Obdeb 54. — CACTACE^. 359 



Order LIV. CACTACE.^. Indian Figs. 



Stems succulent and shrubby, usually angular or 2-edgecl or jointed. Leaves 

 almost always wanting ; prickles numerous and formidable. Flowers solitary, usu- 

 ally showy and of short duration. Sepals and petals often indefinite and confounded 

 with each other, the sepals from the surface, and the petals from the summit of the 

 ovary. Stam. 00 ; filaments long and filiform ; anCh. ovate, versatile. Ovaries in- 

 ferior, 1-celled, fleshy, with parietal placenta. Style single, filiform, with several 

 stigmas in a star-lilje cluster. Fr. succulent. Seeds numerous, parietal or in the 

 pulp, exalbuminous. (lUust. in fig. 47, 6.) 



Genera 18, apecies about 800, aU peculiarly American, no one having ever been found in any 

 otlier quarter of tlie globe. Tiiey abound in tile deserts of New Mexico and southward. The 

 pricltly pear (Opuntia vulgaris) is the only species found native as far north as N. York. Their 

 aspect is peculiar, usually distinguishable at sight. 



Stigmas CO. Calyx tube not prolonged. Berry tubercular, umbicate Opustia 1 



Stigmas CO . Calyx tube prolonged above the ovary. Berry areolate, &c....CMnEus 2 



Stigmas 5 to 7. — Calyx tube prolonged. Berry smooth. Axis grooved Mblooactus 8 



— Calyx tube short. Berry smooth. Axis mammiferous Ma.m.mei,lbria 4 



1. OPUN'TIA, Tourn. Prickly Pear. (Opuniiana was a country- 

 near Phocis, where this was said to be naturalized.) Sepals and petals 

 numerous, adnate to the ovary, not produced into a tube above it ; 

 stamens oo, shorter than the petals ; style with numerous, thick, erect 

 stigmas ; berry umbillicate at apex, tuberculate, cotyledons somiterete. 

 — Shrubby plants, with articulated branches, the joints usually broad 

 and flattened, with fascicles of pricHes, regularly arranged upon the 

 surface. 



O. vulgaris Mill. Prostrate, creeping ; joints ovate ; prickles numerous in each 

 fascicle, often with several subulate spines ; Ivs. minute, subulate from a broad 

 base ; fls. yellow. — A curious, fleshy plant, native in rocky and sandy places, 

 Mass. to Fla. W. to Iowa. Tlie singular form resembles a series of thick, fleshy 

 leaves, 4 to 6' long, f as wide, growing from the tip or sides of each other, and 

 armed with orange-colored spines from the edge of the joints, large, bright-yellow, 

 and succeeded by a smooth, crimson, eatable fruit, f (Cactus opuntia L.) 



2. CE^REUS, DC. Sepals very numerous, imbricated, adnate to the 

 base of the ovary and united into a long tube above it, the outer shorter, 

 the inner petaloid ; stamens indefinite, coherent with . the tube, style 

 filiform, with many stigmas ; berry scaly with the remains of the sep- 

 als ; cotyledons none ? — Fleshy shrubs, with woody, prismatic axes, 

 armed with clusters of spines. Fls. from the clusters of spines. 



I stock and branches compressed, somewhat leaf-like Nos. 1 — 3 



§ Stock aud branches angular-cylindrical, creeping Nos. 4, 5 



1 C phylldnthxis DC. Spiebswoet. Branches ensiform, compressed, 

 serrate ; fls. with the terete, slender tube much longer than the limb of the pet- 

 als. — From S. Am. The articulations of the stem are 2f or more long, 2' wide, 

 weak, bordered with large, obtuse serratures, aud traversed lengthwise by a cen- 

 tral, cylindrical, woody axis. Fls. white, 9 to 12' long, expanding by night, 

 fragrant, f • 



2 C. phyllanthoides DO. Branches ensiform, compressed, obovate, with 

 spreading, rounded teeth ; fls. arising from the lateral crenatures of the oranches ; 

 tube shorter than the limb of the petals. — From Mexico. A splendid flower, 

 with leaf-like, fleshy joints, each 6 to 10' long, 1 to 2' wide. Fls. rose-colored, 

 4' in length, expanding by day. 



3 C. tnincatus L. Branching; jouits short-compressed, serrate, truncate 

 at the summit ; fls. arising from the summit of the joints ; sty. longer than the 

 stam. or reflexed pet. — From Brazil. A very distinct species, a foot or more 

 high. Joints 2 to 3' long, 1 to 1 J' wide, leaf-like. , Pis. 2 to 3' long, pink-coloreU. 

 t (Cactus L.) 



