26 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



plants given in the preceding notes refer to cultivated specimens, none- 

 of which attain great heights, but in a wild state M. coronaria has been 

 described as reaching 4 to 5 feet. 



PELECTPHOEA, Ehrenhorg. 

 (The Hatchet Cactus.) 



In a botanical point of view this genus and the following one are the 

 most interesting in the family. They are both monotypic — that is, con- 

 tain one species each, and are remarkable for certain structural peculiarities 

 that have attracted much attention from students of the order. Pelecy- 

 phora is closely related to the Mamillarias, having a short cylindrical stem, 

 covered with mamillse or tubercles of a flattened form, and which have 

 been supposed to bear some resemblance to a hatchet, as the generic name 

 implies. At the apex, however, in the place of the spines of the Mamil- 

 larias are two rows of flat homy scales, which overlap like the tiles of a. 

 roof, and have been not inaptly compared to the scaly back of a woodlouae, 

 to which character the specific name refers. The flowers are borne near 

 the summit of the stem 1 to 1 i inch in diameter, consisting of several 

 series of sepala and petals, numerous stamens and atigmas. 



In culture and propagation Pelecyphora is similar to the more delicate 

 Mamillarias ; it requires a sandy soil, good drainage, and very careful sup- 

 plies of water. Offsets are seldom produced, and the readiest method of 

 increasing it is by seeds, which germinate freely in moderate heat, and 

 numbers of plants have been so raised in this country as well as on the 

 continent. 



Pelecyphora aselufokmis, Ehrenberg. — This, the only member of the 

 genus, is a native of Mexico, where it was found by the brothers Tone!, . 

 associated with plants of the now discarded genus Anhalonium, which has 

 been already mentioned under the Mamillarias. The first plants imported to 

 Europe were received at Berlin, but found to be dead, and Labouret relates 

 that Ehrenberg raised the first living specimen from seeds found in dried 

 fruits contained in the axils of the tubercles. The plants so obtained were 

 described by the last-named author in 1843, though the flowers were then 

 unknown. In 18S8 Lemaire gave a full description and illustration of the 

 plant in the IllustraUoii Horticole, vol. vi., t. 186, which drew much atten- 

 tion to it, and several gi-owers of Cacti obtained plants ior their collections. . 

 Amongst English cultivators Mr. Justus Corderoy of Blewberry, Didcot, 

 Berkshire, was especially successful in raising yoxing plants from seed, and 

 through him numbers were distributed throughout the country ; indeed, he 

 claims to have done what growers could never do before nor since — namely, 

 sell plants of Pelecyphora at 3s. each. Several of these seedlings he succeeded 

 in flowering, and proved slightly difEerent f rom Lemairs's plant in the colour- 

 ing, the flowers of Mr. Corderoy's variety being uniformly rosy purple, while-- 



