84 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



stem, which often rises to a considerable height. These steins are out, and 

 after the fleshy substance has been removed there remains a hard woody 

 n«twork of thick fibres, which is converted into walking sticks. Specimens 

 of this kind from Colorado, presented by E. G. Loder, Esq., are included in the 

 collection at the Kew Museum. The same gentleman has also sent me some 

 beautiful photographs of the scenery where this plant abounds, one 

 view of the Grand Canon of the Arkansas being especially remarkable. 



Amongst other notable species the following especially deserve 

 brief mention : — 0. aurantiaca (Cactus aurantiaous), a Chilian species, 

 with bright orange flowers and Irregularly terete stems. Introduced 

 in 1824. O. brasiliensis, with irregularly flattened and branching stems, 

 bearing scattered solitary dark spines 1 to 2 inches long, and pale yellow 

 flowers 3 inches in diameter. The odour of the ripe fruit has been 

 thought to resemble the leafstalks of garden Rhubarb. 0. oandelabri- 

 formis, a remarkable plant, with flat almost circular branches about 

 inches long by the same in width, and closely covered with white 

 spines. 0. curassavica (Cactus curassavicus), the PLnpillow or Minion 

 Prickly Pear, deserves notice for its historical interest. It was one of 

 the few CacteEE figured in Bradley's work on Succulent Plants, where it 

 is named Opuntia minima Americana spinosissima flore sulphureo, and is 

 said to have flowered and fruited in the Duchess of Beaufort's garden at 

 Badminton, and on the authority of the " Hortus Kewensis " we learn that it 

 was introduced from Cura^oa in 1690. The flowers are greenish-yellow, not 

 very handsome. O. cylindrica, a very distinct species, with cylindrical stems 

 and spindle-shaped tubercles, each bearing a tuft of spines at its summit. The 

 flowers are red, 2 inches in diameter, and the plant was introduced to 

 England in 17D9. 



O. Darwinii. — This species is interesting, as having been discovered by 

 Mr. Charles Darwin in Patagonia, and it is mentioned by him in hig 

 " Naturalist's Toyage Round the World " as follows (p. 1C5) : — " I found 

 here a species of Cactus which was remarkable by the irritability of the 

 stamens when I inserted either a piece of stick or the end of my finger in the 

 flower. The segments of the perianth also closed on the pistil, but more 

 slowly than the stamens. Plants of this family, generally considered at 

 tropical, occur in North America in the same high latitude as here — namely, 

 in both cases in 47°." In the volcanic islands of the Galapagos Archipelago 

 the same writer found an Opuntia, which was afterwards named O. gala- 

 pageji, a tree-like species 6 to 10 feet high, and this is probably the plans 

 mentioned in his account of these islands as " a great odd-looking Cactus, 

 which, with some of the Euphorbiacese and an Acacia, are the only trees 

 which afford any shade. After the season of heavy rains the islands are 

 said to appear for a short time partially green. The volcanic island of 

 Fernando Noronha, placed in many respects under nearly similar conditions 

 is the only other country where I have seen a vegetation at all like this of 

 the Galapagos Islands." 0. deoumana is an extraordinary plant, representtd 



