63 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



in diameter, which during the concluding months of the year form quite, 

 a canopy of flowers. This method might be advantageously employed 

 much more extensively, and the roofs of many houses could by such 

 means be rendered far more pleasing than they usually are, particularly 

 at the season when Epiphyllums flower. 



Some remarkable specimens were grown at Eartham, Chichester 

 Sussex, several years ago, and one of these is represented in fig. 12 

 (kindly lent by the Editor of the Gardener^ Chronicle). These were 

 about i feet high, two having single heads of Epiphyllum, and two were 

 double-grafted, like the specimen illustrated. The slender shoots seen 

 in the figure are stems of Cereus flagellif ormis, which were worked on 

 the stock with the Epiphyllum, and the pendulous habit renders it well 

 suited for this purpose. The effect produced is very striking, and ia 

 Buggestive of other similar modes of grafting, as any of the drooping 

 Cereus might be employed in the same way, 



SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



As a genus Epiphyllum is distinguished by the following characters. 

 The narrow numerous petals and sepals of similar colour are in two of the 

 three species known — viz., E. truncatum and E. Altensteini, arranged in a 

 two-lipped manner — that is, on one side of the flower the petals are straight, 

 and on the other they are bent back. In E. Russellianum, however, the 

 petals grow equally as in other Cactese, but are nearly straight with the 

 flower tube, which is formed by the combination of the inner petals at the 

 base. The stems are slender, succulent, leafless, and jointed, the branches 

 somewhat flattened, from 2 to 3 inches long and 1 to 2 broad, bearing the 

 flowers at their points and not on the margin as in Phyllocactus. They are 

 natives of Brazil, where they are chiefly found as epiphytes growing upon 

 the branches of trees, their slender stems attaining the length of 3 or 4 feet. 



E. TRUSCATDM, PJeiffer. — This is the principal species, and has been 

 cultivated in English gardens for about sixty years, having been introduced 

 from Brazil early in the present century, though it is said to have been 

 known in continental gardens many years before. It is especially abundant 

 on the Organ Mountains, where also its relative E. Russellianum is found, 

 but the former does not grow at so great an elevation as the latter, E. trun- 

 catum being rarely found above 4000 feet. The original form had dark 

 crimson flowers with a white throat, but several varieties were subsequently 

 imported, amongst the earliest being one of a uniform rich crimson hue, 

 which was figured in the " Botanical Magazine " in 1825, and later still — i.e. 

 about 18iO, the variety violaceum, with a distinct tinge of violet, was intro- 

 duced by Messrs. BoUissou & Sons of Tooting. The principal variations now 

 in cultivation are seedlings raised from E. truncatum or from crosses between 

 that species and E, Eussellianum, which have greatly increased the value of 



