CEREUS x KEWENSIS. 



93 



DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISON. 



C. x kewensis. 



Stem. Attaining a length of about 6 to 12 ft. 



before flowering, serpentine, about 

 1 inch diameter or double as stout 

 as in C. MacDonaldiae and with- 

 out the nodular swellings ; typically 

 quadrate (3 to 5 ribs), with little 

 inclination to form branch-stems. 



Spines. Nodular spines shorter than in C. 



MacDonaldiae. At maturit}' there 

 are (typically) a pair of very short 

 spines at each node, set in an in- 

 conspicuous white pappus, but the 

 young growths are also furnished 

 with soft, deciduous hairs, after the 

 style of C. nycticalus. 



C. MacDonaldiae. 



J an inch or more 

 in diameter, 5 to 

 6 ribbed (flower- 

 ing generally on 

 the 5-ribbed 

 stems), swollen 

 at the nodes, 

 branching freely. 



About 3 nodular 

 spines, longer 

 than in C. X kew- 

 ensis, and gene- 

 rally deciduous 

 after some years 

 as the bark be- 

 comes hard. 



Flower- First appear in the form of purple First appear as a 

 buds. scales, quite unarmed. bunch of short 



bristles. 



Flower. 



Ovary 

 and 

 Tube. 



Under a foot long, made up of ovary 

 (i| in.), tube (4! in.) and petals 

 ( 5 Jin.). 



Quite unarmed, but bunches of soft 

 hairs are hidden under the wide, 

 fleshy scales which cover both 

 ovary and tube. The scales are at 

 first (on the ovary) | to J in. wide 

 and long and of a purplish-green 

 colour, but they continually lengthen 

 towards the mouth of the tube where 

 they are 3 to 4 in. long but without 

 any increase in width. The longest 

 scales are free in their upper 2 in. 

 of length, but adhere to the tube in 

 their lower half. The colour of these 

 tube-scales becomes more ruddy- 

 green the nearer they are to the 

 mouth of the tube, and their free 

 ends become distinctly red. 



15J to 16 inches 

 long, made up of 

 ovary and tube 

 (9 inches) and 

 petals (7 inches). 



Ovary densely 

 armed, the tube 

 covered with con- 

 spicuous hairs. 

 Scales incon- 

 s p i c u o u s and 

 green. 



