CACTUS. 



great drought, the cattle r!p them up with their horns, tear 

 off the outtide fkin, and greedily devour the flcftiy moill 

 part. The fruit is an agreeable acid, and is frequently eaten 

 in the Well Indies. Miller. 



** EreH cercups, fupporting themfelves. Torch-thiflles, 

 or torch-wood. 



6. C. cylintJrirus, cylindric torch-thiftle. La Marck, 

 Juffieu. " Ereit, weak, cylindric, not angular, but reticu- 

 lated on their fnrface, wiih decuffated furrows." La Marck. 

 " TclTelated with regular, rlionib-fliapcd, little areas, bearing 

 fpines on their elevated centre." Jnff. Spines cluttered, 

 whitifh, very fharp. A native of Peru. 7. C. Irigorius, 

 thrce-iuKd tjrch-thillle. La Marck. (C.petaiaya. Linn. 

 Syil. Nat. Jacq. Anieric. iji.) " Stem crc(fl, triangular, 

 with fcarlcL, leafy fruit." Nearly allied to C. triangulari.s 

 of the next divifion ; but difl'ers from it in having ajlem, 

 which fupports itfclf to the height of eight or ten feet ; 

 and, though it rifes dill higher when it obtains the fup- 

 port of a neighbouring tree, docs not attach itfclf by any 

 radicle. Flower wliitifh, fix inches in diameter, with fcarcely 

 any fmell, opening in the night. Fni'il of a fliining fcarlet 

 colour on the outfide, furnillied with obtufe leaflets, which 

 are irregularly notched at the fummit ; pulp white, flefliy, 

 fweet : feeds fmall, black, fliining. A native of Cartha- 

 gena, aud other parts of South America. There is a va- 

 riety which has a llraight trilateral _/?cm, almoll as thick as 

 a man's body, furnifhed with blackilh, very Iharp, cindered 

 fpines, about two inches long ; dividing at the top into 

 triangular, flefliy branches, of a delicate green colour, un- 

 dulated, or fcoUopped at their angles, and difpofed in a 

 large fpreading panicle. From the upper branches rife 

 large beautiful w\\\\.e jloiuers , a little odorous, ftanding on a 

 germ, furniflied witli fome fcaly leaves. The fruit is yel- 

 lowirti, fmooth, of the form and fize of a large apple, with 

 a white fweet pulp, filled with fmiill blaekifli feeds. Ob- 

 ferved by Plumier at St Domingo. La Marck obferves, 

 that it may perhaps be diflintt from Jacquin's plant ; but as 

 they agree in fo many charafters, he has placed them toge- 

 ther, that he may not multiply fpecies without neceffity. 

 8. C. pankulahis. La Marck. (Melocaftus arborefcens, 

 Plum. Sp. 19. Tournef. 65J. Caftus brachiatus, Buim. 

 Amer. tab. 192.) " Trunk ereft, panicled at the fummit 

 with quadrangular, jointed branches ; petals round, white, 

 marked with red lines ; fruit tubercled, yellowilh." This 

 plant, in its habit and fize, exaftly refembles the variety of 

 the preceding fpecies ; but the interior petals are fcarcely 

 larger than a finger nail, crenuiatcd, very white, pencilled 

 with fmall red lines. Stamens entirely white : fruit ovate, 

 a little larger than a goofe's egg, with reddilh fpinous tu- 

 bercles, and full of fmall feeds of a dark chefnut colour. A 

 native of St. Domingo, deicribed b'y La Marck from the 

 MSS. of Plumier. 9. C. tetragotius, four-fidcd torch-thif- 

 tle. Linn. Sp. PI. " Quadrangular, long, ereft ; angles 

 compreffed." Stem feldom more than four or five feet 

 high, branched, deeply and widely cut in a longitudinal 

 direftion, fo as to give it the appearance of having four 

 thin wings. A native of South America. 10. Q. pentagonus. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. " Ereft, long, jointed, with about five 

 angles." Stem flender, feeble, but upright ; internodes 

 about a foot long : clufters of fpines without any fcnfible 

 down at their bale. A native of America, 11. C. hesa- 

 gonus, Linn. Sp. PI. (Ctreus Surinamenfis, Ephem. n. c. 

 J. p. 349. tab. 7 and 8. Herm. Par. ti6. Raj. Dendr. 

 23. C. maximus Americanus, Bradl. Succ. 1. p. I. tab. I. 

 Melocaftus, Plum. Sp. 19. Burm. Arrier. tab. 191.) 

