F 



f 



^■^ 



336 



CACTUS repandus. 



H^avy-angled Tm'ch-thkile. 



ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



NaL ord. Cacti. Jussieu gen. 310. Div. 11, Petala et Stamina inde- 

 nnita. 



CACTUS. Suprh vol. 2.fol. 137. 



Div. Cerei erectif stantes per se. 

 C. repandus, erectus, longus, octangularis: angulis compressis undatis: 



sptnis lana longioribus. Lin. sp. pi. ed. 2. I. 667> 

 Cactus repandus. tVilld. sp. pi. 2. 940. Hort. Keiv. 2. 151. ed. 2. 3. 277. 

 Cactus erectus cylindrlcus sulcatus tenuior summitate attenuatus, aculeu 



confertis. Browiejam, 238. 

 Cereus gracilis. Mill. diet. 8. w. 8 ; (rectius quant Cereus repandus ejusdem 



loci n. 5. in Hort. Keio. citatus). 

 Cereus altissimus gracilior, fructO extfis luteo, intiis niveo serainibus nign's 



pleno. Sloanejam. 2. 158. Trevs ehret.t. 14. 



Native of Jamaica and other parts of the West Indies, 

 where it grows in the woods, to the height of fifteen or 

 twenty feet. Sloane tells us that the fruit ripens in October, 

 and is eaten. By some this is described as having the 

 flavour of a strawberry. The dry stem of the plant is used 

 by the natives for a torch to catch fish by, in the night-time. 

 They hold it at the ends of their boats, lighted, and the 

 fish leaping at it, they strike them with spears for the pur- 

 pose. 



The plant rarely blossoms in this country. The present 

 drawing was taken from one that flowered and ripened its 

 fruit, at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley, Brames, and Milne, 

 Fulham. 



Introduced by Mr. Philip Miller, in 1728. It is for from 

 being so well known in our collections as the Great Night- 

 flowering Cereus (Cactus grandifiorus) , nor indeed is it^ so 

 deserving of the attention of the gardener, the flower being 

 far less ornamental, and the fruit not worth being procured 

 at the expense of a hothouse. 



VOL. Vf. 



