with obserrations upon the Management of Cactuses. 335 



the course of a few days one of them grew nearly an inch in 

 length, and in another week (July 14th,) had attained its full 

 size, and the flower expanded. It began to unfold about three 

 o'clock in the afternoon, was fully expanded at nine o'clock in 

 the evening, and continued so until three o'clock in the afternoon 

 of the next day, when it gradually closed up, and in less than an 

 hour the flower began to wilt and droop, and by night had en- 

 tirely faded. It should however be remarked that our plant ac- 

 cidentally fell out of the pot in April, and the soil was nearly all 

 shaken from the roots; if this had not happened, it would proba- 

 bly have opened several days sooner: the other bud soon after 

 fell off without making any farther progress, probably owing to 

 the cause just named. 



Of the great magnificence of this most superb species it seems 

 scarcely necessary for us to say any thing at this time, after hav- 

 ing so frequently noticed it: but our knowledge of the plant was 

 from what we had read about it; and as we have seen the flower, 

 we may be allowed to give some further account of it, from par- 

 ticular observation. 



The flower measured, from the base of the tube to tlie tip of 

 the petals, nine inches: its width at the top nearly four inches. 

 The tube is funnel shaped, of a grayish-green, covered, at short 

 distances, with tufts of blackish hairs. The petals are very nu- 

 merous, lying in two rows, lanceolate, acuminate, reflexed at 

 the edges, and of the most spotless and delicate white: the sta- 

 mens are exceedingly numerous, a double portion of them being 

 on one side, rising just above the top of the tube, where the pet- 

 als diverge from. The anthers are of a pale straw color: the 

 style is barely as long as the stamens, and could not be distinctly 

 seen at a short distance, unless looking directly down into the 

 flower: the stigma rayed. It exhales "one of the most rich and 

 delicious odors in the vegetable world, partaking, as M. Turpin 

 remarks, of the fragrance of the orange flower and the Datura 

 arborea; but to us it seems more agreeable and pleasant than the 

 orange flower itself. No language can convey an idea of its 

 beauty. 



Unlike its near ally, the Cereus speciosissimus, it possesses 

 none of the gorgeousness of that fine species: its beauty is of 

 another kind. Before the expansion of the shaggy looking buds, 

 no one would look for the transcendant beauty of the flower, 

 which, as it gradually developes itself by its unfolding petals, re- 

 veals to eye one of the most exquisite forms, united with a 

 snowy white complexion, which, for loveliness, surpasses any 

 thing that can be imagined. Its purity of color and elegance 

 of form seem too charming to gaze upon; and, as if aware of 

 this, it closes ere its unexpected beauty is scarcely observed. It 

 is figured in the Botanical Register, i. 1707, and in the Botanical 



