20 
CACTUS TRUNCATUS. 
Truncated Cactus. 
ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA ^Nat. Ord. NOPALEM, Jms. ined. De Cani— 
CACTI, Juss. Gen. PL Div. PHYLLANTHI. 
Gen. Char. — Cal. e squamis numerosis imbricatis, superus. Petala nume- 
rosa, calyci inserta, interiora majora, basi coalita. Stigma multifidum. 
Bacca umbilicata, polysperma. Semina intra pulpam nidulantia. — FrU' 
tices pingues, aphylli saepius articulati, spinosi vel fasciculatim pilosi, 
compress! vel angulati. Flores plerisque magni, speciosi. 
Cactus fruncatus; caulibus articulatis ramosis, ramis cernuis, articulis 
compressis oblongis truncatis, limbo floris obliquo. 
Epiphyllum truncatimi, Haw. Suppl. PI. Succ. p. 85. 
Flowering plants not exceeding at most 8 or 10 inches in length. The stems 
rise erect, and soon become branched, the branches drooping. Whole 
plant composed of compressed, somewhat foliaceous, oblong joints, plane 
above, with a slight groove or channel, somewhat keeled beneath, the 
margins having distant serratures, which are often red, especially in the 
young' joints, and there also furnished with small fascicles of hairs ; the 
extremity truncated, with 2 rather long teeth at the angles. 
Flower arising from the truncated extremities of the joints, 3 inches long, of 
a beautifully deep rose colour, standing out horizontally, formed of many 
imbricating petals : or the 4 or 5 lowermost of these may be considered 
a calyx, since they stand a little remote from the others ; the rest are 
united by their bases into a long whitish tube, the limb of 8 or 9 seg- 
ments, large, spreading, oblique, ovate. Stamens numerous, much longer 
than the tube of the corolla, in 2 rows, the outermost arising from the 
base of the corolla, the inner, from the receptacle, and forming a tube 
around the style, (see f. 2.) Filaments slender, filiform ; Anthers oblong, 
2-celled, yellow, as weU as the pollen. Pistil: — Germen obconical, smaU, 
inferior, greenish, tipped with rose-colour, smooth. St^le filiform, red, 
as long as the stamens, a little curved downwards. Stigma clavate, form- 
ed of 6 connivent segments. 
This beautiful species, to the brilliant colour of whose blos- 
soms no pencil can do justice, flowered in our Botanic Garden 
VOL. I. 
