CEREUS GIGANTEUS AND C. THURBERI. 125 
V. FURTHER NOTES ON CEREUS GIGANTEUS OF SOUTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA 
WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF ANOTHER ALLIED SPECIES IN SONORA. 
FROM THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND Arts, SECOND Series, Vou. XVII. Marcu, 1854.* 
SpEcIMENS of flowers and fruit, together with interesting notes and drawings communicated by 
Mr. George Thurber, and specimens of ribs of the plant with spines presented by Dr. Parry, enable 
me to perfect the history of this giant Cactus. Mr. Thurber travelled through the Gila country and 
Sonora, as one of Mr. Commissioner Bartlett’s party, in the summer of 1851, and is believed to be 
the only scientific gentleman who has seen the plant in question in flower. These materials enable 
me to furnish the following detailed character. 
CEREUS GIGANTEUS, Engelm.: erectus, op simplex, s. ramis paucis erectis caule cylindrico versus apicem 
sensim attenuato brevioribus candelabri is; vertice applanato tomentoso ; costis ad basin caulis sub-12 versus 
apicem 18-20 rectis obtusis (vetustioribus ad eat basin obtusissimis) subrepandis ; sinubus ad basin oat latissimis 
versus apicem profundis angustioribus angustissimisque ; areolis prominentibus éraicenbiedieds junioribus albido- 
tomentosis ; aculeis rectis basi valde bulbosis tenuiter sulcatis angulatisque albidis demum cinereis, radialibus 12-16 
imo summisque brevioribus, lateralibus (preecipue Rear ete longioribus robustioribus warn cum re adven- 
titiis paucis setaceis summo areole margini adjectis ; aculeis centralibus 6 robustis albidis bas 
apice rubellis demum totis cinereis, 4 inferioribus decussatis quorum infimus longissimus rai [232 (2)] 
deflexus, 2 superioribus lateralibus brevioribus ; floribus versus apicem caulis ramorumque , tubo 
ampliato breviusculo petalisque petalis:; : Fahne ovate — 25-30 squamiformis EE cast in axilla fulvo- 
ong stipato; sepalis tubi sub-30 orbicul ibus mucronatis, inferioribus in axilla lanigeris, superioribus 
s intimis 10-15 spathulatis obtasis carnosis (pallide viridibus albescentibus) ; petalis sub-25 obovato- 
aha obtusis integris crispatis coriaceo-carnosis crassis (flavescenti-albidis) ; staminibus numerosissimis, fila- 
superiori tubi parti adnatis (inferiore nudo); stylo stamina paulo superante ; stigmate multifido; bacca obovata 
sm sepaloideis encase carnosis minutis ad axillam ignite» ane pericarpio duriusculo carnoso, 
demum valvis 3-4 patentibus reflexisve dehiscente ; seminibus numerosissimis in pulpa saccharina nidulantibus 
oblique obovatis leevibus lucidis exalbuminosis ; embryone ne (Eee foliaceis pebieayon a hamato. 
This species ranges from as of the Gila River southwardly into Sonora, to within 20 miles of Guaymas on the 
Californian Gulf. It doubtless also occurs on the Peninsula of California ; — according to Vanegas in his history, 
published about one hundred years ago, the fruit of a great Cactus forms an important article of food to the natives of 
the eastern coast, the harvest time of which was a season of great festivity. The flowers are produced in May and 
June, and the fruit ripens in July and August. Mr. Thurber collected the last flowers and the first ripe fruit in the 
beginning of July. He has collected abundance of seed, and will be pleased to communicate it to those who take an 
interest in the cultivation of Cacti. The youngest plants Mr. Thurber noticed were three or four feet high, with 
narrow furrows and long spines; the smallest flowering plants were about 12 feet high, and the tallest specimens 
observed appeared to reach the elevation of 45 or 50 feet: 
The ligneous fascicles correspond with the intervals between the ribs, and not with the ribs themselves; of 
which Dr. Parry has fully satisfied himself, and which indeed is the case in all ribbed Cacti. From between these 
bundles ligneons fibres radiate horizontally towards the ribs, and especially to the areole. 
At the base of the stem the ribs are broad and obtuse, with wide and shallow intervals; upwards the ribs are 
somewhat triangular, rounded or obtuse, with deep and acutish grooves between them ; towards the top of the plant 
the ribs are equally obtuse, but quite compressed, and the grooves are deep and narrow. 
he elevated areole are 7 lines long, nearly 6 lines in diameter, about an inch distant from one another, some- 
times more closely approximated. 
Lowest and upper radial spines 6 to 12 lines long, sometimes the upper ones with a few additional, [233 (3)] 
shorter, flexuous, setaceous spines : lateral ones 12-18. Tu nes long, the lower ones longest ; the four lower 
central spines straight or very slightly curved downwards, 20-30 lines long ; the two upper ‘ate: spines 15 to 18 lines 
ong. The stoutest spines are one line in diameter, their bulbous pices beinie fully twice as thick. The old spines 
together with the whole areola readily come off in one bunch, but generally the 6 central spines fall off first, leaving 
the radiating ones appressed to the stem, till finally they also fall away. 
ee this Journal, New Series, vol. xiv., page 335, November, 1852. A translation of these notes appears in the 
Botanische Zeitung for 1854, pp. 616-620. — Eps 
