CACTUS AND SUCCULENTS 119 



Picturing almost any of the Cereus is compara- 

 tively easy. It is not hard to judge when the buds 

 will open, how large they will be, and how long they 

 will last, as you can tell how to gauge the speed of 

 the camera. I have had five buds of the Heliocereus 

 specimens open one after the other in rapid succes- 

 sion. They were all on the same short branch and 

 their brilliant iridescent coloring made a wonderful 

 showing. 



The Echinopsis multiplex is the most dramatic 

 flower I have yet pictured. I had one with six buds 

 of these shimmering pink cacti, all about the same 

 size and all pointing in the same direction. The 

 stem to the bud grows about six inches before the 

 blossoms open and these six buds grew resembling 

 snake's-heads toward the camera. It took them four 

 days, the buds getting larger all the time. I placed 

 them in a very beautiful rock garden, rocks and crys- 

 tals of many colors. The camera that was facing the 

 cluster was picturing them in Technicolor, so the 

 color of the stones was being registered as well as the 

 plant and buds and another camera at the same time 

 was taking a side view. 



The buds all opened into two rows one above the 

 other of three each. The combined cluster was four- 

 teen inches long and eight high. The opening took 

 place between 10 P.M. and 7 A.M. It was a sight well 



