CERKUS. 101 



dark brown. The petals of the flower are of a pure and 

 dazzling white ; and a vast number of recurved stamens, 

 surrounding the style in the centre, add to its beauty. 

 The fine scent of this extraordinary flower perfumes the 

 air to a considerable distance. It flowers in July ; and 

 upon large plants eight or ten flowers will open on the 

 same night, and be succeeded by others for several nights 

 together, making a most magnificent appearance by candle- 

 light. This plant does not bear fruit in this country, and 

 must be nursed in a stove, to enable it to produce flowers. 

 It is, in fact, an intruder here ; but it is to be hoped its 

 beauty will obtain pardon for its intrusion : the more 

 readily, as it introduces a very lovely relation, who has 

 right of admission, 



The Pink-flowered Creeping Cereus produces a greater 

 number of flowers than the former. They open in May, 

 or, in warm seasons, yet earlier. They are of a fine pink 

 colour, and keep open three or four days. This plant has 

 very slender branches, which should be trained to a little 

 trellis frame of sticks. The flowers are so beautiful and 

 so numerous, that it deserves some care to cherish it. It 

 may be preserved through the winter in a warm inhabited 

 room, and towards the end of May may be set abroad. 

 Very little water must be given in summer, and scarcely 

 any in the winter. About the middle of September it 

 should again be removed into the house. If there be much 

 rain or sharp winds in the summer season, this plant must 

 be sheltered ; and it must always be in a warm situation. 

 It will flower better if it can conveniently be placed within 

 the room even in summer, if near to an open window. It 

 should not have a very large pot, or a rich soil. This 

 plant is a native of Peru : the former species, of Jamaica. 



The Six-angled Upright Cereus, or Torch-thistle in 

 French, le cactier de Surinam was the first which became 



