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have not had the occasion of preparing flowers of Pilocereus in this manner. This may be 

 difficult, In the meantime I will not consider myself unsuccessful. 



Another plant that I wish to call to your attention and of which I send you a dried 

 flower, is a small Cereus or Echinocereus. This has small needles and is known by the 

 name Cereus Bertini. This curious plant originates from the east side of Patagonia on the 

 islands of Leon and Valdez at 5 degrees latitude south. They grow in the Company of a 

 large variety of Gibbosus described by Labouret in 1855 under the name Echinocactus 

 ferox Schlumbergeri libianus torcosis. All these are similar to our gibbosus. The history 

 of the introduction of this plant is quite interesting and gives evidence of the efforts of Mr. 

 Cels who always tried to procure something new. 



A brother of Mr. Cels is captain of a merchant ship. In 1852 he brought back a 

 number of Cacti from the slopes of Patagonia. I saw this shipment at Mr. Cels' with 

 Labouret. There were a few gibbosus and debris of an unluckily dead prickly crochus 

 Cereus. The latter was evidently a very new species as until then no prickly Cereus was 

 known. Very dissapointed at not having kept this plant alive, Mr. Cels asked his brother if 

 he would find this plant again during his next voyage. The brother remembered perfectly 

 well the place where he had found it and asked another ship's captain, Mr. Bertin, who 

 was leaving to those regions at the moment, to again look for it and bring it back. He gave 

 him such precise directions on the location that Mr. Bertin brought it back to France. In 

 acknowledgement Mr. Cels gave it the name Cereus Bertini. This plant resembles the 

 Echinocereus pentalophus. Its stem is also rough and crepitant and its pulp is also soft. 

 Briefly on first inspection one would consider this plant to be an Echinocereus. It is under 

 this title that it would particularly interest me. Until now no plant of South America is part 

 of the group of Echinocereus. The way you have defined it, it does not matter if it is a 

 gender or subgender, however it makes no difference. (The Cereus multiangularis, 

 trigony, etc. that Salm added improperly, differ totally and really are Cereus of the 

 Echinopsis type). 



The Cereus Bertini bloomed in the month of May at Pfersdorff s.I hurried to 

 describe and prepare the flower that I send you enclosed. This flower because of its 

 smallness and the shortness of its stalk nearly constitutes a transition from the 

 Echinocereus to the Pfeiffera. In reality there is quite a resemblance between the flowers 

 of the Echinocereus and the flowers of the Echinocereus viridiformis but its stalk is still 

 smaller. The stamen are found in a row in the depth of this tube and the Stigma is not 

 green ( like in Mexico and the USA), but violacious (scabious color). The only flower that 

 was observed was subvertical ( placed very close to the summit) which is what frequently 

 happens with the Echinocereus. Unfortunately I did not think of noting if it came out of a 

 tear of the epidermis. You noted this without a doubt in the Echinocereus (group in 

 which the peculiarity of inflorescence is very special. I never observed it in any other 

 Cereus or C actus). 



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