GARDEN BOTANY. H 



CE. Missouriensis, from Missouri and Texas. Cinereous, very low ; 

 leaves broadly lanceolate ; corolla yellow, 4' to 6' across ; pod 4-winged ; root 

 perennial. 



CE. speciosa, from Arkansas and Texas, with large white flowers fading 

 to rose-color, and club-shaped pods. 



CE. acaulis, from Chili, with very large white flowers close to the ground . 

 the stem short and creeping ; leaves pinnatifid. 



CE. purpurea, from Oregon and California, a low annual with purple 

 flowers opening in the sunshine ; and some others of the same section (Godk- 

 tia), with rose, lilac, or nearly white petals with a purple spot, are occasion- 

 ally raised. 



Order CACTACE^. Cactus Familt. 



Manual, p. 136. — Hundreds of species are cultivated by amateurs; the fol- 

 lowing are the most generally met with. 



Stem globular or melon-shaped : flowers immersed in a mass of wool. 1. CACTUS. 



Stem cylindrical and ribbed, or triangular : flowers mostly ephemeral. 2. CEREUS. 

 Stem or branches flat, leaf-like, smooth, and not prickly, often jointed : 



flowers rose-colored, tubular, lasting day after day. ... 3 EPIPIIYLLUM. 

 Stem or branches jointed, flat orflattish, bearing prickles or bristles: 



flowers not tubular, mostly yellow. . . . Man. p. 136. 4. OPUNTIA. 



1. CactUS Melocaetus, Tukk's-Cap. Plant melon-shaped, a foot or 

 more high, many-ribbed, with star-like clusters of spines on the ribs, sur- 

 mounted, when about to flower, by a cylindrical woolly mass like a mufF in 

 which the small red flowers are partly imbedded. Brought occasionally from 

 the West Indies. 



2. Ce'reus grandifiorus, Night-blooming Cereus, with very long and 

 rooting cylindrical stems, and producing a very large flower, with many narrow 

 yellow sepals and broader white petals, opening at night and shrivelling before 

 morning, — is only occasionally met with in conservatories. 



C. flagelliformis is more common, as a house-plant, with long and 

 slender flexible stems, clothed with clusters of short and bristly prickles, bear- 

 ing rather small pink-red flowers. 



C. speeiosissimus, with erect and only 3 - 4-angled stems, very large 

 bright-red flowers with a tinge of violet inside, and white stamens, is one of the 

 most showy of all, and is common. 



3. Epiphyllum phyllauthoides, known by the flat and leaf-like or 

 winged stems, with creuate margins, from which spring the flowers ; these 

 are 4' long, narrow, tubular below, rose-colored, and lasting several days. 



E. truncatum, known by its flat and jointed recurved branches, which 

 are more or less toothed ; the flowers from the truncate apex of the joints, 

 only 2 or 3 inches long, rose-color, with a short tube, below bearing spreading 

 petaloid sepals, above very oblique ; continuing in bloom for several days. 



Order MESEMBRYANTHEMACEJS. Mesembetanthemum 



Family. 



Mesembryanthemums are fleshy-leaved plants, with an adherent calyx, bear- 

 ing a great many petals and stamens ; the fruit dry and several-celled. 



1. Mesembryanthemum spectabile is the commonest as a house- 

 plant, with long triquetrous and acute opposite leaves, rather woody stems, 

 and large red flowers. 



