CACTACEAE 339 
Joints long, cylindric or 3- to 5-angled or -winged; flowers very large. 
1. Cereus 
Joints oblong-obovate, compressed; flowers small............0.0.0......... 2. Nopalea 
1. CEREUS Miller 
Succulent, climbing or erect plants with distantly jointed, 3-angled stems, 
bearing short sharp spines in scattered marginal areolae. Leaves none. 
Flowers large, solitary. Calyx-tube long-produced above the ovary, the 
lobes very numerous, many-seriate, the outer ones much-reduced. Petals 
many, 2- to many-seriate, longer than the sepals. Stamens very numerous, 
many-seriate, the filaments adnate to the base of the calyx-tube. Style 
cylindric, elongated; stigma radiate. (Latin “a wax torch,’ from fancied 
resemblance of the flowers of some species.) 
Species about 120 in the warmer and tropical parts of America, 3 in- 
troduced in the Philippines. 
Climbing; stems and branches 3-angled.........0..000.0.0200..20...... 1. C. triangularis 
Erect; stems and branches 5-winged...............0...2.....:.2:----00ce-e00e= 2. C. lepidotus 
*1. C. TRIANGULARIS (L.) Mill. Caliz (Sp.-Fil.). 
A climbing, branched plant, rooting at the joints, reaching a height of 
8 m or more, the stems triangular, 3-winged, the joints 0.2 to 1 m long, 
or more, 4 to 6 cm thick, green, the wings thick, with remote areolae, each 
areola with 3 to 5, sharp, straight, 2 to 4 mm long spines. Flowers about 
30 em long. Sepals greenish-yellow, thick, lanceolate. Petals about 16, 
2-seriate, 10 to 12 mm long, 4 to 5 cm wide, white, thin. Fruit said to 
be about 10 cm long, scarlet, smooth. (FI. Filip. pl. 224.) 
Oceasionally cultivated, fl. June—Sept. Widely distributed in tropical 
America, an introdiced plant here. 
*2. C. LEPIDOTUS Salm-Dyck. 
Stout, erect, sparingly branched, up to 3.5 m high, the branches ascending, 
10 to 12 cm in diameter, 5-winged, the margins of the wings with areolae 
1 to 1.5 cm apart, each areola with 5 to 8 slender, sharp, radiating, brown 
spines 5 to 20 mm long. Flowers solitary, about 20 cm long, the tube about 
1.5 cm in diameter, broadened above, narrowly funnel-shaped, 6 to 7 cm in 
diameter above. Sepals in several series, green, the lower ones oblong, 
short, gradually longer upward, the upper ones lanceolate to oblong- 
lanceolate, 6 to 7 cm long, 1.5 em wide, apiculate. Petals white, much 
thinner than the sepals, oblong-lanceolate, 7 to 8 cm long, 1.5 to 2 cm 
wide. Stamens very numerous. Style green, cylindric, the radiating arms 
of the stigma about 1.7 em long. 
Rarely cultivated, occasional also in thickets, San Juan del Monte, 
Masambong, etc., fl. Sept.; occasional in the Provinces, in thickets and 
cultivated. A native of South America. 
2. NOPALEA Salm-Dyck 
Erect, branched, fleshy shrubs, the branches jointed, the joints com- 
pressed, oblong to obovate, green, with scattered cushion-like bodies which 
usually bear short spines. Flowers scattered, solitary on the margins of 
the upper joints, sessile, red. Calyx-tube not produced above the ovary, 
the lobes 6 to 8, scale-like. Petals 12 to 18, 2-seriate, ascending. Stamens 
very numerous, 2-seriate, longer than the petals. Ovary exserted; style 
