which grow out at right angles from the main stem, and then curve upwards and continue their growth parallel to it; these stems have from twelve to twenty ribs, on which at intervals of about an inch are the buds with their thick yellow cushions, from which issue five or six large and numerous smaller spines. The fruits of this plant, which are green oval bodies from 2 to 3 in. long, contain a crimson pulp from which the Pimos and Papagos Indians prepare an excellent preserve; and they also use the ripe fruit as an article of food, gathering it by means of a forked stick attached to a long pole. The Cereuses include some of our most interesting and beautiful hothouse plants. In the allied genus Echinocereus, with 25 to 30 species in North and South America, the stems are short, branched or simple, divided into few or many ridges all armed with sharp, formidable spines. E. pectinatus produces a purplish fruit resembling a gooseberry, which is very good eating; and the fleshy part of the stem itself, which is called cabeza del viego by the Mexicans, is eaten by them as a vegetable after removing the spines.
Pilocereus, the old man cactus, forms a small genus with tallish erect, fleshy, angulate stems, on which, with the tufts of spines, are developed hair-like bodies, which, though rather coarse, bear some resemblance to the hoary locks of an old man. The plants are nearly allied to Cereus, differing chiefly in the floriferous portion developing these longer and more attenuated hair-like spines, which surround the base of the flowers and form a dense woolly head or cephalium. The most familiar species is P. senilis, a Mexican plant, which though seldom seen more than a foot or two in height in greenhouses, reaches from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in its native country.
Echinopsis is another small group of species, separated by some authors from Cereus. They are dwarf, ribbed, globose or cylindrical plants; and the flowers, which are produced from the side instead of the apex of the stem, are large, and in some cases very beautiful, being remarkable for the length of the tube, which is more or less covered with bristly hairs. They are natives of Brazil, Bolivia and Chile.
Fig. 3.—Branch of Phyllocactus much reduced;
the flowers are 6 in. or more in diameter.
Phyllocactus (fig. 3), the Leaf Cactus family, consists of about a dozen species, found in Central and tropical South America. They differ from all the forms already noticed in being shrubby and epiphytal in habit, and in having the branches compressed and dilated so as to resemble thick fleshy leaves, with a strong median axis and rounded woody base. The margins of these leaf-like branches are more or less crenately notched, the notches representing buds, as do the spine-clusters in the spiny genera; and from these crenatures the large showy flowers are produced. As garden plants the Phyllocacti are amongst the most ornamental of the whole family, being of easy culture, free blooming and remarkably showy, the colour of the flowers ranging from rich crimson, through rose-pink to creamy white. Cuttings strike readily in spring before growth has commenced; they should be potted in 3-in. or 4-in. pots, well drained, in loamy soil made very porous by the admixture of finely broken crocks and sand, and placed in a temperature of 60°; when these pots are filled with roots they are to be shifted into larger ones, but overpotting must be avoided. During the summer they need considerable heat, all the light possible and plenty of air; in winter a temperature of 45° or 50° will be sufficient, and they must be kept tolerably dry at the root. By the spring they may have larger pots if required and should be kept in a hot and fairly moistened atmosphere; and by the end of June, when they have made new growth, they may be turned out under a south wall in the full sun, water being given only as required. In autumn they are to be returned to a cool house and wintered in a dry stove. The turning of them outdoors to ripen their growth is the surest way to obtain flowers, but they do not take on a free blooming habit until they have attained some age. They are often called Epiphyllum, which name is, however, properly restricted to the group next to be mentioned.
Epiphyllum.—This name is now restricted to two or three dwarf branching Brazilian epiphytal plants of extreme beauty, which agree with Phyllocactus in having the branches dilated into the form of fleshy leaves, but differ in having them divided into short truncate leaf-like portions, which are articulated, that is to say, provided with a joint by which they separate spontaneously; the margins are crenate or dentate, and the flowers, which are large and showy, magenta or crimson, appear at the apex of the terminal joints. In E. truncatum the flowers have a very different aspect from that of other Cacti, from the mouth of the tube being oblique and the segments all reflexed at the tip. The short separate pieces of which these plants are made up grow out of each other, so that the branches may be said to resemble leaves joined together endwise.
Rhipsalis, a genus of about 50 tropical species, mainly in Central and South America, but a few in tropical Africa and Madagascar. It is a very heterogeneous group, being fleshy-stemmed with a woody axis, the branches being angular, winged, flattened or cylindrical, and the flowers small, short-tubed, succeeded by small, round, pea-shaped berries. Rhipsalis Cassytha, when seen laden with its white berries, bears some resemblance to a branch of mistletoe. All the species are epiphytal in habit.
Opuntia, the prickly pear, or Indian fig cactus, is a large typical group, comprising some 150 species, found in North America, the West Indies, and warmer parts of South America, extending as far as Chile. In aspect they are very distinct from any of the other groups. They are fleshy shrubs, with rounded, woody stems, and numerous succulent branches, composed in most of the species of separate joints or parts, which are much compressed, often elliptic or suborbicular, dotted over in spiral lines with small, fleshy, caducous leaves, in the axils of which are placed the areoles or tufts of barbed or hooked spines of two forms. The flowers are mostly yellow or reddish-yellow, and are succeeded by pear-shaped or egg-shaped fruits, having a broad scar at the top, furnished on their soft, fleshy rind with tufts of small spines. The sweet, juicy fruits of O. vulgaris and O. Tuna are much eaten under the name of prickly pears, and are greatly esteemed for their cooling properties. Both these species are extensively cultivated for their fruit in Southern Europe, the Canaries and northern Africa; and the fruits are not unfrequently to be seen in Covent Garden Market and in the shops of the leading fruiterers of the metropolis. O. vulgaris is hardy in the south of England.
The cochineal insect is nurtured on a species of Opuntia (O. coccinellifera), separated by some authors under the name of Nopalea, and sometimes also on O. Tuna. Plantations of the nopal and the tuna, which are called nopaleries, are established for the purpose of rearing this insect, the Coccus Cacti, and these often contain as many as 50,000 plants. The females are placed on the plants about August, and in four months the first crop of cochineal is gathered, two more being produced in the course of the year. The native country of the insect is Mexico, and it is there more or less cultivated; but the greater part of our supply comes from Colombia and the Canary Islands.
Peireskia aculeata, or Barbadoes gooseberry, the Cactus peireskia of Linnaeus, differs from the rest in having woody stems and leaf-bearing branches, the leaves being somewhat fleshy, but otherwise of the ordinary laminate character. The flowers are subpaniculate, white or yellowish. This species is frequently used as a stock on which to graft other Cacti. There are about a dozen species known of this genus, mainly Mexican.
CADALSO VAZQUEZ, JOSÉ (1741–1782), Spanish author, was born at Cadiz on the 8th of October 1741. Before completing his twentieth year he had travelled through Italy, Germany, England, France and Portugal, and had studied the literatures of these countries. On his return to Spain he entered the army and rose to the rank of colonel. He was killed at the siege of Gibraltar, on the 27th of February 1782. His first published work was a rhymed tragedy, Don Sancho Garcia, Conde de Castilla (1771). In the following year he published his Eruditos á la Violeta, a prose satire on superficial knowledge, which was very successful. In 1773 appeared a volume of miscellaneous poems, Ocios de mi juventud, and after his death there was found among his MSS. a series of fictitious letters in the style of the Lettres Persanes; these were issued in 1793 under the title of Cartas marruecas. A good edition of his works appeared at Madrid, in 3 vols., 1823. This is supplemented by the Obras inéditas (Paris, 1894) published by R. Foulché-Delbosc.
