421 
compressed or angular, straight or curved detlexed or variously 
divergent, straw-colored or horny, with reddish base or entirely red, 
and one or two additional lower ones 1.2 to 1.8 em. long (slenderer, 
paler, often wanting): flowers yellow, red within, 6 to 7.9 cm. broad: 
fruit. obovoid-globose (rarely pyriform), 5 em. long and 3.5 em. broad, 
purplish, with bright-purplish insipid or nauseous pulp: seeds some- 
what irregular, mostly narrow-margined, 3 to 4 mm. in diameter. (Jil. 
Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 75, f. 1-4)—Type, Lindheimer 1722 of 1845 in 
Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. 
Along the whole Mexican border, from the Canadian River and 
mouth of the Rio Grande to the Pacific and adjacent islands, and south- 
ward into Chihuahua and Coahuila. 
Specimens examined: TEXAs (Lindheimer 1722 of 1845; Wright 329, 
437, 473, of 1852; Bigelow 117 of 1852; Tweedy of 1880): NEw MEXICO 
(Bigelow 91; Evans of 1891, Lordsburg; Mearns of 1892, Grant Co.): 
ARIZONA (Palmer 81, 95, 477; Rusby of 1883, Oak Creek; Hvans of 
1891, Tucson; Towmey of 1892, Tucson): CALIFORNIA ( Wislizenus 223; 
Rothrock 10, Santa Cruz Island; @. &. Vasey of 1880, San Bernardino): 
CoAHUILA (“St. Louis Volunteers” of 1846): also cult. in Mo. Bot. 
Gard. 1853, 1861, 1862, and growing in 1893, 
A stout, coarse looking plant of wide range and variation. This and apparently 
all other Platyopuntias are indiscriminately spoken of as “nopal” and “tuna,” the 
former name being applied to the joint, the latter to the fruit. The spines are vari- 
ously colored, being frequently a deep-rec, or entirely white, or variegated. Evans’s 
specimens from Lordsburg not only have deep-red spines, but also ovate joints. The 
four following forms have been suggested as varieties, and they may prove constant 
enough. 
8. Opuntia lindheimeri dulcis (Engelm.). 
Opuntia dulcis Engelm. Cact. Mex. Bound. 48 (1856). 
Lower (6 dm. high) and more spreading, with smaller joints (15 em. 
long), very numerous bristles, mostly twisted detlexed pale (almost 
white) spines, ovate sweet fruit, and smaller regular seeds. (J/l. Cact. 
Mex. Bound. t. 75, f.5-7)—Type, Mexican boundary collections of Bige- 
low and Wright in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. 
Along the middle Rio Grande, near Presidio del Norte, ete. 
Specimens examined: TEXAS (Bigelow of 1852-54; Wright of 1852): 
‘also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893. 
9. Opuntia lindheimeri occidentalis (Engelm. ). 
Opuntia occidentalis Engelm. & Bigel. Pacif. R. Rep. iv, 38 (1856). 
Opuntia engelmanni occidentalis Engelin. Pacif. R. Rep. iv, errata, iii (1856). 
Erect and spreading, 12 dm. high, forming large thickets, with joints 
as large as in the species, pulvini more remote and with very fine close- 
set bristles, one to three white (dusky at base) detlexed or divergent 
spines, very juicy but sour fruit, and larger (5 to 6 mm. broad) seeds 
with crenulate margins. (Jl. Pacif. R. Rep. iv, t. 7, f.1, 2; t. 22, f 10)— 
Type, Schott of 1854 and 1855 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard. 
Very abundant in southern California west of the coast mountains; 
also found near Laredo, Texas. 
