4 Dr. Englemann on the Cereus giganteus of California. 
with Mr. Thurber’s meagre notes, (other specimens unfortunately! 
having been lost,) I have ventured to make out the following! 
description: 
Cereus Thurberi (n. sp.): erectus, elatior, e basi ramosus sub- 
14-costatus, sulcis parum profundis, aculeis brevibus nigricanti- 
bus; floribus tubuloso-campamilatis virescenti-albidis ; ovario ? 
globoso sepalis 80-100 carnosis-squamiformibus triangularibus f 
acutis imbricatis ad axillam villosis stipato ; sepalis tubi inferiori- 
bus 24 lanceolatis acutiusculis axilla nudis, superioribus 20-2&J 
orbiculato-obovatis obtusis ; petalis 16-20 obovato-spathulatis ob- 
I Dr. Engel 
i the fi 
I and even 
Collected in June 1851, in a rbcky canon near the mountain j 
pass of Bacuachi, a small town on the road to Arispe, in Sonora; I 
afterwards found with Cereus giganteus, near Santa Cruz: it 
abounds also near Magdalena and Ures. Santa Cruz appears to f 
be the northern limit of this species, which does not extend to | 
the Gila river. Stems 4 to 12 feet high, many from the same base, J 
6 to 10 inchbs in diameter,- Sometimes articulated, occasionally 
branching above, with about 14 ribs and shallow grooves. Flow- | 
ers greenish white, borne about a foot below the summit of the J 
stem. Dried flower 2f inches long ; the tube narrower, and more j 
elongated than in C. giganteus; the globose ovary and the naked, 3 
and staminiferous part of the tube each about f inch long; free! 
part of petals of the same length, and 4 lines wide. Anthers I 
much larger than in the foregoing species, 1*3 to 1*4 lines long. | 
Style not seen. , | 
1 have dedicated'this to the collector, Mr. George Thurber, of 
Rhode Island, an excellent botanist, who has kindly furnished me 
with the materials for this article. 
Cereus Thurberi and C. giganteus appear to be closely allied 
species. They have high and erect stems, flowers with a short 
tube, half of which is naked, the filaments occupying only the up¬ 
per half of the tube ; both have short and fleshy sepals on the ova¬ 
ry, with Short wool in their axils, unaccompanied by any bristles j 
or spines; in both the petals are whitish, obtuse, and fleshy. 
Both, and especially C. giganteus , stand very near the Pilocerei * 
■on account of the great height of the stem,, the short ventricose tube 
of the flower, arSLthe thick petals ; but they have not the least 
indication of a a&phdtium (or woolly head} nor of any particular } 
development of wool 4 their flowers Spring from the axils of the 
ordinary and unaltered areolae; and the seed is quite different, j 
at least from that of Pilocereus senilis , the only species of that ; 
genus, I believe, which has been well examined ; these seeds are 
said to be obliquely thihible shaped, densely dotted, and to have 
an embryo with thick globose cotyledons. It is also said that 
the filaments cover the whole inside of the tube of the flower, 
I {tee, the filanw 
I It is not impro 
I Sato.) «» t0 . 
I appears to be ( 
I figured by the 
1 resembles tha 
9 the same sha 
I ovary; the tu 
1 scute: wheth 
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