. Bulletin. 1901-13. Agriculture; Agriculture. 1 B. P. ORNAMENTAL CACTI: THEIR CULTURE AND DECORATIVE INTRODUCTION. With the exception of a few species of Rhipsalis the cacti are strictly indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. The introduction of these plants into Europe evidently began soon after the discovery of America. The English, Dutch, and Spanish traders, who early carried on a commercial business in the West Indies, South America, Central America, and Mexico, took back to their respective countries many interesting and curious plants then new to the gardens and plant lo
. Bulletin. 1901-13. Agriculture; Agriculture. 1 B. P. ORNAMENTAL CACTI: THEIR CULTURE AND DECORATIVE INTRODUCTION. With the exception of a few species of Rhipsalis the cacti are strictly indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. The introduction of these plants into Europe evidently began soon after the discovery of America. The English, Dutch, and Spanish traders, who early carried on a commercial business in the West Indies, South America, Central America, and Mexico, took back to their respective countries many interesting and curious plants then new to the gardens and plant lovers of Europe. In the earliest published reports of the introduced and cultivated plants of European gardens we frequently find accounts and in many instances illustrations of cacti. Gradually additional plants were introduced, until at the time Linnaeus published his Species Plantarum (1753) he recognized 22 species, all of which he included under the generic name of Cactus. They were commonly known as thistles, probably from the spiny character of their protective armor. The smaller, more or less globose forms, were called ''melon" thistles, while the taller ones were called ''torch" thistles or ''candle" thistles. The Ficus indica, or Indian fig, and several other species of Opuntia were introduced into the Mediterranean region at a very early date. From the time of the publication by Linnaeus the steady introduc- tion of new plants was continued from the Western Hemisphere uito Europe. These importations included many forms of cacti. ^liller, in his dictionary, enumerates a number of species distinct from those recognized by Linnaeus. Others were described and published from time to time by Haworth, Link and Otto, Salm-Dyck, P. De Candolle, Lemaire, Pfeiffer, and others. The most extensive modem systematic work is Gesammtbeschreibung der Kakteen, by Dr. Karl Schumann. It was not until within the past half century that any special interest in cacti was manife
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