Descriptive legend of view no. 4: The cereus giganteus, or giant cactus, is the largest known variety of the cactus family. It grows in tall columns, some of which have been found to reach a height of 46 feet. Its branches are few and cylindrical, like the parent stem. The globose knobs, seen on the plant in the foreground of the picture, are branches in their initial stage. The trunk is thickest at its middle part, where it sometimes attains a diameter of two feet or more. Its outer coating is green, ribbed, and covered with spines in clusters. When young and tender, this plant is usually found in the shade of some overhanging shrub, which shields it from the sun. The stem is of a fleshy nature, supported by a skeleton which is compounded of separate bundles of ligneous fibres, like the old Roman fasces, and is thoroughly saturated with sap. The flowers, of a creamy-white color, and 3 to 4 inches in diameter, grow in profusion near the summit of the stems. The fruit is sweet, but insipid, with a crimson pulp which has the consistency of a fresh fig. With the Indians and birds of the desert this fruit is an important article of food, while the sap-veins of the cactus trunk are their most reliable fountains, from which, tapping the tree, they draw the liquor and use it as a beverage.
Title from item.
On item: War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army. Geographical Explorations and Surveys. West of the 100th Meridian. Expedition of 1871. Under Command of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engrs.
Plate number: No. 4