CERE us NYCTICALUS. 



425 



cupy to advantage and profit the places of 

 the commoner kinds, and give results that 

 would benefit their owners as well beautify 

 their surroundings where planted. 



I cannot close this rather lengthy, but I 

 trust not altogether uninteresting, paper 

 without again saying that although it is im- 

 possible and undesirable to supplant the 

 queenly Rose, and I can almost say the 



kingly Carnation, in the estimation of the 

 flower loving public, still there are demands 

 on florists that will sometimes not permit of 

 the very general use of these as florists' flow- 

 ers, especially at this season of the year, 

 which I trust will be an acceptable apology 

 and excuse for these remarks from me on 

 " Summer Flowers for Florists." 



A NIGHT-BLOOMING CEEEUS 



Fig. 2407. Cerius Nycticalus. 



PERHAPS the cactus that is most heard 

 of is the night blooming Cereus. 

 But there are many plants which are wrongly 

 credited with being such, The Queen 

 Cactus or Phyllocactus Latifrons, is one 

 which is very generally supposed to be, and 

 is called a night blooming Cereus, when it 



does not belong to the Cereus fami'y at all. 

 It grows long, round stems, with thin, flat 

 branches, from the edge of which springs 

 the fine flowers. These are very large and 

 beautiful, and as they open at night, the 

 mistake of calling the plant the night bloom- 

 ing Cereus is quite natural. 



All the Echinopsii are night bloomers 

 also, and some think when the fine, large, 

 trumpet-shaped flowers open, that they 

 have a Cereus, but they are again wrong. 



The Cereus grandiflorus, the true night- 

 blooming Cereus, is a slender climber, and 

 has no leaves at all, the stems being five 

 and six angled, with short spines along the 

 ridges. A fine wool comes along with the 

 spines on new growth, and makes the plant 

 distinct from many of the other slender 

 climbing Cereus. Nearly all Cereii bloom 

 at night, hence are night blooming Cereus, 

 but the C. grandiflorus is queen of them all. 



C. Nycticalus is a free bloomer, and its 

 flowers are very large. A flash light photo 

 of a fine bloom a foot across is shown in the 

 engraving. It was taken about ten o'clock 

 at night in the greenhouse where the plant 

 stood. The stems of the plant can be seen 

 close alongside the flower. A great many 

 people visited the cactus greenhouse to see 

 the flower when open. 



Woodstock, Ont. J. H. Callander. 



