Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/157

 *[Footnote: part of the Andes which is situated between the tropics, I have seen species of Cactus (C. sepium, C. chlorocarpus, C. bonplandii) growing on elevated plains nine or ten thousand (French) feet (about 9590 and 10660 English) above the level of the sea; but a still more alpine character is shewn in latitudes belonging to the temperate zone, in Chili, by the Opuntia ovallei, which has yellow flowers and a creeping stem. The upper and lower limits beyond which this plant does not extend have been accurately determined by barometric measurement by the learned botanist Claude Gay: it has never been found lower than 6330 French (6746 English) feet, and it reaches and even passes the limits of perpetual snow, having been found on uncovered masses of rock rising from amongst the snows. The last small plants were collected on spots situated 12820 French (13663 English) feet above the level of the sea. (Claudio Gay, Flora Chilensis, 1848, p. 30.) Some species of Echino-cactus are also true alpine plants in Chili. A counterpart to the fine-haired Cactus senilis is found in the thick-wooled Cereus lanatus, called by the natives Piscol, which has handsome red fruit. We found it in Peru, near Guancabamba, when on our journey to the Amazons river, The dimensions of the different kinds of Cactaceæ (a group on which the Prince of Salm-Dyck has been the first to throw great light) offer great variety and contrasts. Echinocactus wislizeni, which is 4 feet high and 7 feet in circumference (4 feet 3 inches and 7 feet 5 inches English), is still only the third in size, being surpassed by E. ingens]*