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EPIPHYLLUMS. 



PLANTS WHICH SHOULD BE 



HE epiphyllums occupy an 

 important place among 

 stove or greenhouse 

 plants, and it would be 

 well-nigh impossible to 

 find a more beautiful 

 object than a full-grown 

 specimen of E. fruiica- 

 tuiii when covered with 

 its charming pendent 

 blossoms, or one that 

 better deserves the attention which has been lav- 

 ished upon it and its kindred. There are other 

 more curious and perhaps more interesting forms 

 of cacti, but they are deficient in that combination 

 of beauty and utility which is characteristic of the 

 epiphyllum. Few general collections of exotics 

 would be considered complete without one or more 

 representatives of this elegant genus, and not infre- 

 quently one meets with creditable specimens in the 

 hands of thrifty window-gardeners. The plants 

 entail only a small amount of care. 



The genus is not an extensive one, mention being 

 made of but three species, viz., E. tritncatiim, E. Riis- 

 sellianiim and E. Altenstcini. They are all natives of 

 the locality of the Organ mountains, in Brazil, where 

 they grow parasitically on the trees in the extensive 

 forests of that region. E. triincatuin, the type species, 

 is a handsome plant, with green pendulous stems which 

 attain a length of several feet and branch freely. The 

 branches consist of truncate-jointed sections which are 

 compressed, distinctly toothed along the edges, and 

 about two inches long by one inch across. The rich 

 crimson flowers (paler internally) are about three 

 inches long, and have the segments reflexed. (See 

 Fig. I.) It may be had in bloom any time between the 

 early part of February and the latter end of April. E. 

 Riissellianiiin differs from E. truiicatiint in having more 

 slender branches and larger flowers of a lighter shade, 

 the segments of which point forward instead of back- 

 ward. It flowers in May and June. Recent writers 

 agree m saying that E. Altensteim is merely a variety of 

 E. triincatitin, but Mons. Labouret (an important 

 authority on cactaceous plants, and one whose evidence 

 should not be lightly thrown aside) considers it quite 

 distinct, and is of the opinion that several of the 

 other alleged varieties would also prove, after careful 

 comparison, to be entitled to similar distinction.* The 

 flowers of E. AlteiisUiiii are of the same form as E 



*Monogra|)hie des Cacties, Paris, 185S. 



IN EVERY CONSERVATORY. 



trunccitiiiii, but they are produced several weeks earlier, 

 and the segments are of a pale pink color, tipped with 

 purple. The stems, also, are longer and more slender 

 than those of E. truncalidu . 



There is a large number of minor kinds, hybrids or 

 varieties. Many of these are exceedingly beautiful 

 plants, and the best of them are included in the follow- 

 ing selection : amabile, an elegant variety, the white 

 flowers of which are faintly tinged with crimson ; auran- 

 tiacum, large flowers of a brilliant reddish-orange 

 color ; bicolor, white and purple ; Bridgesi, a fine 

 new sort which produces its rich purple flowers with 

 great freedom ; coccine- ^ 

 um, bright scarlet ; ele- ^'I'f^,''' 

 gans, red and purple, a 

 superb flower; Gaertneri, 

 a magnificent hybrid, the 

 origin of which is un- 

 known (it is doubtless 

 the result of a cross be- 

 tween an epiphyllum and 

 a phyllocactus of some 

 kind, for while it has 

 the stems of the former, 

 the bright scarlet flowers 

 are similar to those of a 

 small-flowered forms of 

 the latter); Guedneyi. 

 another new plant with 

 lovely pure white and 

 deliciously fragrant flow- 

 ers; magnificum, large 

 white flowers with rose- 

 margined segments; pur- 

 pureum, dark purple; 

 roseum, charming rose, 

 with streaks of deeper 

 red ; Ruckerianum, red- 

 dish purple and violet ; 

 salmoneum, reddish-sal- 

 mon, tinged purple ; spectabile, white, purple margin- 

 ed ; tricolor, reddish-purple and white, and violaceum, 

 pure white, edged with purple. 



Any of these may be grown successfully as window 

 plants, provided the window is fully exposed to the 

 sun. The room, however, in which such plants are 

 grown must be kept tolerably warm in winter, that is, 

 at a minimum temperature of about forty five degrees 

 Fahrenheit. They will, of course, live in a lower 

 temperature, but satisfactory results are seldom, if 

 ever, obtained where it falls below the given limit. A 

 greenhouse in which the plants may be subjected to a 

 high or low temperature and a moist or dry atmosphere. 



Fig. I. Epiphyllum 



TRUNCATUM. 



