28 



THE CACTACBAE. 



So far as we know, the type has not been preserved. The species is sometimes culti- 

 vated, but it has never done well with us under glass. Mr. Berger was able to grow it at 

 La Mortola, Italy. 



There has long been considerable confusion regarding the characters of this species, 

 partly because other cacti have been confused with it. For instance, the only specimens 

 i si-veral flowers) in the Engelmann Herbarium, so named, although from the region of this 

 species, are those of a Pachycereus. 



///n.s7;u//o;;.s-: Knippel, Kakteen pi. 29; Grassner, Haupt-Verz. Kakteen 29. 1912; 

 Mollers Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 29: 355. f. 10; Schelle, Handb. Kakteenk. f. 38, as Piloce- 



hoppcnstcdtii; Bull. Soc. Acclim. France 52: f. 15, as Piloccrcits latcraiis. 



FIG. 24. Cephalocereus senilis. 



FIG. 25. Cephalocereus purpureus. 



3. Cephalocereus purpureus Giirke, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 18: 86. 1908. 



Columnar, upright, unbranched, 3 meters high or more; ribs 12 to 15, broad, low, separated by 

 narrow intervals, marked by upturned V-shaped depressions, one from the top of each areole ; areoles 

 large, longer than broad, white-woolly and spiny; radial spines 15 to 20, acicular, white, short, i cm 

 long or less; central spines 8 to 10, the longer ones 5 cm. long, brown; pseudocephalium on the west 

 side of the plant, confined to only a few of the ribs (3 to 7) ; flowers open at night, closing in the morn- 

 ing, 4 to 5 cm. long; tube and outer perianth-segments pinkish; inner perianth-segments white; 

 stamens and style included; fruit small; seeds black, roughened, large at the top, narrowed at base. 



Type locality: Serra do Sincora, Bahia, Brazil, 800 to 1,200 meters altitude. 

 Distribution: Southern central Bahia, Brazil. 



