320 
38. cactacejs. 
orate or oral joints, without spines, but elegantly and regu- 
larly thick-set with short dense tufts of conspicuous golden 
seta, plain lemon-y. fl. and gr. fi\, &c. 
tft3. Pereskia Plum. 
dt+l. P. ACULEATA Mill. Barbadoes Gooseberry. 
St. climbing sarmentose the younger branches armed with 
short axillary deflexed prickles, the older with fascicles of long 
straight slender spines; 1. oblong-ovate Subacuminate ; fl. in 
terminal panicles pale greenish -w. ; fr. small globose y. crowned 
with some of the stiff" leafy sep. — Haw. Syn. 198 ; DC. iii. 474. 
Cactus Pereskia L. — Shr. per. Mad. reg. 1, £. Arbours and walls 
in gardens in and about Funchal. Fl. Aug., Sept. ; fr. (rarely 
perfected) Jan.-June. — A climbing shr. without any of the habit 
of a Cactus, with long weak slender straggling branches forming 
a thick entangled mass or canopy on walls or arbours of ever- 
green somewhat thick or fleshy foliage ; the whole quite smooth 
except the buds which are a little woolly or hairy. L. alternate 
2-3 in. long 1-2 in. broad veinless rounded or slightly cordate 
at the base acuminate whilst young. Prickles of young branches 
in pairs or solitary divaricate deciduous. Spines of st. or older 
branches in large bundles on the old axillary knobs or spurs, 
1-2 in. long. Fl. in large terminal leafy racemose panicles, 
1-1| in. in diam., like little semidouble roses or those of Caly- 
canthus prcecox L., deliciously fragrant like Primroses or Cows- 
lips. Fr. the size of a gooseberry amber-y. naked i. e. without 
scales or bristles, with 2-4 rather large seeds surrounded with a 
mucilaginous pulp not unpleasant to the taste. In Tenerife at 
S ta Cruz I found it in the little public walk or Alameda by the 
sea loaded in Febr. with ripe fr., which, under the idea of its 
poisonous nature, had been suffered thus to remain untouched. 
Seeing that I survived however the supposed rash experiment 
of eating the ripe berries, the rising generation of the town soon 
took courage ; and to such effect, that in a few days I could no 
longer find a single berry for myself. 
Rhipsalis salicornioides Haw. Suppl. 83, BM. 2461, is also occa- 
sionally seen in gardens. 
KibisacE/F. or Grossulariace.e aro very feebly represented in Mad. 
by a few Gooseberry and Curranl bushes (It u>es Grossularia L. 
and R. ruhra L.), cult, scarcely below 2000 ft.; the former 
principally about flic Jardini da Serra, producing plenty of 
i'r., which however mostly shrivels up without properly ripen- 
ing or acquiring any flavour, and which is therefore only sold 
in its unripe state under the name of Uvas Inglcscs to the 
English in Funchal in Apr. or May: the latter producing at 
most only a few miserable bunches. 
