254 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
GARDEN PLANTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHY, XXV. 
FICOIDALES. 
THE ECHIN OCACTUS, OPUNTIA AND MESEMBRYAN- 
THEMUM ALLIANCE. 
( Continued •) 
Pereskia has thirteen species, all from tropical 
America and the West Indian Islands. These 
plants have leaves like other well formed exogens, 
and they give some countenance to the old idea 
that “cactuses” were a sort of gooseberry. They 
are often used to giaft epiphyllums upon, but va- 
rious of the quick growing columnar stemmed 
ccreus look much better for the purpose, and give, 
1 think, better support to the foster plant. 
Mesem.br yanthcmum is the “Hottentot fig” 
genus and the chief old world expression of this al- 
liance. They have names innumerable (over 400 
in the dictionaries), and it may be that there are 
300 species, chiefly South African, with a few scat- 
tered in Mediterranean countries, Australia, New 
Zealand, Brazil, and even California, it is said. It may 
be that they are adventive in some of these regions, 
for such seeds are sometimes capable of long ocean 
voyages, and painstaking comparisons often reveal 
a wonderful divergence of form in species. It is 
rarely nowadays that a collection of these plants is 
seen outside of the best botanic gardens, and they 
are apt to be neglected even there. Very many are 
MESEM BRYANTHEMUM MESEMBRYANTHEMUM 
TIGRINUM. TRICOLOR. 
capable of rich flowering effects, however. They 
are annual or perennial herbs, or ever- 
green sub-shrubs and trailers. These latter 
with good care in their growing period make 
admirable bracket plants in greenhouses, grow- 
ing down in curtains of pleasing foliage 
— often three or four feet long, and smothered with 
bloom in their various seasons. Their culture is 
very similar to that of cacteae, and they aie cer- 
tainly far more easy to handle. It is not quite un- 
derstandable why they have passed out of sight. 
The “ice plant” and one or two others are almost 
all that are commonly met with nowadays. I feel 
sure that for California they are well worth atten- 
tion. Their flowers range in color from scarlet 
through crimson and purple in many shades to pink, 
white, yellow and orange. Several species have 
some economic value. 
Tetragonia has twenty species. T. expansa is 
the “New Zealand Spinach,” so called. The “Ge- 
nera Plantarum” does not credit the genus to those 
islands. 
Aizoon has eight species of succulent annuals 
and sub-shrubs from Mediterranean countries and 
the Canaries. 
Sesuvium is the “Sea purslane” genus, common 
on the seashores of the tropics. S. pentandrum ex- 
tends northwards to New Jersey. 
Pharnaceum has sixteen species of succulent 
herbs or sub-shrubs. They are mostly confined to 
South Africa and St. Helena, and some species are 
pleasant salad plants. 
I have given all the accepted genera of the cac- 
tus tribes, chiefly for the benefit of cultivators in 
California and the South, who make them a feat- 
ure. 
My thanks are due to Professor Trelease of the 
Missouri Botanic Garden, who caused to be pointed 
out the synonomy of “Mamillaria” Williamsii. It 
has certainly a growing quantity! Professor 
Goodale of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard Uni- 
versity has also caused, attention to be directed to 
the discrepancy of appearance between the photo of 
Cereus sps. and tab. 4.707 of the Botan- 
ical Magazine. Finally, my thanks are due to Geo. 
Nicholson, Esq., curator of Kew Gardens, who says 
“Your cuts of cacti, etc., are named in conformity 
with Kew nomenclature.” 
The polyglottous names constantly being ap- 
plied to these plants by modern botanists no au- 
thority seems willing to answer for. 
It is unfortunately true that the practical result 
of a vast amount of modern investigation is stereo- 
typed confusion. 
Trenton, N. J. James MacPherson. 
The December Century contains an article by Miss 
Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore on “The Wonderful Morning 
Glories of Japan”, which is another revelation of what 
the Japanese can do in the cultivation of flowers. For 
a few years past the florists’ catalogues have contained 
glowing descriptions of the “Imperial Japanese Morning 
Glories”, which while not conveying one half of the real 
merits of the flower, failed also to explain the necessary 
details of cultivation to meet with success. Hence gen- 
erally the flower has not met with the recption its beau- 
ties merited. With some knowledge of how to treat the 
hard shelled seeds, and a certain care which the grow- 
ing of the plants demand, a planting of Japanese Mor- 
ning Glories in an ordinary way will astonish the grower 
by the variety of shades and magnific ent proportions of 
the flowers. 
