XXV. THE CACTUS FAMILY. 423 
FAMILY XXV. THE CACTUS FAMILY. CACTACEZ. 
Perennial, shrub-like or arborescent plants, of peculiar appear- 
ance and structure. ‘T’he root is woody and fibrous. The trunk 
hemispherical, or cylindrical, branched or jointed, angular, rib- 
bed, winged, or with mammillary projections, or plane ;—fleshy, 
with a thick, mostly green, smooth bark, and interspersed with 
few or numerous woody fibres. Tuhe leaves are usually want- 
ing and their place supplied by bundles of thorns. 'The flowers, 
often large, splendid and fragrant, consist of a calyx of many 
divisions, partly colored and petal-like, proceeding from the ex- 
terior of the ovary and passing by imperceptible gradations into 
the petals, which are very numerous, and arranged spirally or 
in several series. Within these, and, like them, proceeding from 
the lining of the calyx-tube, are the numerous, slender stamens. 
The base of the calyx is the l-celled ovary, containing a great 
number of ovules attached to seed-nourishing projections from 
the walls. The style is single, and terminates in 3 or more 
stigmas. The fruit is a fleshy, umbilicated berry, in the pulp 
of which the numerous seeds, enclosed in a doubie integument, 
nestle. The fruit is pleasantly acidulous, eatable, and, in its 
native tropical climates, grateful. 
De Candolle enumerates about 180 species, all indigenous to 
America, and most of them to the warmest regions, where they 
delight in warm, arid situations, exposed to the sun. Some 
species have been perfectly naturalized on the coast of the Med 
iterranean, and many are cultivated in conservatories, for their 
singularity or the extreme beauty of their flowers. A species 
of cactus is sometimes used in the south of Europe as a hedge. 
Another species, Opintia coccinillifera, a native of Mexico, sus- 
tains the cochineal insect, from which is obtained the beautiful 
scarlet of such importance in commerce. 
Some species are found on the sandy wastes at the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains. A single species occurs in Massachusetts. 
