Ml CACTACK.K. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



ones pinnatiiid ; fruit slightly roughened. — Ponds and ditches, Florida, and 

 northward. July. 



4. M. scabratum, Michx. Stem short (6 f -12'J ; leaves 4-5 in a whorl, 

 the divisions few and capillary, the floral ones linear, pectinately toothed; fruit 

 Btrongly ridged and roughened. — Shallow ponds, South Carolina, and north- 

 ward. June and July. 



Ordeb 56. CACTACE^E. (Cactus Family.) 



Succulent, shrubby, and commonly leafless and prickly plants, with 

 globular, or columnar and angular, or flattened and jointed stems, and 

 solitary sessile flowers. — Sepals and petals similar, imbricated in several 

 rows, and adherent to the 1-eelled ovary. Stamens indefinite, with long 

 filaments, inserted on the base of the petals. Style single : stigmas nu- 

 merous. Fruit baccate. Seeds numerous, campylotropous, borne on 

 several parietal placentas. Albumen scanty or none. 



1. CEREUS, Haw. 



Sepals and petals united into an elongated tube above the ovary. Stamens 

 inserted on the tube. Style filiform. Stigma many-lobed. Seeds without al- 

 bumen. — Stems elongated, ribbed or angled; the angles bearing tufts of spines 

 and showy flowers. 



1. C. monoclonos, DC ? Stem tall, columnar, 6-8-angled, green; 

 angles obtuse; spines short, brownish. — Key "West, — Stem 4° -10° high. 

 Flowers 6' long, the inner petals lanceolate, acuminate, while; the outer ones 

 linear, greenish, and gradually diminishing into the scales of the tube. Stigmas 

 10 or more, filiform, exserted. Stamens included. 



2. C. triangularis, Haw. ? Stem elongated, jointed, 3-sided, rooting at 

 the joints; (lowers greenish externally, white within, very large; fruit large, 

 naked. — Key West. — Stem climbing over bushes. Joints 1° long. 



2. OPUNTIA, Tourn. Thickly Pbab. 



Sepals and petals not united into a tube. Stamens inserted into the base of 

 the petal-. Style cylindrical. Stigma 8- 8-lobed. Seeds with thin albumen. 



Sn ins with flat or rarely cylindrical joint-. Leaves fleshy, with tufts of bristly 



hairs and commonly strong spines in their axils, deciduous. Flowers large, 



yellow. 



1. O. Ficus-Indicus, Haw. Stem erect, spreading ; joints oval and 

 obovate; leavea Bubulate, bristly in the axils, without spine-; fruit bristly, ob- 

 ovate, red within, edible — South Florida. May. — Joints L°long. 



2. O. vulgaris, Mill. Stem prostrate; joint- obovate, pale; spines few 

 and short; fruit nearly smooth. — 1 >ry sandy soil, Florida and northward, near 

 the eoatt June and July. 





