HARDY CACTI 
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HARDY CACTI. 
For many hundreds oi years one hardy 
httle Cactus — Opimtia vulgaris — has 
been known in Europe, growing wild 
or semi-wild in certain southern valleys, 
particularly those of Valais in Switzer- 
land, Southern Tyrol, and the Valley 
of Aosta. Nor is it easy to account 
for this fact, since all the true Cacti 
come from Central America, and yet 
we find this little stranger growing wild 
in the heart of Europe, where it has 
been so long known in our Swiss valleys 
as to imply natural rather than other 
means of distribution. In common with 
other botanists I am inclined to think 
that this may have been brought about 
by migratory birds that, straying from 
their course. 
may 
have carried seeds 
upon claws or feathers and thus founded 
a little colony of Cacti in Europe. That 
this is not so unlikely as may seem, is 
shown by the great traveller, Bonvalot, 
who, when in the high tablelands of 
Thibet and Central Asia, constantly saw 
stray birds from other parts of the world 
and apparently brought there by storms. 
When this possible explanation was sub- 
mitted to M. deCandolle he agreed that 
this might easily be the source of the 
early introduction of this plant to the 
mountains of Europe. But let its origin 
amongst us be what it may, the Opimtia 
vulgaris is hardy in all parts of Europe 
where it can find a fair degree of summer 
heat, free from excess of moisture. In 
our Swiss villages it is seen well-nigh 
everywhere, covering the crumbling 
walls, nestling amongst the heaped 
stones of the garden, or in ancient pots 
which for generations have stood in the 
sunny window corners of the mountain 
chalets, the strangely flattened growths 
bursting forth from year to year with 
cheery flowers of pale bright yellow 
during summer. In his botanical dic- 
tionary, Paxton fixes the year 1596 as 
the date of its introduction to the gar- 
dens of Europe. 
Some thirty years ago two other nearly 
allied kinds — Opuntias cajna7ichica2.xvA 
Rafinesquii^ classed as distinct species 
in the Index Keweiisis — reached us from 
the warmer parts of the United States, 
and though often treated as greenhouse 
plants, these also arc hardy throughout 
(JPUNTIA CAMANCHICA. 
Central Europe, when grown under 
natural conditions. More recently, and 
within the past fifteen years, the German 
traveller Dr. Purpus (followed by various 
American botanists) has scoured the 
mountains of Arkansas, Texas, Color- 
ado, and Arizona, bringing to light a 
rich variety of hardy Cacti thriving at 
elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. For 
thesenewplants (now coming into culti- 
vation) we are mainly indebted to the col- 
lection of Dr. Purpus, presented in the 
first instance to the botanical garden 
of Darmstadt, and distributed thence 
throughout Germany and other parts 
