




OF ORNAMENTAL EXOTIC PLANTS. 169 
GENUS I. 
CEREUS Dec. THE TORCH THISTLE. 
Lin. Syst. COSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic CuaracTteR.—Sepals very numerous, imbricate, adnate to | ones petal-formed. Style multifid at the apex. Berry areolate, 
the base of the ovarium, united into an elongated tube; outer ones | tubercular or scaly from the remains of the sepals. (G. Don.) 
shorter and like a calyx; middle ones longer and coloured; innermost 
Description, &c.—The species included in this genus differ from those of the other genera in their stems being 
excessively elongated, and having a woody axis in the centre. The species vary very much in their habits, but 
they all produce their flowers from the fascicles of spines, or when the stems are angular from the indentures on 
the angles. Most of the plants belonging to the genus require a stove in this country, but some few will succeed 
in a greenhouse. Some of the species contained in the genus have broad leaf-like stems, on which the flowers are 
produced, and these are placed in another genus by Mr. Haworth, under the name of Epiphyllum. The meaning 
of the word Cereus is pliant, in allusion to the stems of some of the plants being flexible. Only one species is 
properly a greenhouse plant. 

1.—CEREUS FLAGELLIFORMIS Mill. THE CREEPING CEREUS. 
Synonyme.—Cactus flagelliformis Lin. | Tubercles crowded, bearing bristles. Style rather shorter than the 
_ Eneravine.—Bot. Mag., t. 17. | petals. (G. Don.) 
Speciric Cuaracter.—Stems prostrate with about ten angles. | 
Description, &c.-—This is one of the oldest inhabitants of our greenhouses, having been introduced in 1690. 
The stems are nearly round, and hang down in such a manner as to fully authorise the specific name of flagelli- 
formis, which signifies whip-like, as they certainly look very much like the thong of a carter’s whip. The flowers 
are very beautiful, and produced in considerable abundance. ‘The species is a native of South America, and does 
not require more than greenhouse heat. It is also a very useful plant for growing in living rooms, as it is not 
injured by hot dry air. It may either be suspended in a pot hung from the roof, so that the stems may hang down, 
or it may be trained against a trellis work. Though this plant is so different in its outward appearance from the 
large triangular-stemmed kinds of Cereus, if a part of the stem of each of them be cut off, it will be seen that they 
have exactly the same internal structure, viz. that there is a woody axis in the centre of the stem, and a mass of 
fleshy matter round it. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 
ESCALLONEA R. Brown. 
EssentraL Cuaracter.—Calyx superior, five-toothed. Corolla of | Style simple. Stigma two-lobed. Fruit capsular, two-celled, crowned 
five petals, alternating with the calycine segments, from within which | by the style and calyx, which are permanent, splitting by the separation 
they rise, forming by their cohesion a tube, but finaliy separating from | of the cells at their base. Seeds numerous, minute, with a transparent 
each other, imbricate in estivation. Stamens arising from the calyx, | membranous integument. Embryo minute, in the apex of an oily 
alternating with the petals ; anthers bursting lengthwise. Disk conical, | albumen, having the radicle pointing to the extremity opposite the 
epigynous, plaited, surrounding the base of the style. Ovarium | hilum. (@ Don.) 
inferior, two-celled, with two large polyspermous placentas in the axis. 
Description, &c.—The plants contained in this order are trees or shrubs with simple leaves, which are usually 
full of resinous glands. The plants are not generally very ornamental, except those which are contained in the 
genus Escallonia, most of the species of which are nearly hardy, being all natives of the mountains of South 
America. 



