84 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



CEREUS. 



CACTUS. 



OPUNTIACE.'E. ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



The origin of the name uncertain. — French, le cactier. 



The Great-flowered Creeping Cereus, called in French 

 le serpent, is a plant of extraordinary magnificence and 

 beauty. Its blossoms open in the evening : they are large 

 and sweet-scented, but of very short duration. They 

 begin to open between seven and eight o'clock ; are fully 

 blown by eleven, and by three or four in the morning 

 they fade, and hang down quite decayed. During their 

 short-lived beauty, few flowers can compare with them. 

 The calyx of the flower, when open, is nearly a foot in 

 diameter; the inside of which, being of a splendid yellow, 

 appears like the rays of a bright star : tlie outside is of a 

 dark brown. The petals of the flower are of a pure and 

 dazzling white ; and a vast number of recurved stamens, 

 surrounding the style in the centre, add to its beauty. 

 The fine scent of this extraordinary flower perfumes the 

 air to a considerable distance. It flowers in July ; and 

 upon large plants eight or ten flowers will open on the 

 same night, and be succeeded by others for several nights 

 together, making a most magnificent appearance by candle- 

 light. This plant does not bear fruit in this country, and 

 must be nursed in a stove, to enable it to produce flowers. 

 It is, in fact, an intruder here ; but it is to be hoped its 

 beauty will obtain pardon for its intrusion : the more 

 readily, as it introduces a very lovely relation, who has 

 riffht of admission. 



The Pink-flowered Creeping Cereus pi'oduces a greater 

 number of flowers than the former. They open in May, 



