i had been produced) they did not open till ? oX 



- 



