\Q0 THE FLORIST AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



much larger than in the foregoing species, 1*3 to 1*4 lines long. Style not 

 seen. 



I have dedicated this to the collector, Mr. George Thurber, of Rhode 

 Island, an excellent botanist, who has kindly furnished me with the materials 

 for this article. 



Cereus Thurberi and C. giganteus appear to be closely allied species. 

 They have high and erect stems, flowers with a short tube, half of which is 

 naked, the filaments occupying only the upper half of the tube ; both have 

 short and fleshy sepals on the ovary, with short wool in their axils, unaccom- 

 panied by any bristles or spines ; in both the petals are whitish, obtuse and 

 fleshy. 



Both, and especially C. giganteus, stand very near the Pilocerei on 

 account of the great height of the stem, the short ventricose tube of the 

 flower, and the thick petals ; but they have not the least indication of a 

 cephalium (or woolly head) nor of any particular development of wool ; their 

 flowers spring from the axils of the ordinary and unaltered areolae ; and the 

 seed is quite different, at least from that of Pilocereus senilis, the only 

 species of that genus, I believe, which has been well examined ; these seeds 

 are said to be obliquely thimble shaped, densely dotted, and to have an 

 embryo with thick globose cotyledons. It is also said that the filaments 

 cover the whole inside of the tube of the flower, and even the free upper 

 part of the ovary. In all the Cerei and Ecliinocacti examined by me, I 

 find the lowest part of the tube free, the filaments being adnate to some 

 distance above the ovary. It is not improbable that the Chilian velvety 

 Cerei ( Velutini, Pr. Salm.) are to be classed near our species. The flower 

 of what appears to be Cereus Chilensis, Pfr., obtained near Valparaiso, and 

 figured by the artist of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, greatly resembles 

 that of C. Thurberi: it is a little larger, but has the same shape, and the 

 same closely imbricated sepals on the ovary ; the tube has about a hundred 

 sepals, and the white petals are acute ; whether fleshy or not is uncertain. 



An excellent specimen of Medinilla magnifica has been in bloom at Mr. 

 Robt. Buist's nursery, in the last two weeks. The plant was about three 

 feet high, and had on it five spikes of flowers — some of which were twelve 

 or fifteen inches long ; the greatest beauty of these, is in the whorl of flesh- 

 colored bracts which accompany each spike. The plant was exhibited at 

 the exhibition of the Horticultural Society, but the beauty of the bloom 

 had passed. 



