VARIETIES.
The following is a selection of the best varieties, with a short description of the flowers of each:
E. bicolor (two-coloured).—Tube of flower white; petals purple, becoming almost white towards the base.
E. Bridgesii (Bridges').—Tube violet; petals dark purple.
E. coccineum (scarlet).—Bright scarlet, paler at the base of the petals.
E. cruentum (bloody).—Tube purplish-scarlet; petals bright scarlet.
E. Gaertneri (Gaertner's).—This is an interesting and beautiful hybrid, raised from Epiphyllum and a Cereus of some kind. The branchlets are exactly the same as those of E. truncatum, but the flowers are not like Epiphyllum at all, resembling rather those of Cereus or Phyllocactus. They are brilliant scarlet in colour, shaded with violet.
E. magnificum (magnificent).—Tube rosy-violet; petals dark red.
E. salmoneum (salmon-coloured).—Tube and base of petals white, rest salmon-red, shaded with purple.
E. spectabile (remarkable).—Tube and base of petals white; tips of petals carmine.
E. tricolor (three-coloured).—Tube salmon-red; petals red, centre purplish.
E. violaceum (violet).—Tube white; petals carmine, margined with violet-purple.