CEREUS. 41 



C. multiplex. 



A globose or pear-shaped species (Fig. 16), 6 inches high by 

 4 inches in diameter ; ridges clothed with clusters of spines, the 

 central one longest. Flowers 6 inches to 8 inches long, and about 

 the same across the spreading patals ; tube clothed with small, 

 hairy scales ; sepals long and pointed ; petals 1 inch wide, spreading ; 

 stamens in a ring round the whitish-rayed stigma. It flowers in 

 autumn if grown in a warm, sunny position under glass or in a 

 room window. South Brazil. A form of it named cristatus 

 has the stem curiously divided after the manner of a cockscomb. 

 So far as is known, neither this nor any other of the " monster " 

 Cactuses produce flowers. 



C. paucispinus. 



A dwarf species, the stem being about 9 inches high, by 4 inches 

 in diameter, the ridges irregular, thick and lumpy, giving the plant 

 a gouty appearance. Spines, pale brown in tuft) of about eight, 

 the longest nearly 2 inches Flowers developed two or three 

 together in May near the top of the stem ; tube 2 inches long, 

 clothed with spines and green scales ; petals 2 inches long, rounded 

 at the tips, and coloured deep blood-red, tinged with orange inside. 

 Stamens in a compact cluster. New Mexico, 1883. Can be grown 

 in a cool fiame or even in the open in a sheltered, sunny nook 

 if kept quite dry during winter. 



C. pecten-aboriginum. 



Stem; erect, solitary, ultimately becoming 25 feet high, and 

 1 foot in diameter, with erect branches. Ribs ten, of a purplish hue, 

 clothed with closely-set tufts of hairs and about ten spines, which 

 are stout, straight, about 1 inch long, radial, with one or two central 

 ones, ash-coloured. Flowers white, 2 to 3 inches long. Fruit 

 globose covered with yellow spines, and forming balls 3 inches in 

 diameter. The Indians grind the seed to mix with meal, and use 

 the bristly covering of the fruit as a hairbrush. Mexico and Lower 

 California. (Fig. 17.) 



C. pectinatus. 



Described as having four or five flowers open at once on a 

 single stem, and a cluster of stems with seventy or more 

 flowers, each 3 inches across, bright purple, and very fragrant. 

 It may be grafted on to short pieces of Cereus grandiflorus. 

 Several varieties have been described, viz. : rigidissimus, remark- 

 able for its stout, rigid, variegated, radial spines, and the absence 

 of central ones ; robustus, I foot high, with reddish spines and 

 bright rose-red flowers, the lower part of the petals white. Mexico. 



pentalophus. 



Stem slender, erect, with five prominent ridges, along which 

 j*re little clusters of small spines about ? inch apart. The flowers 



