214 



THE CACTACEAE. 



Fig. 294. — Branches of Deamia testudo. X0.66. 



6. WEBEROCEREUS Britton and Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 431. 1909. 



Epiphytic cacti, with slender, climbing or hanging stems and branches, these terete, angled or 

 rarely flattened, emitting aerial roots, the areoles bearing a tuft of felt and sometimes several weak 

 acicular bristles or spines; flowers pink, rose-colored or white, nocturnal, short-funnelform or funnel- 

 form-campanulate ; ovary tuberculate, its areoles bearing weak filiform bristles or stiff hairs, the 

 lower part of the flower-tube with a few similar areoles, the upper part with a few foliaceous scales; 

 outer perianth-segments reflexed-spreading, blunt, linear-oblong, the inner ones narrower; ovary 

 hairy or bristly; areoles of the fruit hairy. 



Type species: Cereus tunilla Weber. 



Three species are here recognized, two from Costa Rica and one from Panama. They 

 are all rather insignificant plants, growing in trees as does Rhipsalis; the seedlings and 

 juvenile growths are similar to those of species of that genus, but the large flowers and 

 fruits are quite different. 



The genus was named for Dr. Albert Weber (1830-1903) of Paris, who gave much 

 attention to the cacti. 



Key to Species. 



Inner peiianth-segments pinkish. 



Branches usually strongly angled 1. W. tunilla 



Branches terete or slightly angled 2. W. biolleyi 



Inner perianth-segments white 3. W. panamensis 



1. Weberocereus tunilla (Weber) Britton and Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 432. 1909. 



Cereus tunilla Weber, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 8: 460. 1902. 

 Cereus gonzalezii Weber, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 8: 460. 1902. 



Stems climbing, 5 to 12 mm. in diameter, usually strongly 4-angled, rarely 2, 3, or 5-angled, 

 but in juvenile forms nearly terete; spines 6 to 12, stiff, swollen at base, yellowish at first, soon brown, 

 6 to 8 mm. long; flowers 5 to 6 cm. long, pinkish; outer perianth-segments linear, brownish, spread- 

 ing or reflexed; inner perianth-segments oblong, acute, pink; filaments and style included, pinkish; 

 stigma-lobes whitish; ovary strongly tubercled; tubercles bearing several yellow bristles. 



Type locality: Near Tabl6n, southwest of Cartago, Costa Rica. 



Distribution: Costa Rica. 



Illustration: Curtis's Bot. Mag. 144: pi. 8779, as Cereus tunilla. 



