171 Mr. Gardner's Journey to the Organ Mountains, 



tioncd cither by Decandolle or Lindley to be possessed of 

 this conformation, it seems to be an anomaly. The plant 

 grows in shady places of the forest, and reaches to a height of 

 from four to six feet, with the leaves growing for the most 

 part at the ends of the long slender branches. In crossing 

 over a hill about five hundred feet high, the low trees on the 

 top of it were literally covered with various species of Orchi- 

 dece, but I found nothing among them that I had not pre- 

 viously met with. Several large plants of Oncidium divaricatum 

 were in flower, as were also a small Maxillaria and some 

 small Epidendra. On this hill 1 observed two species of 

 Bambusa different from the large kinds in the woods below. 

 One of them had the internodes considerably shorter in pro- 

 portion to the size of the plant, and was altogether much 

 smaller. The other species was still less, its stem not being 

 more than a quarter of an inch in diameter, but continuing 

 of that thickness to a height of fifteen or twenty feet. The 

 getting through these was the most difficult part of our day^s 

 journey. At 4 p.m. we reached a place by the side of a small 

 stream, where I determined to remain for the night ; and while 

 the blacks were occupied in cutting wood for a fire and in 

 preparing some food, I went up the course of the little stream 

 in search of plants ; as I estimated this spot to be about 4500 

 feet high;, and naturally expected a different vegetation from 

 what there was in the plain below. The first plant that at- 

 tracted my attention was what I then imagined to be a fine 

 individual of Cereus truncatus in full flower hanging from the 

 under side of the trunk of a large tree that was bent over the 

 stream. As I wanted to add a few specimens of it to my col- 

 lection I soon managed to put myself in possession of the 

 whole plant, when to my surprise and delight I found it to be 

 a new species. I felt glad that I had taken the plant down 

 and not passed it by as I had once intended. In habit it is 

 quite like C. truncatus, but when the flowers are examined it 

 proves abundantly distinct, in its four winged ovarium, its 

 straight and regular, not oblique and irregular, flower, the 

 deeper and more delicate hue of the inflorescence, and the pink 

 not white colour of its filaments. I have named it Cereus 

 RusseUlanus in honour of His Grace the Duke of Bedford. A 



