
168 THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
be worn in the hair or bosom without danger of drooping from the heat of the ball-room; but they are without 
scent.” The redness of the leaves and branches deepens in intensity in proportion as the plant is fully exposed 
to the sun and air. The species is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, whence it was introduced in 1802. 

5.—MESEMBRYANTHEMUM MICANS Lin. THE GLITTERING FIG-MARIGOLD. 
Encravines.— Bot. Mag., t. 448; and our fig. 5, in Pl. 33. semicylindrical, bluntish, somewhat recurved, glittering from papule, 
Serciric Cuaracrgr.—Stem erect. Branches scabrous. Leaves | Lobes of calyx and petals acutish. (G. Don.) 
Description, &c.—This species has received its name of glittering from the number of little pustules filled 
with water that are conspicuous on the stem-leaves, and which have obtained for some of the species the name of 
Ice Plant. The flowers are handsome when the sun shines on them, but they lose their beauty the moment the 
sun withdraws his rays; and even in broad day-light, when the sun does not shine full upon them, they assume 
a somewhat ragged appearance which is not at all ornamental. The species is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, 
and it was introduced in 1716. 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
CACTACEA Dec. 
EssentiaL Caaracter.—Calyx composed of many sepals, usually | are equal in number to the lobes of the stigma. Style filiform, some- 
indefinite in number and confounded with the petals, united and | times full and sometimes fistular. Stigmas numerous, either spreading 
adnate a great length to the ovarium. Petals disposed in two or more | or connected into a cluster. Fruit fleshy, one-celled, many-seeded, 
serics, hardly distinguishable from the inner sepals, and sometimes | either smooth and crowned by the calyx, or covered with scales, scars, 
united to them. Stamens indefinite, disposed in many series, more or | or tubercles, and umbiculate at the apex. Seeds when young parietal, 
less cohering with the petals or inner sepals; filaments slender, fili- | but when mature, embedded in the pulp with which the cells are 
form ; anthers ovate, versatile, two-celled. Ovarium ovate, fleshy, | filled, oval or obovate, without albumen. 
one-celled, with numerous ovula arranged on parietal placentas, which 
Description, &c.—The plants belonging to this order are all fleshy or succulent shrubs, very variable in 
habit, and frequently of the most grotesque forms. The stems are usually angular, winged, or beset with 
tubercles, and when they are cylindrical they are usually jointed. The leaves are frequently wanting, and when 
they are present they are generally small, and soon fall off. The plants are furnished with numerous prickles 
or bristles, rising in tufts from the axils of the leaves when there are any leaves, and when there are not, disposed in 
the angles of the stems and rising from tubercles. The flowers are generally very ornamental, and the fruit, which 
is eatable, bears considerable resemblance to that of the gooseberry, though it is less acid. There are several 
genera, all of which were once comprised in the Linnean genus Cactus ; which genus modern botanists have 
completely set aside. These genera, however, are very distinct from each other, and may be easily distinguished, 
when seen, by the form of their stems even when not in flower. Thus the species of Mammillaria are known 
by their projecting tubercles; the different kinds of Melocactus by their large ribs, and by a curious kind of 
spadix or flowering head fixed on the upper part of the plant, which is densely covered with short woolly brown 
bristles. The species of Echinocactus resemble those of the Melocactus, but without the head; those of Cereus 
have long slender stems or leaf-like stems as in Cereus speciosus. The kinds of Opuntia have all fleshy leaf-like 
stems ; and those of Pereskia, which require a hot moist stove, are like miniature trees. Most of the plants con- 
tained in this order require a stove in Great Britain; and only a few species of the genus Cereus can be flowered in 
a greenhouse, 

