PI'RI^SKIA 



19 



Panama the plant is known under the name n 



X 







/" 



ndijolia 



specie 



Henry 



30, 1911, 



13. Pereskia bahiensis Giirke, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 18: 86. 1908. 



F 



Shrub or tree, sometimes 8 meters high, with a more or less definite trunk, sometimes i meter or 

 more long and 1.5 to 2 dm, in diameter, and a large, rounded, much branched top; spines on new 

 growth wanting, but on old wood 5 to 40 at an areole, some of them 5 to 9 cm. long; young branches 

 green; leaves lanceolate, 6 to g cm. long, deciduous, somewhat 

 pointed, narrowed at base into short petioles; flowers in small 

 panicles, rose-colored; ovary bearing large leaves with cuneate 

 bases; fruit often proliferous, yellowish when mature, more or less 

 irregularly angled, bearing large leaves 3 to 4 cm. long, which ulti- 

 mately fall away; seeds black, oblong, 5 mm. long. 



Type locality: In the southeast catinga between Rio 

 Paraguagu at Tambury and Rio das Contas at Caldeirao, 

 Bahia, Brazil. 



Distribution: Dry parts of eastern Brazil. * 



This species is very common in the dry regions of Bahia; 

 and is often planted for hedges about small towns. The fruit 

 is proliferous; as many as eight were found hanging from a 

 single peduncle; it is said 

 to be edible, but while 

 half-ripe is very astrin- 

 gent. The perfect fruits 



can seldom be found, 

 because the birds peck 

 into them for the large 

 black seeds. 



Called in Brazil, 

 according to Dr. Leo 

 Zehntner, Iniabanto, 

 Espinha de Sao Antonio, 



and Flor de C^ra. 



also 



says: 



n 



I 



He 

 think 



f I 



Figs. 13. 14. — Pcreslvia bahiensis. X0.5. 



derived from 



?> 



Iniabanto is the best and ought to be generalized. It is 



Hibiscus esculentus, without doubt because the leaves of the pereskias are sometimes 



by people, giving a mucilaginous dish Hke that of the Hi 



Illustration: Monatsschr. Kakteenk. i8: 87. 



Figure 13 is from a specimen, preserved in formalin, collected by J. N. Ros 

 Machado Portello, Bahia, Brazil, in June 1915 ; figure 14 is from a plant from the same 

 figure I s is from a ohotoeraph obtained by J. N. Rose at Barnnha, Bahia, in June 19 



Okra 



grandifolia 



iSig. 



Cactus rosa Vellozo, FI. Flum. 206. 1825. 



Pereskia ochnacarpa Miquel, Bull. Sci. Phys. ^al. Ncerl. 48. 



1838. 



woody 



•Tree or shrub, 2 to 5 meters nign, ubuuii> witu o. ^^mw..., ,..^ .^^.w.^, j .».--- »^ -« - ™.. 



in diameter, the branches fleshy, glabrous, elongated, usually with i or 2 acicular spines a the 

 areoles; leaves oblong, obtuse or acute, somewhat narrowed at base. 8 to 15 cm. long; petioles short; 

 inflorescence terminal, usually few-flowered; 3-5 to 4 cm. broad; sepals green; petals rose-colored 

 sometimes white; filaments red; style and stigma-lobes white; ovary leaf-beanng; fruit described 

 as large, pear-shaped, many-seeded; seeds black. 



