10 



Bankipur.— Both 0. dillenii and 0. wigricans 

 were found to be common in and around Banki- 

 pur. but no disease was discernible. Mr. Burkill 

 (1911, p. 315) has stated that 0. elatior, 0. 

 nigricans, and 0. dillenii occur here, the two last 

 being uncommon. He distinguished the first 

 from the second by the colour of the flowers, 

 which he stated to be orange in 0. nigricans and 

 lemon-yellow, changing to rose-pink, in 0. 

 elatior. In this district, as well as elsewhere in 

 India, all of these colours may be met with on 

 the same plant, the more common colour being 

 orange. There is thus little doubt that these 

 two names as used by Mr. Burkill apply to the 

 same cactus, which is designated in this report 

 as 0. nigricans, since the plant agrees fairly 

 fully with the description given by Karl 

 Schumann in his " Gesamtbeschreibung der 

 Kakteen," 0. elatior being quoted by this author 

 as an insufficiently characterised species. As 

 already mentioned, 0. nigricans occurs near 

 Windsor, New South Wales, and in at least one 

 locality in Queensland. Mr. J. H. Maiden has 

 figured and described it in the " Agricultural 

 Gazette," New South Wales (1912, a, p. 208; 

 1913, b, p. 865). The species recorded by Mr. 

 Maiden (1913, d, p. 1073) under the name 

 0. dillenii, as being the common pest pear of the 

 Gayndah district in Queensland, is distinct from, 

 though allied to, the true 0. dillenii, which 

 occurs so widespread in India.* 



Dehra Dun. — From Bankipur a visit was 

 paid to the Forestry School and Eesearch 

 Institute at Dehra Dun, at the suggestion of Mr. 

 F. B. Bryant, the Inspector-General of Forestry 

 (Delhi), but no information of any value for the 

 purposes of the inquiry was available. The 

 small collection of Cactaceffi ia the Herbarium 

 was examined by permission of Mr. Hole, the 

 Forest Botanist. Most of the staff were away, 

 being engaged in field work in various parts of 

 India. The Director, Mr. L. Mercer, stated that 

 Prickly-pears were not forest pests, and were 

 rare in Northern India. The Forestry Depart- 

 ment used them occasionally for marking the 

 boundaries of forests, but preferred agaves. 

 The very moist climate of Dehra Dun is unfavour- 

 able to most Opuntias. 0. tnonacantha was 

 recognised amongst the local specimens, but it is, 

 however, a rare plant in the district. On the 

 south side of the Siwalik Hills, towards Saharan- 

 pur, 0. dillenii occurs. 



J. F. Duthie, in his " Flora of the Upper 

 Gangetic Plain and the adjacent Siwalik and Sub- 

 Himalayan Tracts" (Calcutta, 1903, p. 384), 

 refers only to 0. dillenii. 



Luclmow.—En route to Dehua Dun, the 

 Lucknow Horticultural Gardens were visited 

 Although Prickly-pear (0. dillenii) was quite 

 common at Moghal Sarai and Benares, none was 

 seen between the latter city and Lucknow. 

 Cacti are not very common in the district, though 

 both 0. dillenii and 0. nigricans are used for 

 making hedges. The fruits of the latter are 

 eaten, and the .iuice is used by the villagers as 

 a medicine. Mr. H. J. Da'vies, the Super- 

 intendent of Public Gardens, stated that Prickly- 



* In some of his papers (1898, 1913) Mr. Maiden has 

 referred incidentaUy to some of the priokly-pears of 

 India. 



pear and agaves were originally employed to 

 mark the railway boundaries between Luckno\v 

 and Allahabad, fences being built later. 



Mr. Gill, Superintendent of the Naini Tal 

 Gardens, who happened to be in Lucknow at the 

 time of the Commission's visit, mentioned that 

 Opuntias were extremely rare in his district. 



Neither of these ofBcers knew of the presence 

 of any pest controlling the spread of cactus. 



Mr. Burkill (1911, p. 314) mentions that 0. 

 decumana was grown successfully at Lucknow. 

 In the Gardens we saw a few plants still grow- 

 ing, but the species does not seem to be utilised 

 in any way in the locality. 



Punjab. — A journey was made from Dehra 

 Dun to Lahore; from the latter place to the 

 Kangra Valley; and thence back to Delhi. 

 Opuntias were fairly frequently met with in the 

 regions travelled through, between Saharanpur 

 and Lahore. As already mentioned, the species 

 occurring at the former place was 0. dillenii. 

 This became replaced by another species which, 

 at first sight, might be taken for 0. monacantha. 

 It has evidently been overlooked by Mr. BurkiU. 

 0. monacantha is comparatively rare in many 

 parts of the Punjab, having been almost exter- 

 minated by the ravages of the Wild Cochineal 

 Insect, as is referred to later. A short descrip- 

 tion of this Punjab species has been given by Mr. 

 R. N. Parker, in a paper entitled ' ' Notes on Cacti 

 in North-West India" (1912, p. 1095). His 

 account runs thus: — " About 4 feet in height, 

 as a rule spineless, occasionally 1 ( — 3) spines 

 in some of the tufts of bristles. Leaves one- 

 eighth of an inch long, conical, green or reddish. 

 Joints duU, greyish green, thick, very uniform 

 in size, usually about 6 by 2l^ inches. Flowers 

 yellow." The species reminds one very strik- 

 ingly of the Queensland pest pear of the Eock- 

 hampton district. The rather small thick, 

 rounded and elongated joints are generally 

 spineless, but some joints, on an otherwise 

 unarmed plant, bear numerous spines, usually 

 one, but sometimes two or even three on each 

 cushion. The purple pyriform fruits are much 

 alike in each case. Though Mr. Parker 

 identifies th'is Punjab species as 0. ficus-indica, it 

 is certainly not a member of the group of 

 Opuntias usually associated under that name or 

 0. decumana. It appears to be 0. stricta or a 

 related species. Mr. Parker mentions that it 

 is the commonest species in the Plains of the 

 Punjab between the Jhelum and the Sutlej, but 

 elsewhere appears to be less common than the 

 other species (i.e., 0. monacantha), which is 

 widely distributed, but not common, in the 

 Plains. 



The Punjab Opuntia was seen growingeither 

 on waste land or else as hedges along roads and 

 fields and surrounding villages, being common at 

 Ludhiana, Phillour, Chiheru, Jullundur, Dhil- 

 wan, Butari, Hamira, Beas, Kartarpur, Jandiala, 

 Amritsar, and Khasa, 



0. monacantha was seen sparingly at Phil- 

 lour, Amritsar, and Jandiala; and (). dillenii at 

 Phillour and Amritsar. 



At Lahore, Mr. R. N. Parker, the Deputy 

 Conservator of Forests, who is interested in 

 Opuntias, showed the Commission the Prickly- 



