122 CEREUS GIGANTEUS 
staminibus numerosis (40-50) ineequalibus (externis majoribus) ; stylo exserto; stigmatibus 5 adpressis albidis. — The 
flower cannot be distinguished from that of the Opuntie applanate, but it is only 8-10 lines in diameter ; ovary 9-12 
lines long. Flowers (in St. Louis) July and August. 
O. arBorescEeNs, Engelm. in Wisliz. Rep., is recognized by Prince Salm as identical with his 0. stellata ; 
but as no description of his plant has ever been published, he adopts the above name. [209] 
IV. NOTES ON THE CEREUS GIGANTEUS OF SOUTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA, AND 
SOME OTHER CALIFORNIAN CACTACE. 
From THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTs, Seconp Serres, Vou. XIV. Nov. 1852. 
In Emory’s “ Notes of a Military Reconnaissance,” published in 1848 by order of Congress, I 
have ventured, from the data furnished. by Colonel Emory, to describe one of the largest Cacti ever 
known. Since then several travellers have met with this giant of the Gila country, and have con- 
firmed the extraordinary accounts of the first discoverer. But no further scientific details were 
obtained till Colonel Emory — now again in those regions as the chief of the scientific corps of the 
United States Boundary Commission — had occasion early this spring (1852) to send an expedition 
down the Gila River. Dr. C. C. Parry, who was connected with this party, paid particular attention 
to the Cacti of that region, and made it an especial object carefully to examine the Cereus giganteus. 
From his very full notes, kindly communicated by Colonel Emory, I have completed the description 
of the plant, with the exception of the flower and fruit, the account of which rests as yet on the 
verbal information obtained by Dr. Parry. 
CEREUS GIganTEvS, Engelm. in Emory’s Rep. p. 158: erectus, elatus, simplex, sepius parce ramosus; [336 (2)] 
gerrel erectis caule cylindrico versus apicem sensim attenuato brevioribus ; vertice parum depresso lanato ; 
ostis ad basin 12 versus apicem 18-20 rectis compressis obtusiusculis (versus basin obtusissimis) subrepandis; sinubus 
pot angustis ; areolis prominentibus orbiculatis albido-tomentosis ; aculeis rectis, radialibus 11-17 brevioribus 
setaceis albis, centralibus 6 robustioribus oo (quorum imus robustissimus deflexus) tenuiter sulcatis albidis 
basi bulbosa nigris apice rubellis ; floribus . seminibus ie ee nigris levibus lucidis. 
Dr. Parry found this melusitid species, ‘which de liane name “Suwarrow,” in rocky crevices and on gravelly 
table-lands, from Tucson north to the Rio Gila; he learned that it also occurs in Central Sonora, near the heads of 
streams which empty into the Gulf of California. Colonel 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 mouth, 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 a cylindrical Cactus (Organos del 
Tunal) of extraordinary height. 
ms 25 to 60 feet high and 1 to 2 feet in diameter, not absolutely cylindrical, but thickest about the lower 
third, where generally the few (mostly 2-3) alternate or sometimes opposite branches start, and from thence slightly 
tapering toward the summit. Stems and branches marked by superficial transverse furrows, indicating, as it seems, 
the annual periods of growth, forming rings of 4 to 8 inches in height. Branches unequal, and always of less height 
than the main stem, mostly 5-10 feet long, with 12-18 ribs. 
The stem consists of an exterior fleshy substance, 3-6 inches in thickness. This encloses a circle of bundles of 
ligneous fibres, corresponding with the intervals between the ribs. These bundles are of a loose texture, but tough 
and elastic, and form continuous columns or sticks of 4 to 3 inches in diameter, frequently anastomosing, increasing in 
thickness towards the base, and swelling into irregular, knotted, horizontally spreading roots. This frame- work 
remains after the decomposition of the fleshy parts. The exterior fleshy tissue passes between the bundles, and forms 
in the centre of the stems the pith, of 4-6 inches diameter. 
The ribs are mostly vertical, at the base about 12 in number, broad, rounded, 4 inches or mo: 
wide, with broad and shallow intervals (also 4 or 5 inches wide), worn, and destitute of spines. Uprant [337 (3)] 
= number of ribs increases by bifurcation, or additional ribs originate in the intervals. There the ri 
“sharply rounded,” 14 inch wide, with deep intervals 2} inches wide, densely set with pines. eli somewhat 
