IG 



CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



peculiar than beautiful, but it ia interesting historically as one of the 

 earliest known members of the family. Most of the early English writers on 

 plants notice it, and the author named above gives a particularly good 

 engraving, showing the cap and spines very clearly. He terms it Melo- 

 caiduus Echinatus, the Hedgehog Thistle, and says concerning it, " This 

 admirable Thistle groweth upon the cliffes and gravelly grounds neere unto 

 the sea side in the islands of the West Indies, called St. Margarets and St. 

 John's Isle, neere unto Puerto Rico, and other places in these countries, by 

 the relation of divers travellers that have journied into these parts who 

 have brought me the plant itself with his seed, the which would not grow in 

 my garden by reason of the coldnesse of the clymate." It was thus intro- 

 duced early in the seventeenth century, but some time elapsed before it was 

 generally known. Parkinson described it in hia " Theater of Plantes," 1640, as 

 " Melocarduus Americanus," and gives a figure very similar to Gerarde's. Ray 

 also fuUy describes it in his " Historia Plantarum," 1686, and states that it 

 was then cultivated by Bishop Compton at Eulham. In Bradley's " AVorks of 

 Nature," 1730, a small figure is given^ and he mentions having seen speci- 

 mens in the Royal Gardens, Hampton Court, and in the Physic Garden at 

 Amsterdam. MUler grew plants of the species and several varieties at 

 Chelsea, and it was included in the Eew collection of 1811. 



Turk's Cap, Englishman's Head, and Pope's Head are some of the popular 

 names that have been applied to this plant, all referring to the peculiar 

 crown on the summit of the stem, a character by which it is easUy recognised. 

 It is found in several of the West Indian Islands, particularly on the island 

 of St. Eitts, where it grows in large quantities in barren rocky districts. It 

 is also found on the mainland, and specimens exceeding a yard in diameter 

 are not uncommon, some being reputed to be two or three hundred years old. 

 In places where it abounds the mules and other cattle are said to eat the 

 plants after removing the spiny outer portion with their hoofs, as the fleshy 

 substance of the stem affords a welcome supply of moisture. As grown in 

 this country, the stems are from 12 to 18 inches high and about a foot in 

 diameter, with from twelve to twenty ridges 1 inch to IJ inch deep, conical 

 in shape, and bearing clusters of eight or nine spines quarter to 1 inch long, 

 the centre one being erect, and the clusters an inch apart. The flowers 

 are about 1 inch long, tubular, and rosy red, somewhat suggestive of some 

 of the small-flowered Fuchsias; these are followed by red oblong fruits 

 resembling those of the Mamillarias. 



The seeds are small, and in germinating produce two very minute coty- 

 ledons at the base of a globular fleshy stem. These have been overlooked by 

 bome botanists, and the plant regarded as a monocotyledon. In Decandolle's 

 "Vegetable Organography" a figure is given showing the true form of a 

 young seedling with the diminutive cotyledons at the base of the plumule or 



gemmule. 



Numerous varieties have been named and described, such as macrocephalus, 

 oblono'us, conious, acicularis, spinosior, magnisuloatus, and others, the names 