 " Ereft, long, with fix angles ; angles diftant." Stem 

 thirty or forty feet high, not branched if the top be not 



8 



injured, and it have room to grow; but whenever the fteitv 

 18 cut or injured, it puts out (hoots from tlie angles, imme- 

 diately under the wounded part, and frequently one or 

 two lower down ; thefe, if tluy are not cut off, form dif- 

 tinft Hems, and grow upriglit, but are feldom fo large as 

 the principal flem. Flcuiers from the angles on the fide cf 

 the Hem, as large as thole of hollyhock, on a thick, flcthy, 

 fcaly, round, channelled, and hairy peduncle; calyx prickly, 

 clofely furrounding tlie corolla, green, with purple ilripes ; 

 inner petals white, and crenattd at their extremity. Mil- 

 ler. A native of Surinam, whence it was introduced into 

 Holland, and bore flowers in 168 1. It was cultivated in 

 England in 1690, and has been the moft common fort in 

 the Englifli (loves, but has not borne fruit, nor often pro- 

 duced flowers. 12. C. hiptagonus, Linn. Sp. PI. " Ereft, 

 oblong, with feven angles." Stem perennial, one or two 

 feet high. A native of America. I'J,. Q.. repundus, Linn. 

 Sp. PI. Brown. Jam. 238. (Cereus altiffimus gracilior, 

 Sloan. Jam. 197. Hill. 2. p. ij8. Raj.Dtnd. 22. Trcw. 

 Ehret. t. 14.) " Eredl, long, octangular; angles com- 

 preflod, waved ; fpines longer than the wool." Stem rather 

 (lender. Fruit yellow without, with feattered afpcrities ; 

 fnow-white within, contaniing many black seeds. A native 

 of South America. 14. C. hmuginofiis, Linn. Sp. PI. 

 (Cereus curaflavicus, Herm. Parad. tab. 115.) " Ereft, 

 long, with about nine angles ; angles obfolete ; fpines 

 fhorter than the wodl." Stem rather glaucous; fpines in- 

 termixed with a yellowifli wool. Flowers greenifli. Fruit 

 about the fize of a walnut, red externally, and without 

 fpines. A native of CurafFou. 15. C. royeni, Linn. Sp. 

 PI. (Cereus, Boer. Lug. I. p. 293' Herm. 48. Par. 11 5.) 

 " Ereiil, jointed, with nine angles ; divifions between the 

 joints fomewhat egg-fliaped ; fpines the length of the wool." 

 Perhaps only a variety of the preceding. Stem long ; chan- 

 nels between the angles (hallow, woolly, and very fpinous ; 

 fpines long, and yellowKh ; down pale white. Fruit red, 

 and without fpines. A native of America. 16. C. peru- 

 vianus, Linn. Spec. PI. (Cereus peruvianus, Bauh. Pin. 

 458. Lob. ic. 2. p. 25. Cierge epineux. Aft. Acad. 1^16. 

 p. 146.) " Ereci, long, with about eight angles ; angles 

 obtufe." Stem branched in its upper part ; angles furniflied 

 with fmall clullers of brown, very flender, diverging fpines, 

 proceeding from a cottony tuft. Flowers lateral, almoll 

 fcflile, folitary, whitifli, five or fix inches in diameter ; fcalss 

 of the calyx flelhy, green, purphfli at their extremity; petals 

 about thirty, lanceolate, white, with a tint of bright pur- 

 ple at their fummit; ftamens very numerous, fliorter than, 

 the petals ; anthers yellowifh ; (lyle the length of the 

 fl;amens ; lligma with ten ilraight divifions. There is 

 now, or at leaft in 1803, there was growing at the Mu- 

 feum of Natural Hiftory in Paris, a fuperb plant of this 

 fpecies near forty feet high. It was prefented more than a 

 hundred years ago, by Hotton profefl"or of botany at Leyden 

 to Fagon firll phyficlan to Lewis XIV., aud fuperintendant 

 of the royal garden, when it was only four or five inches 

 high. The growth of each year is diflinguiflied by a con- 

 traction of t!ie Hem ; each of thefe contraftions it at firft very 

 deep, and remains nearly the fame fjr fome years, when 

 it gradually dinunifhes, aud at length is entirely obliterated. 

 This plant grew at firll about a foot and a half in a year, 

 and when it was fourteen years old was twenty-three feet 

 high and feven inches in diameter. At the age of eleven it 

 produced its firll two blanches, about three feet from the 

 ground. A year after it produced its firft flowers, and has 

 continued to flower ever fiuce. See Dift. Agnc. Nonv. 

 Encyclopedic. A native of Peru 17. C.fmbriatus, La 

 Marck. Burm. Amer. tab. ipj. f. i, '« Ereft, long, 



Y-itb 



