Cereus senilis. 549 



acquisition. I have rather extensively worked it at standard 

 height, and its peculiar pendent property, in that position, is faith- 

 fully portrayed in the annexed engraving {Jig. 139. from a 

 drawing by Mr. Lewis, whose abilities I know you highly 

 appreciate) of a plant three years grafted, and from which 

 pruning has been scrupulously withheld, to ascertain its habit 

 and capabilities ; as we know the knife is frequently resorted 

 to in all drooping trees, in order to impart a more decided 

 character thereto. 



[This larch may be termed IArix communis pendula God- 

 salhV.] 



Hereford Nursery, August 29. 1839. 



Art. VI. On Cereus senilis, the Old-Man Cactus. By D. Beaton. 



You will, no doubt, recollect that about this time two years 

 I made some noise about a batch of supposed seedlings of 

 Cereus senilis, which I raised from seeds received as those of 

 C. senilis, from M. de Champs, the Frenchman whose import- 

 ation of Cacti at that time may be said to form an era in Cactus- 

 growing in this country. When these seedlings made sufficient 

 growth to develope their characters, it was ascertained that they 

 were not seedlings of Cereus senilis, but of Echinocactus iugens 

 of Zuccarini. This was, of course, a great disappointment at 

 the time, which was soon modified, when we were told that 

 E. ingens was fully as interesting and valuable as the " old 

 man ; " yet I find there is a something in the character of this 

 vegetable grand-papa, which makes it a peculiar object of inte- 

 rest with every one who sees it. It is but justice to add, that I 

 have not the least doubt, that in this he had no wish to deceive 

 us ; he knew very little about plants, the greatest portion of his 

 cargo of Cacti he bought from the natives, during his mercantile 

 excursions into the interior of the Mexican republic. He 

 bought the seeds in question, as the produce of a Cactus with 

 an immense woolly head, vertice lanatissimo, as botanists call 

 it. Having a top of Cereus senilis in his possession which 

 corresponded with this description, he, at once, concluded that 

 the seeds belonged to that species, and hence the mistake and 

 disappointment. 



This woolly top died on its way to England, and was 

 bought by Mr. Harris along with other dead unique speci- 

 mens, for his cabinet of botanical curiosities. It was seen here 

 by many eminent botanists, and other scientific men ; but no 

 one believed it could be the top of a Cereus, and it was too 

 large to be compared with the tomentum, or woolly head, of 

 any species of Melocactus hitherto known ; in short, it was a 



