26 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a small pair of tongs, such as one puts on coal with, to hold the plant 

 and place it in position. Even with these careful preparations I seldom 

 escape without a few spines in my hands. 



Considering the trouble, are they worth growing ? I think so, for 

 I greatly admire their strange beauty of form, the symmetry and beautiful 

 arrangement of their protective spines. I know many people think them 

 only bizarre, or even positively ugly. But if only they could carefully 

 examine a few, and note how we have, by gradual transitions, every stage 

 of development, from the leafy Pereskias, with slender cylindrical stems 

 bearing a few spines, through the almost leafless and spiny Opuntias, to 

 the melon-shaped and ridged Echinocactus and Cereus forms, their dislike 

 would turn to admiration. 



The flowers are often of the most brilliant colours, and in the genus 

 Opuntia the anthers are sensitive, and close when touched in a somewhat 

 spiral manner, reminding one of a sea-anemone seizing food, and many 

 kinds freely produce handsome red fruits that remain for two years on the 

 plant. So that I find them attractive and interesting at all seasons. 



The following list of varieties I have tried, under the condition 

 described above, may be helpful to any wishing to grow similar plants. 



In many cases where the plants have not flowered I have had no 

 opportunity of verifying the names ; so I give those under which I received 

 the plants. Those marked * have flowered. 



Opuntias in good health now. 



Year when planted. 



Opuntia arborescens 1897 



arcnaria* 1900 



var. from Colorado .... — 



barbata ... 1901 



Beckeriana 1903 



tricolor * 1901 



brachyarthra . . . . . . ] 900 



cantabrigiensis . . . . . 1902 



camanchica* (fig. 8) . . . . . 1897 



var. major * . . . . . 1900 



minor ...... — 



albisjnna* 1897 



lutea carmineo-staminca ° . . 1902 



longispina * . . . . . — 



orbicularis* .... — 



pallida* — 



rubra 1901 



rosea — 



salmonea ..... — 



fragilis * .1900 



var. caespitosa 1902 



tuber if or mis .... — 



horizontalis 1903 



humilis 1899 



hystricina 1903 



