Prickly Fig

Prickly Fig (Opuntia) - There are several of these succulent plants in cultivation, but few are hardy enough for the open air in our climate. The hardiest are O. vulgaris, missouriensis, humilis, brachyantha, and Rafinesquei; the finest being O. Rafinesquei, an evergreen well worthy of culture, bearing in summer large showy yellow blossoms on fleshy branches. It thrives in a sunny corner of the rock garden in good dry soil, sheltered from any passing danger to the stems, for it is rather fragile, and anything brushing against it would injure it, but by the skilful placing of a few rough stones it is easy to prevent injury without shading the plant. To prevent splashings, the ground might be surfaced with a dwarf mossy Saxifrage or Sandwort. Snails and slugs are fond of this plant, and in spring, and even in mild winters, may destroy it. A dressing of soot will keep away these pests. To increase the plant, the cutting, a single joint, is potted in sandy soil, and the pot placed in a sunny airy spot under glass and watered very sparingly, and in a short time it will form roots, and commence to push out young shoots. The hardier kinds are from N.W. America, where the winters are severe.

Recently, the German traveller, Dr Purpus, and various American botanists have found in the mountains of Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, and Arizona a rich variety of hardy Cacti thriving at elevations of 5,000 to 8,000 feet. The entire collection contains upwards of 100 kinds of Cacti (species and variety) of proved hardiness throughout C. Europe, many of them plants of real beauty and value for our rock and wall gardens. The Darmstadt collection fills a large rock garden formed of limestone blocks, and Dr Purpus considers the use of limestone essential for these plants, all being found on soils of this nature. In many botanical gardens in Germany a feature is made of these hardy Cacti, and their value is well seen at Giessen, Jena, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Dusseldorf, and many other places. Many of the Opuntias produce beautiful flowers from the middle of June to October, which in many cases are remarkable for their bright color.

The following kinds may be considered hardy for C. Europe:—

Related Flowers

Opuntia Arborescens

Opuntia Arborescens - Tree-like in its wild state, with a stout stem 30 feet or more in height, covered with clusters of sharp spines, and many rose or rosy-purple flowers. In C. Europe it spreads on the ground instead, and is the least hardy of outdoor kinds. Opuntia camanchica, with its seven varieties, some so distinct that they might be classed as separate species. Thus, albispina, with large brown-yellow flowers and long white spines upon the joints; pallida, with very pale yellow flowers; rubra, a beautiful little plant with rosy or deep pink flowers, and golden stamens; spinocentra, with large yellow flowers; and gigantea, orbicularis, and salmonea.

Opuntia polyacantha

The O. polyacantha, or missouriensis, bears pale yellow flowers upon large flat joints, studded with fine spines set in bunches of yellow down. It is a creeping plant in cultivation since 1814, but until lately always under glass. There are two beautiful varieties of it: erythrostemma, with yellow flowers and red stamens; and salmonea, with salmon-pink flowers. O. fragilis is an old greenhouse plant of drooping habit, its short, rounded joints thickly set with white spines and little yellow flowers. Its variety caespitosa is more compact, with larger yellow flowers shading to brown in the centre, and bright red stamens. O. mesacantha is a little tuft of spreading, spiny growths, with bright yellow flowers in summer. O. Greenii bears beautiful pale lemon-yellow flowers. O. Rhodantha and xanthostemma are, perhaps, the finest of all. The first exists under five distinct forms—O. Rhodantha, with large rosy-lilac flowers of rich silky texture, the stamens bright red, and the style green; var. brevispina, in which the joints are large and of a dark grey-green, covered with short spines and bearing very large flowers of intense carmine color; flavispina, with smaller, pale green joints and with larger spines, which in their early stages are yellow with green tips, the flowers large and rose-colored; pisciformis, so called from the fish-like joints studded with flowers of pale pink with bright red stamens; and Schumannianae, with the largest flowers 2 inches or more across and bright crimson, upon erect growths of a pretty blue-green color. O. xanthostemma bears flowers of carmine-purple, which, with the golden stamens, are striking in effect; it also exists in several varieties, as follows: elegans, with large rosy glossy flowers glistening when newly expanded; fulgens, with flowers of glowing carmine; gracilis, with smaller pale pink flowers; orbicularis, with rounded growths and many pale pink flowers of 2 to 3 inches across; and rosea, with numerous blush-pink blossoms. Other kinds, such as the O. arenaria, arkansana, cymochila, hybrida, macrorhiza, and phaeacantha, have now lived in the open air for several seasons; all the plants we have named, with others, thrive in the open air with complete success. To do well they must have a sunny spot, as open to the winds as their own mountain tops, but dry, well drained, and with a sufficient layer of limestone soil.—H. C.