HYBRIDS AND VARIETIES.
In addition to the cultivated species of Phyllocactus there are numerous hybrids and varieties, many of which are beautiful and distinct either in colour or in size of blossom.
The following is a selection of the best of them:
P. albus superbus (superb white).—The most beautiful of white-flowered kinds. Flowers fragrant, 6 in. across, resembling those of the night-blossoming Cereus grandiflorus; sepals greenish-white, petals pure white.
P. aurantiacus superbus (superb orange).—A compact plant, with numerous large, brick-red flowers, 5 in. to 6 in. in diameter.
P. Conway's Giant.—Flowers full, deep scarlet, about 8 in. in diameter.
P. Cooperi (Cooper's).—An English hybrid, remarkable for its large, beautiful yellow flowers.
P. Franzi (Franz's).—Flowers 3 in. to 4 in. across; petals numerous, outer ones scarlet, inner violet.
P. General Garibaldi.—Flowers very large, scarlet, tinged with orange on the reflex side.
P. grandiflorus (large-flowered).—Flowers bell-shaped, 4 in. across; sepals narrow, scarlet; petals incurved and of a fiery orange-scarlet colour.
P. Haagei (Haage's); Fig. 13.—Flowers about 5 in. across, flesh-coloured when first expanded, becoming carmine before fading.
FIG. 13.—PHYLLOCACTUS HAAGEI
P. ignescens (fiery).—Flowers 8 in. across, almost flat when expanded; petals numerous, deep brilliant scarlet.
P. Jenkinsoni (Jenkinson's).—Flowers medium in size, colour cherry-red.
P. Johnstonei (Johnstone's).—Flowers large, with broad scarlet petals.
P. Kaufmanni (Kaufmann's).—Flowers purplish-red, very large.
P. kermesina magnus (large scarlet).—An enormous-flowered kind, having produced blossoms which measured 10 in. across; petals vivid orange with a tip and central stripe of red; sepals blood-red.
P. Pfersdorffii. (Pfersdorff's).—Flowers as in Cereus grandiflorus, 8 in. to 10 in. across, very fragrant; petals white; sepals yellow, brownish outside.
P. Rempleri (Rempler's).—Branches three-angled; flowers with short, linear, incurved sepals; petals long, broad, arranged like a tube, colour salmon-red.
P. roseus grandiflorus (large rose-flowered); Fig. 14.—Flowers 6 in. long and broad, nodding, white.
FIG. 14.—PHYLLOCACTUS ROSEUS GRANDIFLORUS
P. Schlimii (Schlim's).—Branches three-angled; flowers large, sepals bright purple; petals broad, purple, tinged with scarlet.
P. splendens (splendid).—Flowers 8 in. across, purple-pink.
P. Wrayi (Wray's).—Flowers 5 in. long by 8 in. in diameter; sepals brown on the outside, yellow inside; petals yellowish-white, fragrant when first expanded.