Cactus Culture For Amateurs

AL CHAR

s of a treatise intended only for the cultivator, yet a short account of the principa

t those which inhabit the dry, sandy plains of South Africa, which bear a striking resemblance to many of the Cactuses, particularly the columnar ones and the Rhipsalis. (The Euphorbias all have milk-like sap, which, on pricking their stems or leaves, at once exudes and thus reveals their true character. The sap of the Cactuses is watery). Amongst Stapelias, too, we meet with plants which mimic the stem characters of some of the smaller

ly, except in the Pereskia and several of the Opuntias, in which they are large, fleshy, and persistent. Flowers solitary, except in the Pereskia, and borne on the top or side of the stem; they are composed of numerous parts or segments; the sepals and petals are not easily distinguished from each other; the calyx tube is joined to, or combined, with the ovary, and is often covered with scale-like sepals and hairs or spines; the calyx is sometimes partly united so as to form a tube, and the petals are spread i

nd the Ovary. Stem covered with T

layers of bristly wool and slender spines, amongst which the small flowers

with tubercles or mammae, rarely ridged, the apex beari

cles in spiral rows, and flattened on the top,

he upper part large, fleshy, elongated, three-angled, bea

spiny; calyx tube of the flower large

tube thin, the throat filled by th

branching, ridged or angular; flowers from the sides of

hed; flowers from the sides, large, having long, t

hort; flowers from the apices of the joints; cal

produced beyond the Ovary

ed, bearing tufts of hair when young; flowers small; peta

d fleshy, or rounded; spines barbed; flowe

; leaves fleshy, large, persistent; flowers mediu

but for horticultural purposes it is necessary that the two genera Echinopsis and Pil

owers are produced low down from the side of th

silky hairs as well as spines; flowers in a

genus a particular Cactus belongs, and by referring to the descript

ay, therefore, take a plant of Phyllocactus, with which most of us are familiar, and, by observi

g from which are the large handsome flowers. On looking carefully, we perceive that the long stalk-like expansion is not a stalk, because it is above the seed vessel, which is, of course, a portion of the flower itself. It is a hollow tu

OF PHYLLOCACTUS

o, assuming the form of Petals. d, Sta

g outwards. Springing from the bases of these petals, we find the stamens, d (Fig. 2), a great number of them, forming a bunch of threads unequal in length, and bearing on their tips the hay-seed-like anthers, which are attached to the threads by one of their points. The style is a long cylindrical body, e (Fig. 2), which

ers such as would render their study as easy as the genus taken as an illustration. In some, such for insta

is, which lies along the hard ground on which it grows, and looks like hairy caterpillars. In form, the variety is very remarkable. We have the Mistletoe Cactus, with the appearance of a bunch of Mistletoe, berries and all; the Thimble Cactus; the Dumpling Cactus; the Melon Cactus; the Turk's cap Cactus; the Rat's-tail Cactus; the Hedgehog Cactus; all having a resemblance to the things whose names they bear. Then there is the Indian Fig, with branches like battledo

he articulations disappear, in consequence of the slow growth of the woody axis and the gradual development of the cellular substance; so that, at the end of a number of years, all t

s only true of them when in an old or fully-developed state. On many of the stems we find upon their surface, or angles, small tubercles, which, when young, bear tiny scale-like leaves. These, however, soon wither and fall off, so

vegetable marrow. This succulent mass is protected by a tough skin, often of leather-like firmness, and almost without the little perforations called breathing and evaporating pores, which in other plants are very numerous. This enables the Cactuses to sustain without suffering the full ardour of the

would otherwise fall a prey. Indeed, these spines are not sufficient to prevent some animals from obtaining the watery insides of these plants, for we read that mules and wild horses kick them open and greedil