554 CACTACEiE. Cereus. 



High hills of the Missouri, Nuttall. — Berry scarlet, about equal with the 

 tubercles. Nidt. Tubercles in 18-20 series, turning to the left, about 20 or 

 25 in each series : the axils at first somewhat tomentose. DC. — It is singu- 

 lar, if Mr. Nuttall's plant be the same with the tropical species, that it should 

 be found so far north. 



2. M. vivipara (Haworth) : csespitose, the glomerules subglobose ; tuber- 

 cles cyhndric-ovate, bearded, marked above with a proliferous groove ; flow- 

 ers (bright-red) central, large, exserted ; exterior segments of the calyx ciliate ; 

 fruit fitiform, greenish. Nuit. — Hatv. I. c. p. 42 ,- DC. I. c. Cactus (Melo- 

 cactus) viviparus, Nutt. gen. l.p. 295. 



Summits of gravelly hills, Missouri. June-Aug. — Flowers large, almost 

 similar to those of C. flagelliformis. Roots long and fusiform, penetrating 

 deep into the soil. Plants sometimes fonning masses 2 or 3 feet broad. 

 Berry about the size of a grape, smooth mid eatable. Nutt. 



2. ECHINOCACTUS. Link S^- Otto, diss. (1827) ; DC. prodr. 3. p. 461. 



Sepals numerous, imbricated, adnate to the base of the ovary and united 

 in a very short tube ; the exterior involucriform, the inner petaloid. Stamens 

 numerous. Style filiform, many-cleft at the apex. Berry somewhat squa- 

 mose with the vestiges of the sepals. — Plant simple, ovate or globose, leafless, 

 with akernate vertical ribs and furrows; the former bearing fascicles of 

 spines. Spadix none. Flowers from the clusters of spines ax the summit 

 of the ribs, similar to those of Cereus, but with scarcely any tube. DC. 



1. E. 1 viridescens (Nutt. mss. under Melocactus) : " large and nearly 

 globose, with 20 or more angles ; spadix none ; flowers (rather large) yellow- 

 ish-green, from the upper clusters of spines ; spines radiating, unequal ; 

 three of them usually larger, broad, acuminate, transversely striate ; fruit 

 green and smooth. 



" Arid hills &c. near St. Diego, California. — Sometimes afoot high and 9- 

 10 inches in diameter; seldom if ever laterally clustered. Segments of the 

 calyx ciliate, nearly the length of the linear-lanceolate petals. Berry about 

 the size of a gooseberry." Nuttall. — We have not seen the plant, but it 

 seems to be an Echinocactus rather than Melocactus. 



3. CEREUS. DC. cat. liort. Monsp. (1813) S; prodr. 3. p. 462. 



Sepals [and petals] very numerous, imbricated, adnate to the base of the 

 ovary, united in a long tube ; the exterior shorter and calycine, the middle 

 ones longer and colored, the interior petaloid. Stamens very numerous, 

 coherent with the tube. Style filiform, many-cleft at the apex. Berry 

 somewhat tuberculate or squamose with the vestiges of the sepals. — Fleshy 

 elongated shrubs, with a ligneous axis and an internal pith, grooved verti- 

 cally ; the angles bearing fascicles of spines, either numerous or few, or 

 rarely only 2. Flowers from the clusters of spines. DC. 



There is a large columnar species in Key West (perhaps C. Peruvianus), and 

 several Cacteffi noticed by Dr. James along the base of tlie Rocky Mountains (C. 

 cylindricus, James, in Long's exped. &c.) appear to belong to this genus, but we 

 have not the means for characterizing them. To this genus the following species 

 seems to belong. 



