112 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Phyllobius continued. 



the body black, covered with grey hairs, and occasionally 

 shows a brown or red tinge on the wing-cases. The legs 

 and antennae are reddish or brownish-yellow. In summer, it 

 gnaws the buds and the young leaves of most fruit-trees, 

 often doing considerable damage. Other species that, 

 at times, are hurtful in the same way, are P. Pyri (which 

 is much like the last, but bears narrow, green, blue, or 

 coppery scales, and has rusty-red legs and antennas) 

 and P. viridicollis (smaller, with a black, shining body, 

 covered on the sides of the thorax and the breast with 

 green scales; and red legs and antennae). 



Remedy. The most effectual is to beat the trees in 

 the early morning, especially in dull weather, over an 

 inverted umbrella, and to kill the beetles so collected 

 in boiling water. A box or tray, tarred inside, may be 

 used instead of an umbrella. 



FH YLLOC ACTUS (from pliyllon, a leaf, and Cactus ; 

 in reference to the leaf-like stems). STN. Pnyllocereus. 

 Including Disocactus. OED. Cactece. A genus comprising 

 about thirteen species of stove, epiphytal, succulent 

 shrubs, natives of tropical America, from Mexico to Peru. 

 Flowers rose, white, or red, axillary from the base of the 

 rounded sinuses of the flattened, leaf-like branches ; calyx 

 tube generally long, slender, smooth; lobes remotely 

 scattered, coloured ; petals numerous, very rarely few, 

 spreading ; stamens numerous ; stigma many-rayed. Fruit 

 baccate, angular, smooth, ribbed ; seeds kidney-shaped ; 

 cotyledons connate, sub-foliar. The botanical character- 



FIG. 132. LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF FLOWER OF PHYLLOCACTUS. 



istics of a flower of Phyllocatcus are shown in Fig. 132, 

 where a represents the calyx tube; b, calyx lobes; c, 

 petaloid calyx lobe ; d, petals ; e, style ; /, ovary. 



The species of Phyllocactus are of easy culture; they 

 prefer a rather dry stove or warm greenhouse tem- 

 perature, but will succeed in a frame, or even a 

 window, after being once established. The most suit- 

 able soil is a light, porous loam, with some leaf mould 

 and brick rubble intermixed. Drainage to the extent 

 of one-fourth should be given, and rather small pots used 

 in proportion to the size of plant. When plants have 

 attained a good size, and their pots are filled with roots, 

 an annual top-dressing of soil and cow-manure should 

 be given, and during the growing season a little liquid 



Phyllocactus continued. 



manure may also be applied. Watering must be rather 

 carefully conducted, especially in winter : the roots soon 

 die if kept too wet, or in too great a bulk of soil. 

 Phyllocacti do not require any shade from sunshine, 

 and they may be placed under a sun7<y south wall out- 

 side from about the end of June until the end of August ; 

 this greatly assists the ripening. They should be kept 

 rather dry in winter. Cuttings of the mature shoots, 

 about Gin. in length, taken before growth has commenced, 

 in spring, and inserted singly in well- drained Sin. or 

 4in. pots, will root in a short time, if placed in a 

 temperature of about 60deg. They should not be covered 

 with a glass or watered, beyond the slightest syringing, to 

 prevent the soil becoming very dry. Seeds ripen freely 

 on healthy plants; they should be sown in spring, and 

 placed in about the same temperature as cuttings. When 

 the seedlings appear, a light position must be afforded 

 them until they are large enough to pot off singly. 



FIG. 133. BRANCH OF PHYLLOCACTUS ACKERMANNI. 



P. Aokermannl (Ackermann's).* /. with rich crimson, shining 

 petals, the outer ones lighter in colour, from 6in. to Sin. in 

 diameter, freely produced in the depressions of the stems. 

 Summer. Sterna flat, deeply crenated or notched, seldom with 

 any spines in the notches except when young. Mexico, 1829. One 

 of the handsomest species grown ; from it a number of beau- 

 tiful varieties have been raised. See Fig. 133. (B. M. 3598; 

 B. B. 1331, under name of Cactw (Epiphyllum) Ackermanni.) 



P. anguliger (angle-bearing).* f.. from 3in. to 5in. in diameter ; 

 petals white ; sepals orange or yellowish, narrow, and spread- 

 ing, open during the day, and emitting a powerful fragrance. 

 October. Stems deeply angled, 2in. to 3m. in diameter, indented 

 on the margin somewhat like a large saw with the teeth turned 

 upwards, forming blunt, triangular lobes. Mexico. A very dis- 

 tinct species. See Fig. 134. (B. M. 5100 ; L. & P. F. G. 34.) 



P. blformis (two-formed), fl. somewhat ephemeral, terminal at 

 the points of the branches ; petals narrow, 2in. to 3in. long, par- 

 tially combined into a kind of tube of a pale rosy-pink colour. 

 Branches narrow, flattened and leaf-like, reddish on the margins. 

 Plant branching freely, forming a rather graceful, fleshy shrub. 

 h. 3ft. Honduras, 1839. Not a very showy species. See Fig. 135. 

 (B. M. 6156.) SYN. Disocactus Uformis(B. R. 1845, 9). 



P. crcnatus (crenated).* /. creamy-white in the centre ; outer 

 petals narrow and more orange-coloured, very fragrant, and from 

 oin. to 8in. in diameter. Stems flat, slightly crenated. Honduras, 

 1839. A handsome species, from which a great number of lovely 

 hybrids have been raised. (B. B. 1844, 31, under name of Cereus 

 crenatus.) The variety known as coccineus has large, scarlet 

 flowers, which open widely. Mr. C. M. Hovey, Boston, U.S., has 

 produced a race of hybrids between Phyllocactus crenatus and 



