63 



JiOUBNAL OF HOETICULTaSE AKD COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 26, 1871. 



of the Night-blooming Cereus with which the trelliage was 

 partly covered. " That," observed the Doctor, " represents 

 'Anomalons Plants.' " 



I think that evening's stroll and fancifnl gronping of plants 

 had not recently been remembered by me until, walking round 

 the Horticultural Society's conservatory at South Kensington, 

 I came to two cases of " Anomalous Plants," a gift to the Society 

 from Dr. Waggett. They contain exclusively species of the 

 natural order to which the Night-blooming Cereus belongs — 

 the Cactacese. The remembrance thus awakened led to a re- 

 ference to notes made at the time of relative observations by 

 Dr. 'Wallich, and extracts from works to which he referred me ; 

 and these would have again slumbered had I not seen in Nature 

 an engraving of the Cereus gigantens, taken from Mr. Bell's 

 book, published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, entitled " New 

 Tracks in North America."* 



Most characteristic is the title, " Anomalous plants," ap- 

 plied to the CactaoeiE. Of the five hundred species, less than 

 a dozen have any leaves, and that dozen belong to one genus, 

 Pereskia, the Barbadoes Gooseberry — they are all stems and 

 branches, and these assume most " anomalous " forms. They 

 are globular in 

 the Melocaetidffl, 

 Melon Thistles ; 

 they are cilnmn- 

 like in the Cerei- 

 dea;, Torch This- 

 tles ; and they are 

 planiform in the 

 Opuntiffi, Prickly 

 Pears. They vary 

 in size from a few 

 inches to 40 or 

 more feet ; seme 

 creep along the 

 soil's surface, and 

 others are as erect 

 and high as may- 

 poles. Leafless and 

 thus without the 

 usual means of ab- 

 sorbing moisture 

 from the rains and 

 dews, yet they are 

 among the most 

 juicy of plants, re- 

 tain their succu- 

 lence in the hot- 

 test climates and 

 the most parched 

 soils, and are there 

 the chief sources 

 of refreshment to 

 men and animals. 

 This and other 

 characteristics of 

 the Cactaces I find in the following extract from M. Meyen : — 



" Nature has tried to make Tip for Hie imperfections in the form of 

 these plants by the profnsencsB and splendour of their flowers, for 

 often it seems as if their whole effort was to produce the greatest 

 possible quantity of the gorgeous flowers, with which they are so often 

 completely covered. The extraordinary effect on the physiognomy of 

 vegetation, which is produced by the contrast of the Cactus forms with 

 the other groups of plants, is seen not only in nature, but also every- 

 where in our gardens. 



'* In ChUi and Peru there are wide plains, which for vast distances, 

 are covered solely by groups of pillar-like Cerei, and thus present a 

 singular and striking, though cheerless prospect. In the Llanura de 

 Eaocagua, lying to the south of the Rio Cachapual in ChUi, only a 

 few Caven-uushcs (Acs^cia caven, Mol.), grow amongst these Cerei, 

 which are often covered with the scarlet Sorters of Loranthns aphyllus, 

 from amongst which hang the long, white flowers of the Cereus. "When 

 travelling in the interior of Chili we often bivouacked near these 

 Cerei, and their dry woody cylinders furnished the best fuel for our 

 fires. The wood of these plants attains a thickness of 1 or IJ inch, 

 and the whole cylinder is as much as 12 or 1 5 inches in circumference. 

 The wood of the Cactus is applied to the most various purposes in the 

 treeless regions of the western coast of South America. As it is very 

 light, it is carried up the Cordilleras, and on the plateaus, which He 

 far above all arborescent veeetation, floors and beams are made of it 

 without any previous working. 



• Messrs. Chapman 4 Hall have obliRingly enabled US to illustrate onr 

 correspondent's notes with that engraving.— Eds. 



Cereus giganteus. 



