410 ICOSANDRIA. Class XII. 
1139. Cotoneaster. Flowers polygamous. Cai; turbinate, bluntly 5-toothed. Petals short, erect. Stamens 
length of teeth. Styles smooth, shorter than stamens. Achenopses parietal, included in calyx. 
^ 2. Ovari/ superior. 
im. Waldsteinia. Cal. 10-cleft; the alternate segments smaller.- Petals 5. Styles clavate, deciduous. 
Grams 2, obovate. 
1141. Spir^a. Cal. spreading, 5-cleft. Petals 5. Caps. 1-celled, 2-valved, opening inwards, 1-3-seeded. 
1U2. Gzllenia. Cal. mfundibuliform, 5-toothed. Petals 5. Stamens very short. Capsule 5-celled. 
lUS. Sesuvium. Cal. 5-parted, colored. Petals O. Caps, ovate, 3-celled, cut round, many-seeded 
1144. Aizoon. Cal. 5-parted. Pet. O. Caps. 5-celled, 5-valved. 
Order 3. POLYGYNIA. 
Stamens many, perigynous. Styles many. 
1145. Tetragonia. Cal. 3-5-parted. Petals O. Drupe inferior, with a 3-8-celled nut. 
1146. Mesembryanthemum. Cal. 5-cleft. Petals many, linear. Capsule turbinate, fleshy, inferior, many- 
seeded. 
1147. Hymenogyne. Styles about 12, united in a delicate tube. Caps, l-celled, many-seeded. Otherwise 
like Mesembryanthemum. 
MONOGYNIA. 
nil. CACTUS. W. Cactus. 
G839 mammillaris L. small red-spin' 
6840 coronatus W. garland 
6841 depressus Dec. depressed 
6842 stellaris W. . hoary 
6843 viviparus Pursh. viviparous 
6844 gibbosus Haiv. gibbous 
6845 magn rmarn'mns Haw. large- teated 
6846 lanifcr Haw. woolly 
6847 geminispinus Haw. tvvo-spined 
Turk's Cap 
recurved 
crook-CDined 
old 
broad-spined 
6853 macf acanthus Haw. long-spined 
6855 
6848 Melocactus L. 
6849 recurvus Mill. 
6850 nobilis Haw. 
6851 senilis Haw. 
6852 latispinus Haw. 
dtt-IDfr 
st-IDgr 
«*-ZDgr 
tt. cu 
S4. !□ cu 
!tt. ; I gr 
tt-IDgr 
tt-IDgr 
**-ZDgr 
«-ZDfr 
ZDgr 
«- IDgr 
stt. I^gr 
ss-ZDgr 
*t-z:gr 
Cacti. 
jl.au 
my.jn 
jl.au 
jl.au 
68—90. 
W. Indies 1688. 
C 
s.p 
Plant, grass. Ill 
S. Amer. 1820. 
c 
s.p 
S. Amer. 1789. 
c 
s.p 
Pk 
S. Amer. 1815. 
c 
s.p 
Bot. cab. 79 
R 
Louisiana 1811. 
c 
s.p 
W 
c 
s.p 
Bot. reg. IS"' 
Mexico 1823. 
c 
s.p 
Mexico 1823. 
c 
s.p 
Mexico 1823. 
c 
s.p 
W. Indies 1688. 
c 
s.p 
Plant, grass. 112 
1768. 
c 
s.p 
Mexico 1796. 
c 
s.p 
Mexico 1823. 
c 
s.p 
Mexico 1823. 
c 
s.p 
S. Amer. 1820. 
c 
s.p 
History, Use, Propagation, Culture, 
nil. Cactus. A name under which Theophrastus describes a spiny plant, an article of food, which grew in 
Sicily. This genus consists of succulent plants, permanent in duration, singular and various in structure; 
generally without leaves, and having the stem or branches jointed ; for the most part armed with spines in 
bundles, with which, in many species, bristles are intermixed. These bundles of spines are placed on the top 
of the tubercles in the smaller melon thistle, which is tubercled all over, and produces its flowers between the 
tubercles. In the great melon thistle the spines are ranged in a single row on the ridge of the ribs. These 
are of an ovate or globular form. The torch thistle, on the contrary, are slender, rise up high, are jointed and 
branched ; many of them are almost cylindrical, with from five to ten shallow ribs ; some, however, are square 
or three cornered. The structure of the creeping Cereuses is the same with these, except that the steins are 
weak and cannot support themselves ; they therefore seek support from trees, and throw out roots from the 
stem, like ivy. In the Indian figs the branches are jointed, and flatted like the sole of a shoe; the bundles of 
spines or bristles are scattered over the surface, and the flowers are produced from the edge of the extreme 
branches. In the Phyllanthus the branches are thinner, they are indented along the edge, and the flowers 
come out singly from the indentures. This seldom has any spines. Pereskia has a round stalk with leafy 
branches ; the leaves alternate, flat, and thick ; the prickles are large and stiff, and come out in bundles on 
the stalk and branches, chiefly at the axils ; the flowers are produced several together from the axils also. 
In this and the Indian figs the flowers are pitcher-shaped ; in the other species they are subcylindrical and 
longer ; in Phyllanthus very long. The fruit in some of the sorts is small, like currants ; but in most it is 
larger, and shaped like a fig, whence their name of Indian fig. 
C. melocactus, the great melon thistle or Turk's cap, appears like a large fleshy green melon, with deep ribs, 
set all over with strong sharp thorns. When it is cut through the middle, the inside is found to be a soft, 
green, fleshy substance, very full of moisture. The flowers and fruit are produced in circles round the upper 
part of the cap. Some of those which have been brought to England, have been more than a yard in circum- 
ference, and two feet and half high including the cap. But in the West Indies there are plants near twice as 
large. Linnasus observes, that this plant resembles a hedge-hog in its form and spines ; and on the top has a 
discoid, convex, villous body, from which the flowers. proceed. 
