NAT. ORDER. 
CactecB. 
OPUNTIA BRASILIENSIS. BRAZILIAN PRICKl Y-PEAR. 
Class XL IcosANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Sejjals, numerous. Stamens, numerous, shorter than 
the petals. Style, cylindrical. Stigmas, many. 
Spe. Char. Beiry, ovate. Petals, conivant. Flowers, red. Joints, 
obovate. 
The peculiar habit and mode of growth at once distinguish this 
species. It rises with a perfectly straight, erect, slender, but firm 
and stiff, round stem, to a height of from ten to twenty, or even thirty 
feet, very gradually tapering to a point from a diameter of two to 
six inches at the base, and furnished all the way up with short, 
mostly horizontal or declining branches, spreading round on all sides, 
and gradually becoming shorter upwards ; the ^\\o\e plant resembles 
a straight taper ; pole, artificially dressed up with branches ; main 
stem perfectly round, continuous and straight throughout ; branches 
horizontal, or declining, short ; the ultimate ^om^s are obovate, and 
resemble leaves in appearance and thickness, more than in any other 
described species of Opuntia ; being only about twice as thick as 
those of Cereus phyllanthus^ phyllanthoides, but stiffer ; the whole 
plant is a bright green inclining to yellow, especially in young or 
sickly plants ; the lower part of the stem, only is brownish ash-color- 
ed ; the Jlowers open in long succession, being abundantly produced 
all over the plant from the prominent parts of the edges of the ter- 
minal joints ; they are bright lemon-yellow, middle-sized ; when ex- 
panded, from an inch to an inch and-a-half in diameter ; and without 
Vol iv.— 180. 
