PLANTS CARRY LIFE INSURANCE 137 
they are well prepared to exist where weaker plants 
would soon perish. Some cacti are small and creep 
along the ground; others are giants that grow to a 
height of ninety feet in their native soils. The 
largest of the entire family is known as Cereus 
giganteus, a native of Mexico. Small specimens 
of it may be seen in hot-houses, but it can be seen 
to advantage only on the deserts of Mexico or 
Arizona. 
The sea-urchin cacti are noted for their fantas- 
tical shapes, and exquisitely coloured flowers. Sec- 
ond only to the orchids for beauty and form are 
they to be numbered. If it were not for their 
spiny daggers, their flowers would stand little 
chance of being undisturbed. 
The old-man cactus is a species which makes 
a striking appearance in a flower garden. It is 
covered with long, silken, white hair, resembling the 
white locks of an old man. It is easily grown 
from the smallest cutting, or from seeds. 
Perhaps the best known of all these desert plants 
is the Cereus grandiflorus, commonly known as the 
night-blooming cereus, or “Queen of the night.” 
It yields very readily to cultivation; and owing to 
its exquisite white flowers and its delightful per- 
fume it is always a welcome guest where grown. 
It blossoms only at night, and each blossom lasts 
