466 



CACTUSES IN- DOORS AND OUT. 



"4th. The flora of Central Australia, including the 

 Swan river territory, and reaching on the north to the 

 tropic, and on the south to the Victorian Alps. Here 

 there are no cactuses, stapelias, agaves nor aloes, and 

 crassulacese is only represented by bryophyllum. The 

 fleshy-leaved dicotyledons are represented by zygo- 

 phyllum, calandrinia, two or three species of mesem- 

 bryanthemum, and several chenopodiaceae ; and the 

 fleshy endogens by bulbine. There are not less than 

 270 species of acacia. 



"5th. The flora of the Chilian province of Atacama, 

 which extends on the west side of the Andes from the 

 borders of Bolivia to 28° to 30° south latitude, and in 

 the heart of the continent of Catamarca, Tucurnan, 

 Cordova, Mendoza, and other provinces of the Argen- 

 tine Confederation. Here there are no agaves, aloes or 

 stapelias, and scarcely any crassulacese, but a great 

 many cactuses and the cactus-like euphorbia are repre- 

 sented by one, and mesembryanthemums by two or three 

 species. " 



Cactuses have many uses aside from their beauty and 

 curiousness. Very many of the species produce edible 

 fruits, and the time will undoubtedly come when 

 some of them will be grown for their fruits. The 

 natives in the cactus regions lay great store upon the 

 fruits of some species. The great Cereus giganteus pro- 

 duces an edible fruit which the natives gather by the use 

 of long poles. The fruit of Cereus Greggii is shown in Fig. 

 W. This fruit attains a length of an inch and a half, 

 and is edible. The edible fruits of various opuntias, 

 particularly of the Indian Fig [Opuntia Ficiis-Indica , 

 Fig. R, page 471) are well known. Most of them are 

 known as prickly pears, from their pyriform shape 

 C. R. Orcutt, a California naturalist, writes recently 

 to Garden and Forest that the manufacture of syrup 

 from the fruit of the opuntia may at no far distant day 

 become an important industry in southern California. 

 Opuntia Ficus-Itidica , or Indian Fig, O. Tuna (Fig. T), 

 and O. Tiina-manse have become naturalized around 

 the old Californian missions. They are natives of 

 Mexico and make rank and rapid growth. The juice of 

 the fruit which these plants produce in great abund- 

 ance may be extracted in a cider press like the juice 

 from apples, and boiled down to a fruity syrup indis- 

 tinguishable from that manufactured from the water- 

 melon. Excellent vinegar may also be made from the 

 juice. In Mexico these cactuses are extensively culti- 

 vated for their fruit." 



Some of the opuntias have long been used for hedges, 

 particularly the Tuna. But the most important use of 

 cactus plants is in the growing of the cochineal insect. 

 This insect is related to the scale insects. It is a native 

 of Mexico and Peru. As early as 1518 it was intro- 

 duced into Europe. In its native country it undoubt- 

 edly feeds upon several species of cactuses, but in cul- 

 tivation it is confined to Nopalea eoccinellifera (Fig. B^, 

 which is now universally known as the cochineal cac- 

 tus. The natural history of the cochineal insect is in- 

 teresting. Both male and female are bright red in 



color, but the latter, from 150 to 200 times as numerous 

 as the former, are alone used as a dye. In the Canary 

 Islands these insects are reared in the winter, and from 

 May to July the females are put upon the cactus plants. 

 As soon as collected, in August or September, they are 

 killed by hot water, steam, or by being placed in an 

 oven, and then prepared for market. Since the intro- 

 duction of aniline dyes the cochineal industry has suf- 

 fered severely. In i86g, the amount exported from the 

 Canary Islands, where by far the most is produced, was 

 6,310,600 pounds. In 1886, this had fallen to 1,449,968 

 pounds. The price of the dye has also fallen from two 

 shillings per pound in 1880, to one shilling in 1886. 



The cactus family, cacteae, includes about 1,000 

 species, of which all but one are native to the western 

 hemisphere. This one vagrant child is a species of 

 rhipsalis or willow-cactus. Several cactuses of the 

 genera opuntia and nopalea are naturalized in various 

 parts of the world, however. A general view of the di- 

 visions of the family may be had from the following: 



1. Melocactus. Link and Otto. ("Melon-cactus.") 

 Species about 30, in Mexico, West Indies and south 



to Brazil and New Granada. 



2. y)/i7OT/7/a;'za, Haworth (" teat-like "). Figs, ii and i^. 



3 sub-genera ; 



1. Eninamillaria. 



2. Coryplianta . 



3. Anhalonhtin. 



Species about 300, occurring from New Mexico to 

 Brazil and Bolivia. 



3. Pelecyphora, Ehrenberg ("hatchet-bearing"). Fig. 



U. 



Species i, Mexican. 



4. LeucJttenbergia, Hooker (named for Prince Leuch- 

 tenberg). Fig. O. 



Species i, Mexican. 



5. Kchinocactus, Link and Otto (" Hedge-hog cactus "). 

 Figs. D, G, H. Including Malacocarpus, Gymno- 

 calycium and Astrophytnm. 



Species about 200. 



6. Discocactus , Pfeiffer ("disc-cactus") 

 Species 2, in West Indies and Brazil. 



7. Cereus, Haworth ("flexible"). Figs. A, Q, S, W, 

 CC. Includes now Pilocereiis, Echinopsis and Echin- 

 onyctanthus . 



The genus is now divided into the following five sub- 

 genera : 



1. Ecliinocereus . 



2. Euceretts. 



3. Lepidocereus. 



4. Pilocereus. 



5. Echinopsis 



The species are in the neighborhood of 200, growing 

 from the southwestern United States and West Indies 

 to the Galapagos islands. 



8. Pliyllocactiis , Link ("leaf-cactus"). Fig. OO. In- 



cluding Disocactus (not discocactus). 

 Species about a dozen, from tropical North America 

 to Brazil. 



