2, Dr. Engelmann on the Cereus giganteus of California. 
Cerets Gicayteus, Engelm. in E'mory’s ep, p- 158.— 
Erectus, aa simplex, sepius parce ramosus; ramis erectis 
eaule cylin versus apicem sensim attenuato brevioribus ; 
vertice parum ae resso lanato; costis ad basin 12 versus apicem 
18-20) rectis compressis obtusiusculis (versus basin obtusissimis) 
subrepandis ; sinubus profundis angustis; areolis prominentibus 
orbiculatis albido-tomentosis ; aculeis rectis, radialibus 11-17 bre- 
Sitone obovatis nigris teins haeidia. 
Dr. Parry found this splendid species, which the Indians name 
“ Suwarrow,” in rocky crevices and on gravelly table lands, from 
Tueson, corti to the Rio Gila; he learned that it also occu urs in 
. Em 
middle towards the lower Gila; and Dr. LeConte, who explored 
California in 1850, informs me ‘that rs found it « common along 
Californian 1 mountains nothing but sand or rocks, on which grew 
a 2 Aco Cactus ( Orgaitidie del Tunal) of extteordiliny height. 
tems o 60 feet high and | to 2 feet in diameter, not abso- 
ates! esphitab ca but thickest aboiit the lower thicd, where 
generally the few (mostly 2-3) alternate or sometimes opposite 
r 
The ae pee of an exterior fleshy substance, 3—6 inches 
in thickness ; this encloses a circle of bundles of ligneous fibres, 
corr esponding with the intervals between the ribs; these bundles 
e 
quently anastomosing, increasing in thickness towards the base, 
and swelling into irregular, knotted, Shand Spreading SB: 
This frame-work remains after the mposition of the fles 
ts. The exterior fleshy tissue Hime between the Nagai 
— forms in the centre of the stems the pith, of 4-6 inches di- 
meter. 
- he ribs are mostly vertical, at the base about 12 in number, 
broad, rounded, 4 inches or more wide, with broad and shallow 
intervals, (also 4 or 5 — Ae bit and aiciant: of ae 
