SELECTIONS OF OPUNTIAS. 



107 



Opuntia flowers (Fig. 121) are either yellow or orange in colour, some few being either 

 greenish- white, purple, or red. In a few instances they are followed by fruit of an 

 ornamental and occasionally edible character— the Prickly Pear (0. ficus indica) for 

 instance. Opuntias are raised from seed, and either small pieces or good-sized branches 

 root freely in pots of sandy soil, and a dry heat. Their cultural requirements are of the 

 simplest description. 



Selection 



Cylindrical 



0. Salmiana. — Erect branching stem, joints cylin- 

 drical ; Mowers yellow, streaked with red. 

 0. senilis. — Joints covered with long white hairs in 

 the way of the Old Man Cactus— Pilocereus 

 senilis. 



0. arborescens. — Elk Horn Cactus 

 stems ; long spines, flowers purple. 

 0. aurantiaca.— Dwarf ; cylindrical stems ; flowers 



bright orange. 

 basilaris.— Fan-shaped joints; flowers rich purple. 

 0. bolivi ana. — Stems one foot high, erect 

 and branching ; roundish joints ; flowers 

 yellowish. 



0. brachyarthra.— The Jointed Finger Cac- 

 tus. Stems resembling a jointed finger. 



0. cylindrica. — Stems and joints cylin- 

 drical ; flowers red. 



0. fictjs indica. — The Prickly Pear Cactus. 

 Eobust, erect-growing, stems becoming 

 hard and woody ; flowers sulphur - 

 yellow ; fruit pear-shaped, and covered 

 with tufts of bristles. 



0. frxitescens. — Thin -stemmed, many- 

 branched species ; flowers greenish- 

 yellow ; fruit scarlet and pear-shaped. 



0. letjcotricha. — Erect stems; flattened 

 joints covered with hair-like spines, 

 bearing a resemblance to the Old Man 

 Cactus ; flowers yellow. 



O. microdassys.— Dwarf ; joints flattened 

 and nearly circular, thickly covered with 

 cushions of orange-yellow bristles. 0. 

 m. rufida is a variety with reddish- 

 brown bristles. 



0. MONOCANTHA. — Tall-growing ; oblong 

 joints with long spines ; flowers sulphur- 

 yellow, followed by edible fruit. 



0. Rafinesquii.— Prostrate habit of growth : 

 joints flat and obovate, with few spines : 

 flowers bright sulphur-yellow ; fruit 

 pear-shaped and eatable; it is hardy 

 in dry positions. 



Pelecyphoras — Pelecyphoras, or the Hatchet Cactus, so-called from the shape of the 

 tubercles, is represented by a single species only, and this is both rare and difficult to 

 keep alive after it is obtained. It differs from Mammillaria only in the hatchet-like form 



The Indian Fig. 



