PILOCEREUS

pilocereus, the old man cactus, forms a small genus with tallish erect, fleshy, angulate stems, on which, with the tufts of spines, are developed hair-like bodies, which, though rather coarse, bear some resemblance to the hoary locks of an old man. the plants are nearly allied to _cereus_, differing chiefly in the floriferous portion developing these longer and more attenuated hair-like spines, which surround the base of the flowers and form a dense woolly head or cephalium. the most familiar species is _p. senilis_, a mexican plant, which though seldom seen more than a foot or two in height in greenhouses, reaches from 20 ft. to 30 ft. in its native country. echinopsis is another small group of species, separated by some authors from _cereus_. they are dwarf, ribbed, globose or cylindrical plants; and the flowers, which are produced from the side instead of the apex of the stem, are large, and in some cases very beautiful, being remarkable for the length of the tube, which is more or less covered with bristly hairs. they are natives of brazil, bolivia and chile. [illustration: fig. 3.--branch of _phyllocactus_ much reduced; the flowers are 6 in. or more in diameter.] phyllocactus (fig. 3), the leaf cactus family, consists of about a dozen species, found in central and tropical south america. they differ from all the forms already noticed in being shrubby and epiphytal in habit, and in having the branches compressed and dilated so as to resemble thick fleshy leaves, with a strong median axis and rounded woody base. the margins of these leaf-like branches are more or less crenately notched, the notches representing buds, as do the spine-clusters in the spiny genera; and from these crenatures the large showy flowers are produced. as garden plants the _phyllocacti_ are amongst the most ornamental of the whole family, being of easy culture, free blooming and remarkably showy, the colour of the flowers ranging from rich crimson, through rose-pink to creamy white. cuttings strike readily in spring before growth has commenced; they should be potted in 3-in. or 4-in. pots, well drained, in loamy soil made very porous by the admixture of finely broken crocks and sand, and placed in a temperature of 60°; when these pots are filled with roots they are to be shifted into larger ones, but overpotting must be avoided. during the summer they need considerable heat, all the light possible and plenty of air; in winter a temperature of 45° or 50° will be sufficient, and they must be kept tolerably dry at the root. by the spring they may have larger pots if required and should be kept in a hot and fairly moistened atmosphere; and by the end of june, when they have made new growth, they may be turned out under a south wall in the full sun, water being given only as required. in autumn they are to be returned to a cool house and wintered in a dry stove. the turning of them outdoors to ripen their growth is the surest way to obtain flowers, but they do not take on a free blooming habit until they have attained some age. they are often called _epiphyllum_, which name is, however, properly restricted to the group next to be mentioned. epiphyllum.--this name is now restricted to two or three dwarf branching brazilian epiphytal plants of extreme beauty, which agree with _phyllocactus_ in having the branches dilated into the form of fleshy leaves, but differ in haying them divided into short truncate leaf-like portions, which are articulated, that is to say, provided with a joint by which they separate spontaneously; the margins are crenate or dentate, and the flowers, which are large and showy, magenta or crimson, appear at the apex of the terminal joints. in _e. truncatum_ the flowers have a very different aspect from that of other _cacti_, from the mouth of the tube being oblique and the segments all reflexed at the tip. the short separate pieces of which these plants are made up grow out of each other, so that the branches may be said to resemble leaves joined together endwise.