PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. 



151 



Opuntia Salmiana. Parmentier. A stove succulent from Brazil. Flowers pale yellow. 

 Native of Brazil. Blossoms at Kew in September and October. (Fig. 98.) 



This pretty and very distinct Opuntia is said to be a native of Brazil. Our collection is indebted for the possession 

 of it to the Royal Gardens of Herrnhaussen. It blossoms freely, and the ordinary looking stems and branches are 

 ornamented by the variegated red and yellow and rather copious flowers in September and October. Plant small, one 

 to two feet high, erect, branched , branches erecto-patent, cylindrical, rather of an ashy-green colour, destitute of tubercles, 



obtuse at the apex. Areoles scattered, forming white downy tufts of wool, bearing six to eight unequal, brown, small 

 aculei, the largest less' than half an inch long. Flowers moderately sized, clustered at the apex of a branch. Ovary 

 obovate, not scaly but areolated, and bearing aculei like the branches ; and, what is remarkable, after the floral coverings 

 have fallen away, often producing young plants. Sepals and petals ^distinguishable ; the former gradually pass into 

 the latter. In bud the flower is red ; when fully expanded the ground-colour is sulphur-yellow, streaked with red and 

 rose-colour in the centre. The petals are obovate, and the spread of the flower about two inches. Stamens net 

 numerous, yellow. Rays of the stigma five or six, yellow-green. This slender straggling species grows and flowers 



