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Cereus (from the Latin, but of uncertain application). Cactaceae. Usually arborescent, columnar cacti with the surface covered with spiny ribs.
Flowers large, borne singly along the sides of the st.; fl.-tube slender and, as it decays, cutting off from the ovary; petals numerous; stamens numerous; style single, thick: fr. a large, naked, fleshy berry; seeds small, black. The genus Cereus, as it has generally been treated, contained more than 100 species which differed greatly in habit, armament, fls. and fr., and was one of the most complex and difficult of the family. As now understood, it contains species of uniform habit, with similar fls. and frs., while a number of species of very different habit have been referred elsewhere. Even as here treated, more than half of the species are anomalous. Until the fls. and frs. have been studied, it seems best to leave them in Cereus. The species are all from S. Amer.
Only a few species of true Cereus are grown in this country, and most of these are grown under glass. The flowers do not compare in size and attractiveness with those of the so-called night-blooming Cereus, which is described elsewhere under the genus Selenicereus. Several of the species have cristate and other abnormal forms which make them desirable to certain growers. C. lepidotus is a rather common cultivated species in certain of the West India Islands, where it grows to considerable height, and several of the species are grown in Europe along the Riviera, where they reach great size. With us, however, they do not grow very rapidly. They are easily propagated from seed or by cuttings. See Succulents.
The species treateo in the first edition of this work that are not here given may be looked for under the following genera: Acanthocercus, Aporocactus, Bergerocactus, Carnegiea, Cleistocactus, Escontria, Harrisia, Heliocereus, Hylocereus, Lemaireocereus, Lophocereus, Myrtillocactus, Oreocereus, Pachycereus, Rathbunia, and Selenicereus.
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