DENDROCEREUS. 113 



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



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



The species is found occasionally in valleys and on mesas in its range, but is never 

 abundant. It is hard for the novice to find, as the short, dull-colored stems resemble dead 

 sticks or the common sage bush, while the large flowers appear only at night. 



Mrs. W. R. Kitt informs us that in cultivation this plant sometimes reaches a height 

 of 6 feet. About Tucson, Arizona, it flowers usually between June 1 2 and 1 6 and many of the 

 flowers appear on the same night everywhere throughout the desert. The flowers are ex- 

 tremely fragrant and collectors are thus guided when searching for the plants. 



Illustrations: Card. Chron. III. 34:^43; Cact. Emory's Exped. 157. b 6; Forster, 

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

 Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 18; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 63, 64; Schelle, Handb. Kakteenk. f. 

 23, as Cereus greggii; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 65, as Ccrciis grcggii transinontaniis; Contr. 

 U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: pi. 74, 75. 



Figure 166 is from a photograph taken at night by F. E. Lloyd at Tucson, Arizona; 

 figure 167 shows a flower and figure 168 a fruit collected by F. E. Lloyd near Tucson. 



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 exserted; 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 monotypic genus of Cuba. The name is from the Greek, meaning tree-cereus, this 

 cactus being, in outline, more like a tree than any other. 



1. Dendrocereus nudiflorus (Engelmann). 



Cereus nudiflorus Engelmann in Sauvalle, Anal. Acad. Cienc. Habana 6: 98. 1869. 



Plant often 7 to 10 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 but 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 12 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 joints, 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, shining, 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 linear-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. in diameter, entirely 

 filling 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, Matanzas, Santa Clara, and Oriente provinces, Cuba. 



Dendrocereus nudiflorus is one of the most striking and interesting of all cacti. Many 

 individuals have the general aspect of apple trees and one 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 



