148 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
diameter, and weighing one ton, that was introduced about 1847, 
and for several years was the chief wonder of Kew. The Opuntias, 
or Indian figs, are also a remarkable genus of cactuses, many species 
consisting of flat, fleshy, oval or rounded segments, often like thick 
platters, joined together by a short woody connection. Many of them 
have handsome yellow flowers, some produce edible fruits, and some 
species harbour the cochineal insect, from which valuable crimson 
and other richly-coloured dyes are obtained. 
The Euphorbias, or spurges, are freely represented in the warmer 
part of the house. They are exceedingly variable, but always extra- 
ordinary in form. Some have erect, fluted, columnar 
and Aloes stems like the Cereuses, others are square, and some 
are slender, thong-like, and drooping. Nearly all of 
them secrete a milky juice that is virulently poisonous. The aloes, 
well known for their exceeding bitterness, are here in great numbers, 
the flowers of many being very beautiful. In the warm section of 
the house may be seen, too, the strange grass-tree of Australia, with 
a thick, black, cylindrical trunk, from the apex of which is developed 
a crown of innumerable slender, arching, rush-like leaves ; the 
Stapelias, South African plants, whose flowers have an odour so 
carrion-like that they are often fly-blown in summer ; the curious, 
whip-like Rhipsalis, and many more. 
The cooler end of the house is very largely occupied by Agaves 
or “ American aloes,” some of them fine, stately specimens, with 
huge fleshy leaves, so thick and rigid that the plants 
might well have been cast in iron. To the Agaves belongs 
the fabled “ century-plant ” which was supposed to live 
one hundred years, flower, and then die. The plant does die (except 
for occasional offsets) after flowering, but it does not require one 
hundred years, or any fixed time, to arrive at the flowering stage. 
Valuable fibres, notably the sisal hemp, are obtained from species 
of Agave. Here also may be noted the silver tree of South Africa ; 
the curious Testudinaria, or “elephant’s foot,” from the same region, 
with a slender climbing growth rising from a huge woody base two 
feet or so across ; the kaki from Japan, a tree whose fruits, imported 
from the South of Europe, are now frequently on sale in the London 
shops ; and, on the shelves, the interesting and often beautiful plants 
belonging to such South African, Mexican, and Canary Island genera 
as Crassula, Cotyledon, Sedum, and Sempervivum. 
Century 
Plants. 
