152 HOUSE PLANTS 



made of equal parts of fibrous loam, leaf- 

 mould, and sand, with some finely broken 

 charcoal or broken brick, for drainage. 



Another red flowered plant (but blooming 

 in June) is Phyllocactus A ckermannt . Its 

 big flowers (four to six inches in diameter 

 are like those of the night-blooming cereus, 

 (and it is grown in the same way) but they 

 are scarlet-red outside and carmine-red 

 inside. It has flat stems, and grows only 

 about three feet high. 



THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS TANGLE 



The most popular of the vine-like cactuses 

 are several quite distinct plants, but all 

 popularly known as "night-blooming cereus." 

 Two genera are confused under this name — 

 Cereus and Phyllocactus. They make long, 

 straggly stems, which may be trained up 

 along the window cases or over trellises. 

 The stems of Cereus have three to six 

 angles, while Phyllocactus stems are 

 flat, the ends looking like long, fleshy 

 oak leaves. All the cereus and the night- 

 blooming phyllocactus have large white 

 flowers. They expand just after sundown, 

 and remain open until the sun shines upon 



