SPINES AND PRICKLES. 



537 



the form found in India with a common American one 

 favors this supposition. — Gyischadi , Vegftation der Erdc. 



The Authority upon Cactus. — The writings of the 

 late George Englemann are everywhere accepted as the 

 authority upon North American cactacas. A German 

 by birth, he early came to this country and settled in 

 St. Louis. With the duties of a medical adviser, he 

 combined the study of plants in the most critical 

 fashion. He undertook the elucidation of large and 

 difficult groups of plants, and he studied them both in 

 the field and herbarium with consummate skill. He 

 early turned his attention to the comparatively unknown 

 floras of our great west and southwest, and he com- 

 pleted the best studies yet made of the plants of our 

 cactus regions. He 

 gave particular at- 

 tention to such diffi- 

 cult genera and 

 families as the cac- 

 tuses, agaves, yuc- 

 cas, pines, oaks, 

 dodders, grapes, 

 euphorbias, q u i 1 1 - 

 worts and junci. 

 His collections form 

 the nucleus of the 

 museum of the Mis- 

 souri Botanical Gar- 

 dens in St. Louis. 

 He died in 1884, at 

 the completion of 

 his sevent y-fifth 

 year.— L. H. B. 



Making Herba- 

 rium Specimens. — 

 Living cactuses 

 bear transportation 

 well if young or 

 medium-sized spec- 

 imens are selected. 

 The entire plant, 

 or, if too large, a 

 joint or cutting, is 

 thrown in the shade 

 for a few weeks to 



shrivel, after which the specimens are wrapped in dry 

 hay or moss, and loosely packed in well-ventilated 

 boxes. Treated in this way, they preserve their vitality 

 for from six to sixteen months. Seedlings are easily 

 raised from seeds thoroughly dried and packed in situ . 

 If the fruit is large and pulpy, it is sliced to facilitate 

 the drying, and should be kept from moisture, but ex- 

 posed to a free circulation of air. 



Herbarium specimens are best made by removing 

 the flowers from the plant and pressing them separately 

 in the ordinary way, after first sectioning some of them. 

 When not too large, the fruit may be dried in the same 

 way, otherwise it is halved and excavated before being 

 put in press, the seed being air-dried. The entire 



stem, if small, or characteristic joints if it is com- 

 pound, may be pressed till dry, after allowing it to 

 shrivel ; or if it is too large for this, a piece is removed 

 showing the top, the insertion of several bunches of spines 

 and of the flowers and some of the tubercles or ribs. 

 Sometimes it is necessary to split and excavate these 

 specimens, and cross-sections dried under light pres- 

 sure are desirable If the means of transportation 

 permit, entire plants or well-selected parts are rough- 

 dried without pressure. These "skeletons," preserved 

 in boxes in the herbarium, are often more instructive 

 than the more ornamental pressed fragments. When 

 possible, it is also desirable to make alcoholic speci- 

 mens of the flower and fruit. — Botanical Gazette; 



adapted from Notes 



■0 f the late 

 E)i^lemann. 



Dr. 



Fig. I. Hybrid Phyllocactus 



The Night- 



BLOOMING CeREUS. 



— The night-flower- 

 ing cereus (^Cereus 

 g r a n d ijioriis) has 

 gained a fame 

 which entitles it to 

 prominent notice, 

 and plants might 

 well be included 

 in every garden, 

 for its flowering 

 is a source of in- 

 terest to the least 

 observant per- 

 sons. In the char- 

 acter of producing 

 its blooms at night, 

 it is not alone, as 

 several of the slen- 

 der-growing species 

 have a similar habit, 

 but none equal this 

 in beauty and fra- 

 grance. [Two spe- 

 cies commonly call- 

 ed night-blooming 

 cereus are more cor- 

 rectly C. iiyctiialtis and C. Mae Dona ldiie.'\ 



" That flower, supreme in loveliness and pure 



As the pale Cynthia's beams, through which unveiled 

 It blooms, as if unwilling to endure 

 The gaze by which such beauties are assailed." 



The flowers are really magnificent, and a plant with 

 a dozen or two expanded at the same time has a superb 

 appearance, particularly in the early evening when the 

 flowers first expand, and the powerful fragrance they 

 emit is very agreeable, having been aptly compared to 

 vanilla. The stem is nearly cylindrical, with a few 

 faintly marked ridges bearing small clusters of spines, 

 and rarely exceeds one inch in diameter, but attains a 

 length of many feet, freely branching. The flowers 

 vary in size from six to twelve inches in diameter, the 



