CACTI AXD THEIR CULTURE. 83 



Culture. All bear seeds which germinate easily, but the plants take 

 such a long time to grow and flower that it is better to raise them from 

 cuttings, or to buy small plants, which, except in rare varieties, are 

 inexpensive. The flowers are generally short lived, lasting from one 

 night to four or five days, and ranging in color through all the shades 

 of red, yellow, pink, purple, and many white ones. 



Cereus. The growth varies a great deal in the different genera. 

 Cereus are mostly upright, but some have clinging and trailing stems. 

 The largest cactus known is the Cereus Gigantea, of Arizona, growing 

 in great columns from thirty to fifty feet high, their lofty heads crowned 

 with white flowers. Cereus Columbrinas, that cylindrical cactus, full 

 of short spines, so often seen in our gardens, is one of the tall, very^ 

 straight growers, a night bloomer, and bears tubular white flowers. 



Grandiflora. The Grandiflora belongs to the climbing and clinging 

 species. The stems are thin, with very small spines in clusters, and have 

 long, thread-like roots, which hang down and attach themselves to 

 the trunks of trees. Reglei, Grandiflorus, McDonaldi, Xycticalus, and 

 Rostratus are among these, the last mentioned being the only red night- 

 blooming cereus. Reglei has the grandest flower of any cactus I have 

 ever seen. Two years ago one of mine bloomed whose flower measured 

 eighteen inches in diameter. The petals were very narrow, of a waxy 

 white, sepals tipped with a bright red, the innumerable silky stamens 

 sending out a delightful and delicate perfume. Although lasting only 

 a few hours, the one flower amply repaid me for the little care bestowed 

 upon this plant. Grandifloras are all epiphites, and in their native 

 tropical homes hang from the trees, heavy with the weight of their own 

 magnificent blossoms, filling the air with their sweet fragrance. 



Flagelliformis is the best known of the trailing cereus. This little 

 plant, commonly called the rattail cactus, from the form of its stem, is 

 a very rapid grower, profuse bloomer, and bears many small crimson 

 flowers. 



Speciocissimus, a three or four-sided cereus, very spiny, is too well 

 known to need description. It has large red flowers, with purple shad- 

 ing inside. 



Rare Forms. Many cacti from some cause become malformed, and 

 make all sorts of strange growths, sometimes completely changing their 

 forms. These monstrosities are very scarce and high priced, and are 

 very highly valued by collectors. The most wonderful of these is 

 Flagelliformis Cristata, which resembles an elk horn, and is called 

 elkhorn cactus. Munseys for September, 1898, mentions a cactus that 

 grows in a garden of the College of Oahu, two miles from Honolulu: 

 "The pride of the college, botanical ly, is a hedge of night-blooming 

 cereus, 1,500 feet long, which often has as many as 10,000 blossoms open 



