The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-30
CactuS-P1antS

OF all the strange forms of plant-life,
perhaps the most remarkable are the
members of the Cactus family. As
Americans, we should feel special
pride in these vegetable oddities, as
! they are productions of our country
| alone. They are now found, it is true,
in other lands, where they are supposed
to have been introduced. For instance,
the common prickly pear is said to
grow upon Mount Etna. Arid regions,
such as give rise to them with US, in
other countries produce the spurges
| (Eupt0rbtdce9}, which are often as
eccentric in habit and form. All are
familiar with the cacti as seen in con-
servatories, where their brilliant bios
SONS atone for their otherwise singular
and even repellent appearance.
Nature seems to have given rein to
| her fancy in the evolution to these mar
vels. In the Orchis family she rejoices
in eccentricities of beauty, copying the
forms of birds and insects, but the cacti
she revels in ugliness. We have the
candelabra-like columns of the giant
cereus, often rising to thirty or more
feet in height, and standing solitary in
the deserts of Arizona and Lower Cali
fornia, where they add to the weird
sublimity of the landscape; the round
balls of the echino-cacti, SO called from
their resemblance to sea urchins, beset
with spines, and very savage in appear
ance; the fiat, jointed stems of the Nam
p1iLGriGs, and the snake-l like forms of
the smaller cerei. Leaves are almost
always wanting, except in the pereskias,
what appear as such being merely fiat
tened expansions of the stem, covered
with thick skin, and rendered formid-
able by spines, hooks, and other cruel
devices. When touched, whole bunch
of spines will become detached at once,
penetrate the hands, and, breaking off
the under skin; become exceedingly
painful. Those desirous of knowing
the sensation, can easily experiment up
on the common prickly pear (Opurats0
VetlgariS), which grows wild upon the
cliffs in the Hudson Highlands and in
other similar places. It has rather
pretty yellew flower, and an edible
fruit. It is found as far north as Nan
tucket.
Woody matter is often developed in
the stems of these plants, in wedges or
fibres, and, as in the countries where
they ere found, fuel is very scarce, this
NOOu Is uuCu uS0u 4OE OOuic5blC pII-
poses. We have even seen canes made
of it. Some cacti are also used in Mex
1co as hedges, forming thick and i'm
penetrable growth, which their natural
armature renders entirely impossible.
Their employment precludes the neces-
sity of watch-dogs or man traps. In
some parts of Southern California,
where they help to form the chapGrrdI,
L Ill lal
is at once involved in a maze of cutting
shrubbery, which is likely to drive both
horse and rider into frenzy.
The stems are apt to be, sucGulent
and Juicy, and the contained liquid, al
though somewhat tasteless or but mild
ly acerb, is used as a cooling drink, es-
pecially in fevers. The knowledge that |
water may be obtained from them is of !
ten of avail to the thirsty traveller, and
it is said that animals even will scrape off
the spines, and open the plants to salts
fy their cravings The flowers are gen
orally ephemaral, but they make up in
beauty for what they lack in duration. |
The most lovely of them all is the
famed night-blooming cereus, familiar
to the frequenters of lighthouses for its |
elegant flowers and the exquisite odor |
they emit. The fruit bears a resem-
blance to that of currants, to which the |
family is allied. Besides the economic
al uses already mentioned, the cacti |
furnishes pigments and medicines, and |
some are even eaten by cattle. One |
species of Opug1tiU forms the food for |
the cochineal-insect, so much used in
dyeing, and which is so largely export
ed from Mexico and Teneriffe F; yet, in
dependent1y of their commercial value,
they must always attract attention on
account of their peculiaritics. No other /
family presents so marked an array of
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