206 



the; cactaceae. 



perianth-segments white, oblaneeolate, 6 cm. long, with short acuminate tips, the margins undulate 

 or toothed, especially above; stamens numerous, weak; filaments white or white with greenish 

 bases; style greenish or greenish with cream-colored upper part, slender; stigma-lobes 12, linear; 

 ovary covered with acicular spines. 



Type locality: Mazatlan, Mexico. 



Distribution: Western coast of Mexico. 



Illustration: Pamphlet descriptive of Carnegie Institution of Washington, seventh 

 and eighth issues, p. 23 (reproduced here on p. 239). 



Figure 284 shows a flower of a plant which bloomed at the National Botanical Garden, 

 Washington, D. C, in 1905; figure 285a shows a tip of shoot and 2856 a shoot with fiower- 

 bud, from specimens grown at the United States Department of Agriculture. 



Fig. 285. — a and b, Selenicereus vagans; c and d, Selenicereus murrillii. X0.66. 



13. Selenicereus murrillii sp. nov. 



A very slender vine, 6 meters long or more, 8 mm. in diameter, freely giving off long slender 

 aerial roots, dark green with the ribs more or less purplish, the scaly leaves at tips of branches 

 minute, pinkish; ribs 7 or 8, low, obtuse, separated by low broad intervals; areoles 1 to 2 cm. apart, 

 small, bearing white wool and minute spines; spines 5 or 6, minute, the two lower ones longer and 

 reflexed, 1 to 2 cm. long; the other spines conic, greenish to black; flower-buds small, oblong, long- 

 acuminate; flower opening at night, 15 cm. long, 15 cm. broad from tip to tip of the outer perianth- 

 segments; tube and throat 6 cm. long, purplish green without, narrowly funnelform, bearing a few 

 slightly elevated areoles, these white-felted and bearing one or two minute spines, the scales on the 

 tube minute but those on the throat lanceolate, 3 to 10 mm. long and widely spreading even on the 

 flower-buds; tube-proper smooth within; throat about 2 cm. long, covered with stamens; outer 

 perianth-segments 12 to 14, greenish yellow or the outer ones purplish on the back, widely spread- 

 ing, linear to linear -lanceolate, acute ; inner perianth-segments pure white except the outermost ones 

 and these greenish, together forming a campanulate corolla; segments broadly spatulate, 4 to 5 cm. 

 long, obtuse; stamens numerous, slender, weak and somewhat declining on the perianth-segments, 

 cream-colored; style slender, weak, cream-colored; stigma-lobes 9, linear, cream-colored; ovary bear- 

 ing numerous rather large areoles, these white-felted and with 1 to 3 short spines but no long hairs. 



Collected by Dr. W. A. Murrill, near Colima, Mexico, in 1910 (No. 31802 N. Y. B. G.). 

 Although we have had it growing in Washington and New York for more than eight years, 



