CEREUS GRANDIFLORUS MAYNARD! 
(Lady Maynard’s Great-flowering Cereus.) 
Class. Order. 
ICOSANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
CACTACEiE. 
iENERic Character. — Sepals numerous, imbricated, 
: late at the base of the ovary, joined in the form of a 
i g tube ; exterior sepals short, interior long and 
i aured. Stamens numerous, joined to the sepals 
■ hin the tube. Filaments long, filiform. Style fili- 
: m, multifid at the extremity. Fruit a succulent, 
t -celled, many-seeded berry, covered with areoli or 
1 iercles of spines. Succulent shrubs, with angular 
|sns, and showy, but fugitive, sessile flowers, 
j pecific Character. — Stems creeping and extending 
U great length, branched, cylindrical, with from five 
i seven angles, the angles bearing numerous small 
tits of a woolly substance, intermixed with six to 
<pt short setae. Copious radicles are thrown out from 
' ious parts of the stem, even when the latter does 
i come in contact with the soil. There is no trace 
( leaves of any kind. The flowers are lateral. The 
i ! is at first globose, acute, then clavate, sessile, 
< ered with imbricated scales, bearing long setae. | 
When fully expanded, the flower is a span across ; the 
tube of the calyx long, green, the limb cup-shaped ; the 
former is composed of the united imbricated scales 
above mentioned, the latter is formed of the long, 
spreading, tawny-orange, upper segments of the calyx, 
forming a sort of ray, and of an inner series of calyx- 
segments or petals, which are oblong, broader upwards, 
nearly erect, and of a pure white colour. Stamens 
numerous, long, at length inclined to one side. Fila- 
ments white. Anthers linear-oblong, yellow. Style 
as long as the stamens. Stigma of many rays. — Sir W. 
Hooker. 
Maynardt.— Stems creeping, angular. Flowers 
when expanded, equal in size to those of C. grandiflorus. 
Tube of calyx shorter than that of the species, green, 
tinged with dull red. Outer segments of the limb 
narrow, inner segments somewhat broader. Colour 
a uniform deep orange-red, without any violet hue. 
The whole of the species of Cereus are highly prized, not on account of their 
im of growth, for the plants merely consist of a few leafless, angular, fleshy 
fins, having a smooth shining epiderm, with a very small number of evaporating 
| res, and covered with tufts of sharp-pointed spines, which readily penetrate the 
s in. Their beauty consists in the flowers, which are large and showy, of colours 
1 tying from the most brilliant crimson, as in C. speciosissimus, to red, as in the 
f bject of the present plate ; and to yellow and white, as in the C. grandiflorus, or 
ght-blowing Cereus, as it is usually called. The flowers of all are very fugitive, 
ft by a constant successive opening, the blooming season is prolonged, and the 
] ints are thus rendered conspicuous objects. 
For brilliancy of colour nothing can surpass the splendid crimson and cserulean 
\ ie of the flowers of C. speciosissimus ; but those of the C. grandiflorus possess a 
< iicacy and splendour which is not easily equalled. The flowers usually begin to 
I fold themselves about six or seven o’clock in the evening, and by ten o’clock at 
gkt their beauties are displayed, and a most delicious fragrance emitted; towards 
