THE 
FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
January 1 , 1842 . 
CACTEiE AND THEIR CULTIVATION. 
EPIPHYLLUM MACOYII. 
(with a plate.) 
The Cactese are a very numerous and highly interesting tribe 
of plants, which ought, perhaps, to be all included in a single genus, 
divided into sections ; but they are so numerous, and so varied 
in their forms, that they are handier in the system, divided into 
numerous genera. It should seem, however, that these genera 
are merely nominal, and hybridize with each other; for the one 
which we have figured is a hybrid between Epiphyllum Ackermannii 
and Cereus speciosissimus. As the portrait shows, it is a very fine 
flower, of the shape and size of the Epiphyllum, and of the same 
colour as the Cereus. Mr. Low, of Clapton, from whom we re¬ 
ceived the specimen, recommends that it should be grown in a 
mixture of sandy loam, decomposed vegetable matter, and a little 
sand ; that it should receive no water during the winter, but a rather 
copious supply in the flowering time. It is added, that the variety 
is named after Mr. M‘Coy, of Liege. 
All the Cacteae require nearly the same treatment as the one men¬ 
tioned, for they all grow in situations pretty similar to each other, 
and the differences between them are the trivial ones of shape, 
size, and colour. With the exception of one or two which are met 
with in the dry countries of south-eastern Europe and the adja¬ 
cent parts, they are all natives of Central and South America, 
and the adjoining islands. They prefer the most dry and appa¬ 
rently sterile situations on the slopes of the hills, or among or on 
the rocks, where not a drop of water ever stagnates. During the 
