CACTEiE. 
177 
1. Opuntia spinossissima. Very Thorny Opun* 
tia . 
Stem round armed with prickles, joints lineari- 
oblong, prickles very numerous and long acicular 
in fascicules with a dense tuft of short woolly hairs 
at the base. 
Opuntia major spinosa caulescens, foliis atrovirentibus 
longis et angustis pendulis, flore rubro. Sloane, II. 154. t. 
224. f. 2. — Cactus brachiatus et articulatus, articulis com- 
pressis, caudice tereto erecto ferocissimo, aculeis brevibus 
confertis, Browne, 237. — Cactus Tuna, human , I. 412. — 
Opuntia Tuna, DC. Prod. III. 472. — Cactus spinossissi- 
rnus, Willd. Sp. PI. II. 945. 
II A B. Common in the driest districts on the South- 
side. Plentiful from the 5th to Gth mile-stone, Windward- 
road. 
F L. Throughout the year. 
Stem columnar, thickness of a man’s thigh, densely co- 
vered with fascicules of needle-like white prickles some of 
them upwards of two inches in length, giving off 
branches about 4-5 feet from the ground : branches pen- 
dulous. Joints elongated, about a foot in length and two 
inches or more in breadth, when mature armed with very 
long fasciculated needle-like prickles : fascicules composed 
of 3-4 prickles, implanted in a dense tuft of tawny setae, 
like those of Cow-itcli, readily penetrating the skin and 
stinging, about two lines in length. Flowers stipitate by 
the elongated ovary, about an inch in diameter, of a red- 
dish-orange colour. Petals broad-ovate, obtuse. Sta- 
mens very numerous. Style thick, surrounded at the 
base with an annular ridge : stigmata 8, cohering to form 
ahead. Fruit red, tuberculated : each tubercle with a 
tuft of stinging setae. 
This species truly deserves the appellation spinossissi- 
ma. The stem in particular is so armed with long bris- 
tles as to be unapproachable to the touch, reminding one 
of the hedge-hog and rendering the plant one of the most 
formidable to come violently in contact with. Browne’s 
designation of ferocissimo is also very appropriate. It is 
called Raquette piquante, by the French. 
Vol .2. M 
