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Updated: May 26, 2025
One of the most beautiful of all Cactuses, and one of the easiest to cultivate, the only drawback being that it rarely flowers under cultivation. In habit it is similar to C. Berlandieri.
Humboldt, in his "Views of Nature," says: "There is hardly any physiognomical character of exotic vegetation that produces a more singular and ineffaceable impression on the mind of the traveller than an arid plain, densely covered with columnar or candelabra-like stems of Cactuses, similar to those near Cumana, New Barcelona, Cora. and in the province of Jaen de Bracamoros."
Cactuses are children of the dry barren plains and mountain sides, living where scarcely any other form of vegetation could find nourishment, and thriving with the scorching heat of the sun over their heads, and their roots buried in the dry, hungry soil, or rocks which afford them anchorage and food.
And when I say no cactuses, I mean, of course, no indigenous species; for prickly pears and epiphyllums may naturally be planted by the hand of man anywhere. But what people take for thickets of cactus in the Indian jungle are really thickets of cactus-like spurges.
Cactuses of many species complete the picture of the vegetation in this beautiful spot. This is at the top of the barranca. Then imagine a valley a mile or two in width, with sides almost perpendicular and capped with basaltic pillars, and at the bottom a strip of land where the vegetation is of the deepest green of the tropics, with a river winding along among palm-trees and bananas.
For most plants the operation of grafting must be carefully and skilfully performed, but in the case of Cactuses very little skill is necessary if one or two rules, which apply to all kinds of grafting, are observed. The period of vigorous growth, and while the sap of both the stock and the scion is in motion, is the most favourable time for the operation.
The Cactuses which inhabit the plains of the Southern United States are subjected to a very high summer temperature, and a winter of intense cold; whilst on the other hand the species found in Central and South America do not undergo nearly so wide an extreme, the difference between the summer and winter temperatures of these countries being generally much less marked.
We were glad to be dressed and mounted, the following morning. Riding across the river, we made the ascent to the summit, on which were the ruins of Tecomavaca Viejo. The ascent was so abrupt that our horses were repeatedly compelled to stop for breath. The trail passed through cactuses, and spiny shrubs and trees, which tore our clothes more than all we had endured during weeks of travel.
Gardner, who introduced the Epiphyllums and other Cactuses. It flowered on the way to England, and matured its seeds soon after its arrival. It is a native of Pernambuco. This species appears to have been introduced in 1838, when two plants of it were sent from the West Indian Island, St. Croix, to the Hamburg Botanic Gardens.
Although the places in which Cactuses naturally abound are, for the greater portion of the year, very dry and warm, heavy rains are more or less frequent during certain periods, and these, often accompanied by extreme warmth and bright sunshine, have an invigorating and almost forcing effect on the growth of Cactuses.
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