336 Dr. Engelmann on the Cereus giganteus of California. 
Cerevs cicanteus, Engelm. in Emory’s Rep., p. 158— 
Erectus, elatus, simplex, sepius parce ramosus; ramis erectis 
canle cylindrico versus apicem sensim attenuato brevioribus ; 
vertice param depresso lanato; costis ad basin 12 versus apicem 
18-@0) rectis compressis obtusiusculis (versus basin obtusissimis) 
subrepandis; sinubus profundis angustis; areolis prominentibus 
orbiculatis albido-tomentosis ; aculeis rectis, radialibus 11-17 bre- 
Vioribus setaceis albis, centralibus 6 robustioribus longionbus 
(qnorum imus robustissimus deflexus) tenuiter sulcatis albidis 
si bnibosa nigris apice rubellis; floribus.... bacca... seminibus 
oblique obovatis nigris levibns lucidis, 
Dr. Parry found this splendid species, which the Indians name 
“ Suwarrow,” in rocky crevices and on gravelly table lands, from 
Tueson, north to the Rio Gila; he learned that it also eccurs in 
Central Sonora, near the heads of streams which empty into the 
Gulf of California. Col. Emory observed it in 1846, from the 
middle towards the lower Gila; and Dr. LeConte, who explored 
California in 1850, informs me that he found it ‘common along 
the Gila to within thirty miles of its niputh, where it suddenly 
disappears.” It is no doubt the same plant of which Humboldt 
makes mention in his work on New Spain, (II, p. 225,) where 
he says that the Spanish missionaries found at the foot of the 
Californian mountains nothing but sand or rocks, on which grew 
quently anastomosing, increasing in thickness towards the base, 
and swelling into irregular, knotted, horizontally spreading roots. 
This frame-work remains after the decomposition of the eshy 
parts. The exterior fleshy tissue passes between the bundles 
and forms in the centre of the stems the pith, of 4—6 inches di- 
ameter. 
The ribs are mostly vertical, at the base about 12 in number, 
broad, rounded, 4 inches or more wide, with broad and shallow 
rvals, (also 4 or 5 inches wide,) worn, and destitute of spines 
. 
