CHAP. L1V. CACTA CEJE, 967 



* N. S. 2 cdspica; N. caspica Pall. Fl. Ross., t. 50. f. B. ; and our 

 Jig. 714. — Fruit red. Leaves longer. Native by the Caspian Sea. 

 By Steven's written observations in Willdenow's Herbarium, it 

 differs from N. S. 1 sibirica in its young branches being pubescent, 

 and in its fruit being larger, and much more acute. The flowers of 

 this variety, and also those of the species, are white, and produced 

 freely. The berries black, rather larger than peas, and they render 

 the bush very ornamental. 



■*» 2. N. tridenta^ta Dcsf. The ^-toothed-leaved Nitraria. 



Identification. Desf. Fl. Atl, 1. p. 372.; Dec. Prod., 3. p. 456. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 155. 



Synonyme. Peganum retusum Fors/c, according to Delil. in his III. Fl. JEgypt. 



Spec. Char., S(c. Branches spiny. Leaves wedge-shaped, retuse, toothed with about 3 teeth. Fruit 

 ovate. (Dec. Prod., iii. p. 456.) A native of sandy fields of Barbary and Egypt ; growing to the 

 height of from 1 ft. to 2 ft. Introduced in 1820 ; but not frequent in collections. 



CHAP. LIV. 



OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CACTA^CEjE. 



Opiintia vulgaris Mill. ; Cactus Opuntia I.., Mill. Icon., t. 191. ; the common Indian Fig, 

 or Prickly Pear; is a native of North America, in the southern states, and is found abundantly 

 in gardens in the neighbourhood of New York. It is also very common in Italy, and various 

 parts of the south of Europe. In Virginia, it is valued for its refreshing fruit ; and it has been cul- 

 tivated for the same purpose on dry rockwork, in the neighbourhood of London. (See Encyc. of 

 Gard., edit. 1835, p. 979.) It will live many years, with little or no protection, at the bottom of a 

 dry warm wall; and, though usually prostrate, yet, if the shoots are nailed to the wall, it will grow 

 to the height of several feet. It deserves a place in a collection of half-hardy ligneous succulent 

 plants, for the sake of its singular appearance ; and various other genera and species belonging to 

 the same order are, probably, nearly as hardy. 



CHAP. LV. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER GROSSULA r CE^E. 



This order consists of the genus Rlbes only; and the following charac- 

 teristics of that genus are the chief of those of the order : — 

 Ri^bes L. Calyx superior, having 4 — 5 coloured lobes ; and bearing from its 

 throat 5, 4, or ? 0, small petals ; and 5, very rarely 6, stamens. The lobes 

 of the calyx, the petals, and the stamens, are, in most instances, 5 each ; 

 and, in such, are alternate with one another. The two sexes are present, in 

 most kinds, in the same flower ; in a few dioecious, at least in result. 

 Ovary with 1 cell, and 2 parietal placentas. The ovules numerous. Style 1. 

 Fruit a subglobose berry, tipped with the remains of the part of the flower 

 that is distinct from the ovary. The seeds many, oblong, subcompressed ; 

 each suspended in the pulp by a long, slender, funiculus ; and having an 

 aril, horny albumen, and an embryo that is minute, dicotyledonous, and 

 situate at the smaller end of the seed, contiguous to the hilum, but with 

 the radicle pointing to one side. — Shrubs, unarmed or prickly. Leaves 

 alternate, lobed or cut, plaited when folded in the bud, deciduous. A bractea 

 is at the base of every pedicel, and two smaller are upon it below the ovary. 

 Flowers greenish, whitish, yellow, or red. {Dec. Prod., iii. p. 477., and 

 Lindl. Introd. to N. S.) M. Spach, in the Annates des Sciences Naturelles 

 for 1835, has subdivided the genus Ri bes into the genera authenticated as 

 his among our synonyincs. 



