VOL. LV.— No, 3,059. 



SATURDAY, JUXE 15, 1912. 



THE 



GARDENERS 



MAGAZINE 



NOTE OF THE WEEK. 



♦ 



Xerophitic Plants 



be imagined that no plant could live, nuu h other, each one a veritable vegetal)]e heilge- 



less thrive, witli such an absence, or appa- hog or porcupine, so far as its abundance 



rent absence, of the all-essential water, and of prickles, short and long, are concerned, 



yet we may see the ground bri.stling here The long thorns look the more formidable, 



and there with cacti, like bunches of huge but it is the myriad tiny barbed ones at 



XeropJiils, or drought-loving plants, and erect cucumbers, t^n to twelve feet high, their bases, which the traveller dreads, for 

 hydrophils, or moisture-loving ones, are and occasionally with a group of the great at a touch they attacli themselves to the 



the outcome of evolu- 

 tion in environments 

 of quite opposite cha- 

 racter, and form a 

 most interesting study 

 as to the immense 

 range of conditions to 

 which plants have been 

 able to respoii-d. With 

 regard to the first- 

 n am ed cl ass t hey ax e 

 undoubtedly the more 

 interesting of the two, 

 though naturally not 

 the more beautiful, 

 since they inevitably 

 lack the charm of deli- 



cate 



foliage 



and 



in 

 the 



pomt of fact, 

 two great races of cacti 

 a nd e u phorb i as a re 

 largely devoid of foli- 

 agL- proper, true leaves 

 having been 



pressed, 



and 



snp- 

 their 



function delegated to 

 thickened fleshj' stems 

 beset with thorns. In 

 the euphorbias of the 

 cactus type, leaves 

 have not yet been en- 

 tirely suppressed, since 

 the thorny excres- 

 cences are at first ac- 

 companied by small 

 leaves which, however, 

 ^.oon l>ecome useless, 

 and fall off. Some of 

 the cacti, such as the 

 Phyllocacti, produce 

 apparent leaves of a 

 flat fleshy character, 

 but closer examination 

 sbows even tlicse to be 

 merely flattened and 

 expanded stalks. 



MR. J. W. McHAlTIE. 



Superintendent of the Edinburgh Parks and Gardens 



Neill Prizeman for 1912. 



sk'n, set 



little 



up a 



irritation, just enough 

 to induce a rub, and 

 .straightway they em- 

 bed themselves, an/d 

 are only removable by 

 the ju<licious use of 

 tweezers. In some 

 ])laces the opuntias or 

 ])rickly ])ears cover the 

 gioTUid as densely as 

 <loes the bracken on 



mostly 

 charac- 



our heaths, 

 showing the 



teristic 



tennis - bat 



shape, bui sometimes, 

 as with (*. horrida, 



with 



of 



covering acres 

 plants formed 

 branches like close-vset 

 chains, beset with in- 

 numerable thorns two 



hmg. and so 



blow 



in ches 

 brittle 



that 



a 



with a stick will shat- 

 ter a plant into scores 

 of shoi t lengths, each 

 of which will root 

 where it falls, and so 

 multiph' itself indefi. 

 jiitely. Even the very 

 fruits, of the usual 



fall and 



^hapc. 



pear 

 root in 

 fashion, 

 dentlv of 

 tained 



tlu 



same 

 indepen- 

 the 



seed. 



all 



con- 



Suicu- 

 these 



lent as 

 species are. they seem 

 absohltely i]ie;i}>ahh' 

 of shrivelling. an<l 



ui 



mar- 



aud not leaves proper, 

 the flowers when pixxJuced springing, as 

 with the rest of the tribe, direct from 

 these edges 

 however 



and 



or terminals. 



One must, 

 have travelled in countries 

 such as Mexico, where, on the sunburnt 

 plains and plateaus the great bulk of 

 vegetation is subjected through the 

 greater part of the yearto absolute drought 

 unrelieved by even a shower, to appreciate 

 the full effect of such conditions. It would 



th< 



Cereus giganteus, thirty feet high 

 niore, and if we sever a branch of these, 

 we shall find it full of sap, though the 

 scanty roots may l>e anchored in the 

 hardest of rocky soils, and so hot that the 

 hand can hardly boar to touch it. Cacti 

 ■e inv.tare. ai a distaiu e. the most ram- 

 pant of brambles, like bunches of tortuous 

 snakes, and every here and there, weird 

 little, oi- large heaps of, cannon-ball like 



1 like oranges on each 



Here 



this resp*'('i are 

 vels of natural adap- 



and ]>rovision 

 undue tran- 



fiiul 



tation 



against 



and there we 



of verv 



orowth. 



;n 



thei 



spiration. 



orchards of <)])untias 



which it is curious 

 the primary bat-shaped leaf, 

 which they started, has swollen 



of trunk nt^ajly 



while 



liow 



large 

 to note 

 from 



and 



thickened uito a . sort 

 foot thick and 



louud. 



species, are 



pii 



Ci 



a root I mcK ;inu quite 

 the old hnnes. if <lissecte(l. are foTUi<l to 

 be built up of uuuieKMis oxrreiiiely hajd, 

 tiat. woody internal jtlates ot \ fry beautiful 

 jtattern. each thorjiy knob on the fleshy 



