Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A genus of plants of the natural order Cactaceæ, the cactus family, and the tribe Echinocacteæ.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun genus of strongly ribbed globose or spheroid cacti of tropical South and Central America and the Caribbean
Etymologies
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Examples
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And here he will see only the sterile treeless plain; or, if trees meet his eye, they will be such as but strengthen the impression of sterility -- some scrambling mezquite bushes, clumps of cactaceae, perhaps the spheroidal form of a melocactus, or yucca, with its tufts of rigid leaves -- the latter resembling bunches of bayonets rising above the musket "stacks" on a military parade ground.
The Death Shot A Story Retold Mayne Reid 1850
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