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A genus of plants of the Cactus family. They are natives of America, from California to Chili.

Any plant of the order Cactacæ, as the prickly pear and the night-blooming cereus. See Cereus. They usually have leafless stems and branches, often beset with clustered thorns, and are mostly natives of the warmer parts of America. Cactus wren (Zoöl.), an American wren of the genus Campylorhynchus, of several species.…

A columnar cactaceous plant of the West Indies (Cereus Swartzii).

Blooming in the night. Night-blooming cereus. (Bot.) See Note under Cereus.

e Tillandsia usneoides. See Tillandsia. -- Old man's head (Bot.), a columnar cactus (Pilocereus senilis), native of Mexico, covered towards the top with long white hairs. -- Old red sandstone (Geol.), a series of red sandstone rocks situated below the rocks of the Carboniferous age and comprising various strata of si…

A cactaceous shrub (Cereus Pitajaya) of tropical America, which yields a delicious fruit.

y rings of long black prickles. -- Prickly withe (Bot.), a West Indian cactaceous plant (Cereus triangularis) having prickly, slender, climbing, triangular stems. -- Prickly rat (Zoöl.), any one of several species of South American burrowing rodents belonging to Ctenomys and allied genera. The hair is usually intermi…

moth. -- Strawberry pear (Bot.), the red ovoid fruit of a West Indian plant of the genus Cereus (C. triangularia). It has a sweetish flavor, and is slightly acid, pleasant, and cooling. Also, the plant bearing the fruit. -- Strawberry sawfly (Zoöl.), a small black sawfly (Emphytus maculatus) whose larva eats the leav…

irup made by the Indians of Arizona from the fruit of some cactaceous plant (probably the Cereus giganteus).

The giant cactus (Cereus giganteus); -- so named by the Indians of Arizona. Called also saguaro.

es of Centaurea. See Centaurea. -- Torch thistle, a candelabra-shaped plant of the genus Cereus. See Cereus. -- Yellow thistle, Cincus horridulus. Thistle bird (Zoöl.), the American goldfinch, or yellow-bird (Spinus tristis); -- so called on account of its feeding on the seeds of thistles. See Illust. under Goldfinch…