80 
EPIPHYLLUM TRUNCATUM; var. YIOLACEUM. 
It is totally impossible to exhibit on paper any combination of colours, of 
which white forms a part, the darker shades merging gradually into this till it j 
becomes stainless. In the flowers of the plant under notice, the whole of the tube I 
and the base of the petals is literally a snowy white, while a band of a vivid 
purplish hue extends down the sides of the latter, and round the orifice of the 
tube; the upper portion of the petals being of a most indescribably pleasing 
purplish tint. When flowering in company with the original species, the difference 
of colour is clearly apparent, and the contrast extremely agreeable ; but E. trun- 
catum decidedly loses its supremacy by the comparison. A close examination of 
several specimens of both sorts will show a further trifling distinction of somewhat 
rounder stems, narrower branches, with less truncate extremities, and more spinous 
clusters, in the present variety; though these peculiarities are not strongly 
apparent. 
In the culture of E. truncatum , it is customary to graft it on stocks of Pereskia , 
or some strong-growing Cereus. Except for the sake of curiosity, this is not a plan 
which can be much recommended, as the plants are so liable to get broken or 
injured near their junction, and large specimens are often lost in that way. The best 
plan of management is to grow them on their own roots, when, by their lowness 
and partial pendulousness, they are singularly suitable for placing on the shelves of 
the stove, or planting in baskets or pots suspended from the roof. They must 
either be potted in a light porous soil, or in sphagnum moss, through which water 
will drain freely, not being able to endure much moisture. They may be repotted 
yearly, if requisite, shortly after flowering, and kept in a damp stove till their 
growth is completed, when they can be transferred to a dry succulent house. At 
all times an abundant access of light to them is requisite. 
Cuttings, severed at a joint, should be allowed to shrivel a little before being- 
planted, or otherwise kept out of the reach of excessive moisture afterwards. 
Epiphyllum is derived from epi, upon, and phyllon , a leaf, in allusion to the pro- 
trusion of the flowers from the margins of the leaf-like shoots. The word truncatum 
refers to the abruptly- broken appearance of the ends of the branches ; and violaceum , 
applied to this variety by Dr. Lindley, expresses the violaceous tints of the flowers. 
It has before been described by us under the name of E. purpurascens ; the colour 
in the specimens we have seen being better indicated by that term. 
Messrs. Rollison, of Tooting, from whose nursery our figure was prepared in 
January last, imported plants of it from Brazil several years back ; and it has like- 
wise been procured from the same quarter by other individuals. 
