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DENDROCEREUS. 



"3 



In the southwest it is called deerhorn cactus or night-blooming ccreus. 



The petals were first described as pale purple, but this was probably incorrect. 



The SDccies is found occasionallv in vpIIpvq QnrI nn mf^coc I'n I'fc t-n*irri^ i^i,f :^ 



abundant. 



stems 



common 



Mrs. W. R. Kitt informs us that in cultivation this plai 

 of 6 feet. About Tucson, Arizona, it flowers usually between T 



same 



tremely 



The flowers arc ex- 



f Illustrations: Gard. Chron. III. 34:!. 43; Cact. Emory's Exped. 157. b 6; Forstcr, 



Handb. Cact. ed. 2. f. 14, 94; Monatsschr. Kaktecnk. 5: 150, 151; 14: 135; Schumann, 

 Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 18; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 63, 64; Schclle, Handb. Kaktecnk. f. 



Mex 



Herb 



from a photoirraoh taken at night bv F. E 



^1. 



E.E 



18. DENDROCEREUS gen. nov. 



Tree-like, with a thick, upright, terete trunk crowned with numerous erect or pendent branches; 

 branches 3 to 5-flanged; ribs thin and high, very spiny; areoles without long hairs; flowers nocturnal, 

 broadly funnelform, the perianth finally falling from the ovary by abscission; tube of flower sub- 

 cylindric, narrowed below, bearing short, often reflexed scales, the lower ones subtending short spines; 

 perianth-segments numerous, spreading; stamens numerous, somewhat exscrted; ovary with few 

 / areoles, these often bearing a few spines; fruit indehiscent, globular, naked, green, hard, with a 



very thick outer wall; seeds brownish, roughened; truncate at base. 



'A 



mon 



The name Is from the Greek, meaning 



more 



1. Dendrocereus nudiflorus (Engelmann). 



Cereus nudiflorus Engelmann in Sauvallc, Anal. Acad. Cicnc. Habana 6: 98. 1869. 



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Plant often 7 to lo meters high, with a definite woody trunk and a very large, much branched 

 top; trunk i meter long or more, up to 6 dm. in diameter, with a solid wood core, the bark close, 

 ' grayish brown, armed with 3 to 5 rows of clusters of spines, sometimes borne on rounded knobs; 



spines pale gray, stout biit acicular, 8 cm. long or less ; branches dull green, when young weak, 

 3 to 5-winged, made up of numerous short joints, with a very slender woody axis, about 1 2 cm. thick ; 

 ribs or wings 4 to 7 cm. high, with low crenate margins; areoles 5 to 50 mm. apart, felted, on branches 

 rather large, sometimes spineless, sometimes bearing 2 to 15 spines, these acicular, sometimes 4 cm. 

 long, with black tips; flowers 10 to 12 cm. long, borne near the tops of the terminal jomts, the wall 

 of the flower-tube thick and firm; the flower-bud nearly erect, subcylindric, narrowed at base, with 

 a few scattered areoles below the middle, ovoid-conic, blunt-pointed, viscid, shinmg, green streaked 

 with brown ; areoles of the ovary bearing tufts of white wool and usually i to 3 short black spines ; 

 outermost segments of the perianth triangular, reflexed; outer segments Hnear-oblong, greenish 

 yellow, blunt, 2 to 3 cm. long, the inner narrowly oblong, white, 4 cm. long; stamens numerous, 

 borne on the elongated throat, slightly exserted; style very thick, 5 to 6 mm. m diameter, entirely 

 fining the tube proper, 2.5 cm. long; stigma-lobes numerous; fruit globular or longer than thick, 

 sometimes pointed, 8 to 12 cm. long, smooth, greenish, naked, with a very thick tough rind 10 to 

 15 mm. thick; seeds 3 mm. long. 



Type locality: Flats, around Habana, Cuba, 



Distribution: Coast of Habana, Matan 

 Dendrocereus nudiflorus is one of the most 



Many 



individuals have the general aspect of apple trees and otle realizes that it is a cactus only 

 by rather close observation. It grows in level ground, wherever observed by us, often 

 densely surrounded by trees and bushes of various kinds. Dr. Howe's photograph, here 





