2 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
dry period of the year, which occupies by much the greater part 
of it, they remain perfectly inert, some retaining their plumpness 
apparently by absorption through the epidermis, while others, 
especially the cieeping ones, become flaccid, and can be twisted 
about like cords, without sustaining the smallest injury. During 
this season they show but few of the ordinary characters of vege¬ 
tation. They are merely pieces of matter, the vegetable quality 
and life of which are inferred from the texture of the surface. This 
surface is usually glossy, of various shades of green, sometimes 
with more or less of red or brown, and covered with spines or 
prickles, which are usually collected into tufts, like those of a 
gooseberry-bush. In their nature, indeed, they have a closer 
analogy to the gooseberry plant than to any other vegetable ; and 
the fruit, and even the general substance, tastes of gooseberries. 
In habit, however, they are very different ; for they have no dis¬ 
tinct difference of petal, wood, and bark, and none of leaf or stem. 
Hence the name of Epiphyllum is an incorrect one, as it implies that 
the flowers grow upon the leaves, whereas there are no leaves for 
them to grow on, the permanent substance of the plant, whatever 
may be its form, being always amass of matter which may be called 
a frond or a sort of stem, but never a leaf. If any part of any one 
of the tribe is to be considered as a leaf, it is the small bracts 
which are on the lower parts of the flowers; and, therefore, they 
grow upon the flowers, and not the flowers upon them. 
In all the Cactese, so far as is known, the principle of vegetable 
life is more vigorous and more generally diffused, as well as more 
indestructible, than in almost any other tribe of plants. A very 
small portion of a frond, on exposition, will root, grow, and be¬ 
come a perfect plant. A piece cut out of the side will do this as 
well as one cut off the end ; and if cut from the end, it signifies not 
which end of the cutting is made the root. It sometimes happens 
that, by incautious watering during the dry season, and especially 
by allowing water to stagnate about the roots at that time, the 
roots and lower parts of the fronds are completely rotted off, 
without the smallest injury to the upper parts. In such cases, 
these parts have sometimes been thrown upon a dry shelf, as useless 
lumber, left there in a state of perfect inactivity for more than 
twelve months, and after this, by trimming off the rotted parts, and 
planting the remainder, they have immediately begun to root, and 
very soon produced fine flowers. 
