The Natural System of Botany. 297 



Order, Cactace^: — The Cactus Tribe. 



These well known plants are among the most magnificent 

 ornaments of the green-house. The splendor of their large 

 flowers, and the grotesque shapes of their fleshy stems, render 

 their appearance at once singular and beautiful. They are all 

 natives of the New World, being principally found in the coun- 

 tries between the tropics, though some species have become 

 naturalized in various parts of the eastern hemisphere. Nearly 

 all of them are destitute of leaves, the stem being very succu- 

 lent, and covered with an integument which is constructed 

 like the pulpy part of a leaf, and performs the same office. 

 The shape of the stems is singularly varied. " You will form 

 a general idea of this highly curious natural order," says Lind- 

 ley, " when you are told that the plants called Indian Figs 

 (Opuntia), with their prickly, jointed, flattened stems, on which 

 the Cochineal insect feeds ; Torch-thistles (various species of 

 Cereus), whose angular trunks rise erect and singly into the 

 air, like fantastic vegetable columns ; creeping Cereuses, with 

 their long pendant branches, which might be taken for the 

 'ails of some animal, if it were not for the gay, rose-colored 

 flowers they push out from time to time ; and all the strange 

 races of Melon-thistles, (Melocacti), Porctipine-thistles (Echino- 

 cacti) and Hedgehog-thistles (Mam miliarias), whose names suf- 

 ficiently attest their extraordinary appearance, — I say, you 

 will form a clear general idea of this curious Cactus tribe, 

 when you have collected in your mind all the remarkable 

 plants that have now been named." A member of this order 

 may be distinguished at a single glance ; there is no mistaking 

 the showy flower and the spiny stem. In the flower there is 

 no distinction between the calyx and corolla, the sepals of the 

 one, and the petals of the other being indefinite in number, and 

 agreeing in color. The stamens are many, with long filaments, 

 usually joined in a cylinder at the base. The style is single, 

 dividing at the top into several spreading stigmas. The fruit 

 is a pulpy berry, much resembling the Gooseberry in structure. 

 The seeds are numerous, and nearly exalbuminous. 



One of the most splendid species is the night-blooming 



