May 2, 1869. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
349 
A LTHOUGH nearly all the members of the Cactus family pro¬ 
duce seed freely, either when naturally or artificially fertilised, 
Tull advantage does not seem to have been taken of this character 
in raising hybrids between nearly related species or those of 
-different genera. It is true large numbers of seedlings have been 
■obtained in some of the better known genera, and amongst them 
are a few hybrids of exceptional beauty, but no systematic experi¬ 
ments have been undertaken. Suggestions have been frequently 
made in this matter, but the fact is there are now few large 
private collections of Cactuses in this country. One of the best 
known and most extensive, that of the late Mr. Peacock at 
Hammersmith, is announced for sale this week, and that will leave 
Mr. Major’s plants at Croydon as almost the only amateur’s collec¬ 
tion of any importance. Some of the most ornamental members of 
the family amongst the Cereuses, the Phyllocactuses, and the 
Epiphyllums are widely distributed in British gardens and general 
favourites, while at Kew we have a unique collection, and a few 
nurserymen give some space to them. It is, however, on the Conti¬ 
nent, and even more particularly in the United States, where these . 
plants are now most in favour, though there have been signs of a 
revival here within the past few years. 
Mr. Major has probably tried more experiments in this family 
of recent years than any other cultivator of this family, and has 
.succeeded in raising many seedlings which may be expected to 
prove both interesting and beautiful. Some indeed of' these have 
flowered well in the past year, and amply justified the anticipations 
of their raiser. For some years Mr. Harrison Weir also paid 
.attention to the Cactuses, but more especially to the Cereuse 3 and 
.Phyllocactuses, between which he secured hybrids and raised num¬ 
bers of seedlings. Lately, however, the increasing demands upon 
his pen and pencil have induced him to forsake his old friends. 
To briefly review what has been accomplished in the hybridi¬ 
sation of the Cactuses we may commence with the genus Cereus, 
■which has afforded some of the most notable results. In this 
■Cereus speciosissimus has been an important parent; crossed with 
The beautiful night-flowering C. grandiflorus it has yielded the 
handsome and still scarce C. Maynardi, which has been repeatedly 
mentioned and recently figured in this Journal. Another interesting 
hybrid is C. Mallisoni, of which C. speciosissimus was also the seed 
•parent crossed with C. flagelliformis, and from the same cross Mr. 
Donald Beaton raised numbers of seedlings showing various com¬ 
binations of the respective characters. These are all old experi¬ 
ments dating back in some cases to at least half a century ; but 
■coming to more recent times I believe that in Mr. Major’s col¬ 
lection a cross has been successfully obtained between C. speciosis¬ 
simus and C. MacDonaldiao. 
In another genus—the Phyllocactus—some fine hybrids have 
also been secured, and here P. crenatus has taken an important 
position as a parent in combination with the Cereus just named— 
£. 3 ., C. speciosissimus. From a cross effected between these species 
in 1850 Mr. Gordon succeeded in raising at the Boyal Horti¬ 
cultural Society’s Gardens a series of remarkably beautiful hybrids 
which attracted much admiration at the time, and are still found 
in a few collections. The pollen was taken from the Cereus, 
making the Phyllocactus the seed-bearing parent, and the result 
was that the seedlings resembled the latter in form of the stems and 
No. 462.—Vol. XVIII., Thied Sekies, 
flowers, but the colours more nearly resembled the Cereus slightly 
softened and varied. All these hybrids proved extremely flori- 
ferous and useful garden plants. The cross was repeated in 1870 
by Colonel Charleton of Braddon, Isle of Man, but a greater varia¬ 
tion in colours resulted, the tints ranging from the pure white of 
the Phyllocactus to brilliant scarlet. Mr. C. M. Hovey, Boston, 
United States, also produced a race of hybrids between Phyllo¬ 
cactus crenatus and what he terms Epiphyllum splendidum, but 
which is presumably some scarlet form of Phyllocactus. These 
were raised about the same time as Col. Charleton’s, the flowers of 
all being remarkably large, from 8 to 12 inches in diameter, and 
very freely produced. The best of them are the following—Alice 
Wilson, orange scarlet; Mauve Queen, purplish pink; Orange 
Gem, shining orange ; Pink Queen, mauve pink ; Sunset, rich 
crimson ; and Kefulgence, dark scarlet. A fine variety of P. 
crenatus is grown at Kew under the name of Vogeli, which has 
very large flowers of a rich rosy tint, and probably originated from 
some similar cross to those already named. P. Gordonianus, which 
has bright rose-coloured handsome flowers, appears to have had a 
similar origin. 
One well-known and attractive Phyllocactus—namely, P. Acker- 
manni, has been stated to be hybrid, but I do not know upon what 
evidence, as Lindley, in describing the plant, says that it was intro¬ 
duced by Mr. G. Ackerman from Mexico, the original plant flower¬ 
ing in Mr. Tate’s Nursery in June, 1829. It is somewhat peculiar, 
however, that a seedling raised by Mr. Smith, gardener to Lord 
Liverpool at Coombe Wood, flowered about the same time, and 
proved so nearly like P. Ackermanni that no distinguishing 
characters could be detected ; whether this was a hybrid or merely 
a chance seedling I have not been able to ascertain, but it is 
possible that the opinion already mentioned was due to this circum¬ 
stance. P. Ackermanni has, however, been utilised in crossing 
with P. crenatus, and resulted in the production of some very 
handsome forms with large flowers, and of intermediate tints 
between the rich crimson scarlet of P. Ackermanni and the pure 
white fragrant P. crenatus. It has also been recorded that hybrids 
have been raised between P. Ackermanni and Cereus flagelliformis, 
a by no means improbable result, as although the plants are so 
different in habit, there is quite as much distinction between 
several of the Cereuses that have been intercrossed with C. fiagel- 
liformis. However, I am not aware that any of these are in 
cultivation in this country, though they are said to be grown in 
France. 
That most careful of experimental hybridisers, Dean Herbert, 
has described some results obtained in this family, the most remark¬ 
able being crosses between Cereus speciosissimus and C. flagellifor¬ 
mis with Phyllocactus phyllanthoides. These showed some curious 
alterations in the form, colour, and flavour of their fruits, all 
proving fertile. The same author mentions other crosses between 
P. phyllanthoides and the Cereuses, and states on others’ evidence 
that a cross had also been secured between some of the species 
and Epiphyllum truncatum, but he had never seen the results, and 
gives no further information bearing on the point. 
This brings us to the last of the genera to be noted in regard to 
hybrid Cactuses—viz., Epiphyllum, the numerous forms of which 
have long taken rank as unquestionably useful garden plants. Many 
cultivators have tried to procure hybrids between E. truncatum and 
the Cereuses and Phyllocactuses, but I have never heard of or seen 
any authenticated instance of a cros3 being secured. The subject 
has, however, been revived lately, first by the exhibition a few 
years ago of Epiphyllum Gaertneri, and quite recently by the 
appearance of another of similar type, named E. Makoyanum, 
both of which have been thought to be probable bigeneric hybrids, 
though there is not any clear evidence bearing upon the subject. 
The chief character relied upon apparently is the regularity of 
the flowers in the two named, the numerous narrow, pointed, 
orange red petals being straight and spreading evenly in a star-like 
No. 2118. —Yon. LXXX., Old Seeies. 
