Companionship. 239 



Plant cespitose, ovate-cylindrical ; ribs 12 to 18 ; areolae lanceo- 

 late; radial spines 20 to 30, straight or slightly recurved, pecte- 

 nated, white ; central spine rarely present, when present very short. 

 Tube of the flower purple. 80 to 100 clusters of 6 to 12; fine hair- 

 like spines on the ovary. 



Var. minor Engelmann, spines short, flower small. 



Var. major Engelmann, spines long, flower large. 



Var. Castaneus Engelmann, spines red or chestnut color. 



This species inhabits Texas and northeastern Mexico as far 

 south as Monterey, and is now common in cultivation. 



Cereus adustus, C. infispinus and C. longisetus are other red- 

 flowered species of Cereus found in the United States, and belonging 

 to this section of the genus. B3- some authors these species are 

 placed in a separate genus, Echinocereus, but the writer prefers for 

 the present to treat them as constituting only a sub-genus of Cereus. 



C. R. Orcutt. 



COMPANIONSHIP. 



'He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion 

 of fools shall be destroyed.' Prov. 13 : 20. 



' Tis said in tales of orient lands, 



The very soil exhales 

 The dainty fragrance of the rose, 



Whose bloom there never fails. 



Oh, if from the unconscious clod, 

 Where beauty weaves its bower, 



Ambrosial air shall sweetly spring, 

 To honor thus a flower; 



How wide the power of mind oe'r mind, 



And blest are they who know, 

 The fragrant paths where wise men walk, 



And with them wiser grow. 



More than in classic groves to stray, 



The presence of wise friends, 

 Sweeter than Asian sweet waters, 

 / The blessing that descends.' 



—Mrs. E. E. Orcutt. 



