THE CACTUS FAMILY. 



389 



plant as the white flocky blight on apple trees, or the Coccus 

 insect^ called mealy bug, often seen in hot-houses. The 

 annual importation of cochineal for the years 1867, 1868, and 

 1869 averaged over 34,800 cwt. 



It forms the finest scarlet carmine dye. The living plant 

 and insect are to be seen in the Royal Gardens at Kew. 



2. Cereus (Torch Thistles). 

 Stems erect, arborescent or trailing, some epiphytal ; cylin- 

 drical^ flat, or three, four, five or more angled ; or consist- 

 ing of many ribs. Flowers tubular, often large and of bril- 

 liant colours. 



Creeping Cereus (C^r^MS flagelliformis). This well-known 

 domestic window plant is a native of Peru, and is recorded 

 as being introduced as early as 1690. 



Night-flowering Cereus (^Cereus grandiflorvs). A native 

 of Jamaica and other West India Islands ; also early intro- 

 duced. It is remarkable for its large white and partially 

 straw-coloured flowers, that open in the evening and close 

 early in the morning. It is now, however, surpassed by the 

 flowers of C. MacDonaldicE, a native of Honduras, intro- 

 duced into this country about twenty years ago, the flowers 

 of which are also of only few hours' duration ; when fully 

 expanded it is more than a foot in diameter, thas vieing with 

 the Victoria Lily in size, and when eight or ten flowers are 

 open in one night (as with a plant at Kew), the sight is mag- 

 nificent. This, like G. grandiflorus, is a creeping epiphytal 

 species. 



C. speciosus and C. speciosissimus, natives of Brazil, have 

 brilliant red and crimson flowers, and are occasionally seen at 

 horticultural flower-shows. 



C. Pitaya, and other erect angular-stemmed sjiecies, grow 

 abundantly in Western Mexico and other warm parts of 

 America. The fruits of many are luscious, and like the 

 Indian fig, some are of a red colour, which, when many are 

 eaten, colours the secretions of the body. 



C. chilensis. A tall-growing species, which loses its sue- 



