74 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



distinct it is not considered sufficiently so to be separated as a genus, and is 

 easily recognised as one of the Mistletoe Cactuses. It has slender stems 

 alternately swollen and contracted like the Glasswort, as already noted. 

 The flowers are orange yellow, wax-like, and shining, halt an inch long, with 

 twelve or more oblong sepals and petals which do not expand fully. A. 

 Tariety is grown at Kew named stricfca, more upright than the species and 

 almost faatigiate or bunched, while in some collections a form is grown 

 -named ramosior, which is rather more freely branched than the type. 



E. fBAKMENTACBA, Otlo. — In 1858 Mr. W. Christy sent this very distinct 

 and pretty species to Kew, which was probably its first appearance in 

 England, though it had been known on the Continent for some years. It 

 has slender cylindrical stems, densely covered with small black spines not 

 unlike Cereus flagelliformis. The flowers are large, over an inch in diameter, 

 star-like in form, with eight petals, and creamy white in colour. It is a 

 native of Buenos Ayres and South Brazil. 



Many other species could be named, but the following are the most 

 .remarkable : — B. funalis (B. grandiflorus), a strong-growing form introduced 

 to Kew by Bowie and Allan Cunningham in 181G, has greenish white flowers 

 more than 1 inch across, and cylindrical pipe-like stems a quarter inch in 

 diameter, long, and much-branched. E. paradoxa is a strange Brazilian 

 plant, with long pendulous three-angled branches, jointed, the space between 

 the joints being 1 to 2 inches long, and the stem is half twisted at each 

 juncture, giving a most peculiar appearance to the plant. A specimen at 

 Kew is trained up the roof of the succulent house, and its branches hang in a 

 •dense cluster 2 feet or more in length. E. penduliflora laxa is a slender 

 ■drooping plant, very graceful, and suitable for a suspended pot. R. pentaptera 

 has trailing five-angled stems nearly half inch in diameter, very distinct from 

 its relatives. The principal flattened and Phyllocactus-like species are— 

 E. crispata, E. rhombea, E. pachyptera, and E. Svvartziana. 



Lepismium, Endlicher. — The few species arranged under this head are 

 ■chiefly botanical curiosities, and are denoted by slender triangular or quad- 

 rangular stems, with flowers produced from the sides of the branches in 

 ^fascicles of five spines, the petals being erect, and not spreading as in Ehip- 

 salis. L. Myosurus [also known as Cereus tenuispinus and Cactus 

 tenuis] is a Brazilian plant with small weak stems, which reach the length 

 of several feet, and produce yellowish flowers 1 to IJ inch across. A pretty 

 graceful variety named Knighti has pretty reddish-tinted stems. L. commune 

 [Cereus squamulosus and C. elegans] also from Brazil, has triangular jointed 

 stems half to 2 inches in diameter and 1 to 2 feet long, the flowers small, 

 white, tinted with purple. 



Ppeiffera, Salm-Dyele. — This was founded as a genus to honour a 

 •celebrated German botanist, PfeifEer, who has written several works upon 

 ■Cacteae, and whose name is mentioned as an authority for the titles of many 

 •of the plants noted in the preceding genera. It only contains one species 

 P. cereiformis, a Mexican plant, somewhat resembling a Cereus with tri- 