" The columnar Cacti ascend high np the Cordilleras. I have 

 found them on the Cordilleras of Southern Peru, close to the equator, 

 above the heights of 7000 and 8000 feet, and these are also the most 

 beautiful forms which I have ever seen." 



Among these is the Cereus giganteus, or Monumental 

 Cactus, which is thus noticed by Mr. A. Smith, in " The 

 Treasury of Botany " : — 



" It is the Suwarrow or Saguaro of the Mexicans, the largest and 

 most striking species of the genus. It is a native of the hot, arid, and 

 almost desert regions of New Mexico, extending from Souora, in lat. 

 30° N., to Williams River, in lat. 35° N., and found growing in rocky 

 valleys and upon mountain sides, often springing out from mere 

 crevices in the hard rock, and imparting a singular aspect to the 

 scenery of the country, its tall stems with upright branches looking 

 like telegraphic posts for signalling from point to point of the Rocky 

 Mountains. While young the stems are of a globular form, gradually 

 becoming club-shaped, and ultimately almost cylindrical, and from 

 50 to 60 feet in height, with a diameter of about 2 feet at middle 

 height, and gradually tapering both upwards and downwards to about 

 1 foot. They are most frequently unbranched, but some of the oldes 

 ones have branches, which issue at right angles from the stem and 

 then curve upwards and grow parallel with it. The stems are regularly 



ribbed or fluted, the 

 ribs varying in num- 

 ber from twelve to 

 twenty, and have, at 

 intervals of about 

 an inch, thick yellow 

 cushions bearing five 

 or six lai-ge and 

 many smaUerspines. 

 The flowers are pro- 

 duced near the sum- 

 mit of the stems and 

 branches, and are 

 about 4 or 5 inches 

 long, by 3 or 4 in 

 diameter, having 

 light cream-coloured 

 petals. The, fruits 

 are about 2 or 3 ins. 

 long, of a green co- 

 lour and oval form, 

 having a broad scar 

 at the top caused by 

 the flowers falling 

 away ; when ripe 

 they burst into three 

 or four pieces, which 

 curve back so as to 

 resemble a flower. 

 Inside they contain 

 numerous little 

 black seeds imbed- 

 ded in a crimson- 

 coloured pulp, which 

 the Pimos and Pa- 

 pagos Indians make 

 into an excellent pre- 

 serve ; and they also 

 eat the ripe fruit as 

 an article of food, gathering it by means of a forked stick tied to the 

 end of a long pole." 



Referring again to M. Meyeu's work, he remarks : — 

 " In perfect contrast to the long, slender form of the candelabra- 

 like Cacti, are the spherical genera Melocactus, Echinocactus, and 

 Mammillaria. These plants are spherical, having warts and spines 

 arranged in a stellate form regularly distributed over the whole sur- 

 face ; they are often of enormous size, and are seated directly on the 

 barren ground, or in the clefts of bare rocks. These singular plants 

 seem to thrive best in the most desert regions, where all other vege- 

 tation ceases ; and in hot countries, where almost all vegetation dis- 

 appears during the dry season, they are as fresh and green as at the 

 time when there was the greatest abundance of water. As their suc- 

 culent tissue contains a great quantity of watery sap, they are eagerly 

 sought after and sucked by the thirsty animals, which roam over the 

 dry deserts of South America. In kicking off the prickly coat, these 

 animals often injure themselves so much that they can no longer 

 move about, and at last die. At times when there is a want of water, 

 travellers usually open these juicy plants, which have been called the 

 springs of the desert, with their knives, and thus enable the animals 

 to enjoy the sap without danger. 



" Just as characteristic are the great unshapely and many-branched 

 Tunas ; the Cactus Ficus-indica, L. and Opnntia Tuna, with its long 

 pnines. arc the best known forms of this group of the Cactacere. These 

 plants have found their way to Europe, in the south of which they are 

 now naturalised. In Europe as well as in America *hey are used for 

 making fences, and there is, perhaps, scarcely anything which answ67» 

 this purpose better, for they have even been successfully applied to 



