132 
spines 20 to 30, spreading, ash-colored and often reddish at tip, the inner 3 to 8 a 
little stouter and deflexed: flowers subterminal, large, 7.5 cm. across: berry sub- 
globose, 2.5 em. in diameter.—On rocky hills, common about El Paso and down to 
the cation of the Rio Grande. “Fruit green or greenish-purple, when fully ripe 
delicious to eat, much like a gooseberry.” 
4. C. ctenoides Eng. Subsimple, ovate, 5 to 10 cm. high: ribs 15: areola lance- 
olate: like the last, but with white spines 2 to 8mm. long, the radial 14 to 20 pectinate, 
the central 2 or 3 in one series and short.—Eagle Pass. 
+ + + Flowers red. 
5. C. ceespitosus Eng. Ovate-cylindrical: ribs 12 to 18: areolw lanceolate: radial 
spines 20 to 30, straight or somewhat recurved, pectinate, white; central wanting, 
or rarely 1 or 2 very short ones: flower-tube with 80 to 100 pulvilli, each bearing 6 to 
12 capillary dusky spines and long cinereous wool.—Throughout Texas as far west 
as the Pecos. 
6. C. Reetteri Eng. Similar to C. dasyacanthus, but distinguished by the fewer 
ribs (10 to 12), fewer (12 to 20) and stouter spines, purple flowers, smaller fruit, and 
larger seed.—Near El Paso. 
** Ribs fewer (5-13) : areole less crowded or remote: spines fewer (3 to 12), longer (6-32 
mm.), not pectinate. 
+ Flowers purple, diurnal. 
7. C. Fendleri Eng. Ovate-cylindrical, 7.5 to 20 em. high: ribs 9 to 12: areola 
somewhat crowded: spines from a bulbous base, radials 7 to 10, straight or curved, 
some white, some grayish-brown, some variegated, 1 to 2.5 cm. long, the lower ones 
stouter; central one solitary, stout, curved, blackish-brown, often elongated (2.5 to 
4cm.): flowers lateral and near the apex, 6.5 to 8.5 em. across, deep purple: berry 
25 to 30 mm. long.—From the Upper Pecos to El Paso. 
8. C. enneacanthus Eng. Ovate-cylindrical, very cespitose, with a wrinkled or 
withered appearance, 7.5 to 15 cm. high: ribs 7 to 10: spines straight, radials 7 to 
12 (mostly about 8), white, upper 6 to 10 mm. long, lower 16 to 32 mm. long, laterals 
intermediate; central one solitary (rarely 2 or 3), bulbous at base, white or straw- 
color, extremely variable, in smaller specimens terete, in more perfect ones elongated 
and flattened, 16 or 20 to 30 or even 40 mm. long: flowers 5 to 7.5 cm. long and wide, 
the ovary and tube covered with numerous bunches of spines: berry about 2.5 cm. 
long.—In the Rio Grande Valley from El Paso to Laredo. 
9. C. stramineus Eng. Ovate-cylindrical, cespitose-glomerate, often from 100 to 
900 heads in one hemispherical mass, each 12.5 to 22.5 cm, high: ribs 11 to 13: radial 
spines 7 to 10 (mostly 8), straight or curved, white, about equal, 1.5 to 3 cm. long; 
central ones 3 or 4, angled, elongated, often flexuose, 5 to 8.5 em. long; younger ones 
dirty yellow and brown, like old straw: flowers 7.5 to 10 cm. long, very full, bright 
purple, with spiny ovary: berry 3.5 to5 cm. long, luscious, with bunches of elongated 
spines.—-Common between the Pecos and E1 Paso, rarer in southeastern Texas. Known 
as the “strawberry cactus,” or “‘pitahaya.” ‘The ripe fruit is red, with thin skin, 
bearing but few spines and easily peeled off. It 1s equal or superior, in quality and 
flavor, to the best strawberry. Whenever the traveler notices the pink fruit, glow- 
ing through the long spiny straws besetting the stem, he seldom fails to dismount 
and secure it, even at the risk of getting his hands badly punctured” ( Havard). 
10. C. dubius Eng. Ovate-cylindrical, cespitose, 12.5 to 20 cm. high, of a pale 
green color and a soft flabby texture: ribs 7 to9: radial spines 5 to 8, white, 12 to 
30 mm. long, the upper often wanting ; central ones 1 to 4, angled, often curved, 
more or less elongated, 3.5 to 7.5 em. long: flowers 6.5 cm. long, pale purple and with 
fewer and narrower petals: berry smaller (2.5 to 3.5 cm.), covered with bunches of 
spines,—From El Paso down to the lower Rio Grande, 
