2l6 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



v This cactus, whose roots occupy but little space, 

 is never watered, and imbibes its nourishment 

 from the air by the suction of the bark. It is 

 already forty feet in height, a stature which it 

 could never attain in its native soil, as its articu- 

 lated branches would be broken by the wind. 

 It bears a profusion of flowers every year, which 

 fade in twenty-four hours, but succeed each 

 other during a month : they nearly resemble 

 those of the cactus grandiflorus of the Antilles, 

 hut are inferior in brilliancy and odour (i). 



Beyond the cactus to the right are the tropical 

 shrubs cultivated in separate vases or boxes, 

 occupying the middle of the hot-house ; and 

 other plants, disposed on shelves before the win- 

 dows. We may remark in this part beautiful 

 specimens of the draccena draco, or dragon-tree 

 of the Canaries. The division on the left is also 

 filled with shrubs, among which are some very 

 fine stocks of the draccena rejlexa from ihe Isle 

 of France. 



These two divisions are arched, and are each 



(1) This cactus was sent to M. Fagon, by the professor of botany at 

 Leyden, in 1700 ; when planted in the King's Garden it was four inches 

 high and two in diameter. In 1710 the top was seared to arrest its 

 growth, but this operation did not prevent its shooting laterally. In 

 1717, when M. A. de Jussieu gave a description and figure of it in the 

 Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, it was twenty-four feet high and 

 seven inches in diameter; subsequently a glass-case was placed over it, 

 which is raised as the stem aspires. 



