VOL. XXXVI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. J41 



At 5^ 17"^ 10". . the first emersion. 

 6 17 40 .. the end of the eclipse. 



y4 Description of the Cereus Peruvianus,* which Jlowered at Nuremberg, in the 

 Year 1730. By Dr. Chr. Ja. Treiv.f N" 4l6, p. 462. 



This cereus, separated from another, of which it was a branch 7 years be- 

 fore, and exposed in open air ail summer, grew without pushing forth 

 branches. It is 6 feet 3 inches high, and 13 inches thick. It has 7 angles at 

 its basis, 8 about the middle, and 9 near the top. Its upper part is of a sea- 

 green, on account of the powder with which it is covered; its lower of a grass- 

 green. The down of its prickles is between pale and white about the top, every 

 where else it is brown. On Sept. 5, at the height of 6 feet 2 inches from the 

 ground, it shot forth a certain round knot from its trunk, which without any 

 help of art, so increased and extended almost horizontally, that on the 14th, 

 it was 8 inches long, and plainly showed a flower, though as yet closed, embel- 

 lished with a beautiful mixture of green, purple, and white. This same even- 

 ing the flower began to open, and continued till midnight, when being entirely 

 spread, it was 6 inches in diameter. It was of a pretty strong, but not very 

 pleasant smell. After midnight it gradually contracted about half an inch, and 

 remained thus till next day at noon. It then began to contract faster, to half 

 the diameter the expanded flower was of; and the next morning it was quite 

 closed and withered, but hung on the trunk till Sept. 30. 



The beginning of the flower is a sort of tube 3 inches long, not quite an inch 

 thick, between a yellow and a pale green. Its surface smooth, but channelled 

 by certain small narrow furrows, between which, blunt protuberances were seen 

 to run, in a parallel order, along the ridges. Where the tube expanded itself, 

 it divided into more than 40petaloiQ segments, ranked in 6 separate series, the 

 3 inferior and exterior of which here and there confounded their order, while 

 the 3 superior and interior remained regular and unmixed. These series were 

 distinguished by their size and colour. The pistillum of equal height with the 

 surface of the flower, and hollow like a small tube, ran, at its upper end, 

 into as many fine pale filaments, spread in the form of a crown, as there were 

 segments in the inmost row, viz. 13. 



* Cactus Peruvianus Linn. 



t This celebrated German botanist wrote the following works. (1) Libror. Botanicor. Catalogi 

 tres 1752—1737. (2) Plantae Selectae, folio 1750, a splendid work with coloured figures. A con- 

 tinuation was published under the title of Plantae Rariores. (3) Disquisiliones duse de Ceilro Libani 

 1757 — 1767, to which add several Dissertations inserted in the Nova Acta Nat. Curios. Dr. Trew 

 cultivated in his garden at Nuremberg many curious plants from all parts of the world; and in this 

 manner, as well as by his writings, he contributed largely to the advancement of botany; insomuch, 

 that Linnseus judged him worthy of the honor of having a large Malabar tree named after him. He 

 was born in 1690, and died in 1769. 



VOL. VII. 3 L 



