i' 



OPUNTIA. , - 



47 



^ Key to Species. 



Ultimate joints short, usually at right angles to the branches, 4 to 7 mm thick 

 Bushy plants. 1.5 meters high or less; fruit small, fertile 

 Branches scarcely if at all tuberculate. 



Leaves ovoid to ovoid-subulate; young areoles long-hairy - n mortnh^.i. 



Leaves Imear; areoles not long-hairy. . ' n f^^'"'^«*" 



Branches long-tuberculate 3- O. Uptoraults 



Elongated plants, up to 2 meters long; fruit larger, sterile ." .' .' .' .' ." .■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■.■;.■ J" n caiXra 



Ultimate joints longer, 8 to 15 mm. thick, usually at an acute angle to the branches. 



Jomts only slightly tuberculate. a. n . 1 7 



Joints manifestly tuberculate tn' ^r"'" 



7. C/. klnniat 



2. Opuntia mortolensis sp. no v. 



Slender, 6 dm. high or less, dull green, with dark blotches below the areoles, the ultimate twigs 

 short soipetimes only 2 cm. long, 4 to 5 mm. thick, scarcely tuberculate; leaves ovate to ovate- 

 subulate, 2 to 4 mm. long, green, with acute bronze-colored tips; young areoles with numerous, early 



f ^i3 u°"^' ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ sometimes longer than the leaves, and several brown glochids ; areoles 

 of old branches with solitary acicular spines 3 to 5 cm. long, these with tightly fitting brownish sheaths • 

 flowers and fruit unknown. . . 



Described from No. 25360, New York Botanical Garden, received from the garden of 

 Sir Thomas Hanbury, La Mortola, Italy, in 1906. Mr. Berger has referred this specimen 

 to Opuntia leptocaulis longispina, but this was considered by Dr. Engelmann as the "usual 

 western form" of 0. leptocaulis. 



An herbarium specimen collected by Rose, Standley, and Russell at Empalmc, vSonora, 

 Mexico, March 11, 19 10 (No. 12644), appears to be referable to this species. 



The short leaves and long-hairy young areoles appear to distinguish this plant from 

 0. leptocaulis. 



Illustration: Gard. Chron. III. 34 : f. 2)7 , as Opuntia leptocaulis longispina. 

 Plate VI, figure i, represents a branch of a plant sent from La Mortola, Italy, in 1906; 

 figure 2 shows a leafv twie of the same olant. ' ' 



X 



Mem. Mus 



1828. 



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1845. 



Opuntia ramultfera Salm-Dyck, Hort. Dyck. 360. 1834. 

 Opuntia gracilis Pfeiflfer, Enum. Cact. 172. 1837. 

 Opuntia fragilis frutescens Engelmann, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 5: 241 

 Opuntia virgata Link and Otto in Forster, Handb. Cact. 506. 1846. 

 Opuntia vaginata Engelmann in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour North. Mex. 100. 

 Opuntia frutescens Engelmann, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. 6: 208. 1850. 

 Opuntia frutescens hrevispina Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 309. 1856. 

 Opuntia frutescens longispina Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 309. 

 Opuntia leptocaulis hrevispina S. Watson, Bibl. Index i: 407. 1878. 

 Opuntia leptocaulis vaginata S. Watson, Bibl. Index i :'407- 1S78. 

 Opuntia leptocaulis stipata Coulter, Contr, U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 456. 

 Opuntia leptocaulis longispina Berger, Bot. Jahrb. Engler 36: 450. 1905- 



r 



1848. 



1856. 



1896. 



■^ i 



trunk 



cm. in diameter, dull green with darker blotches below the areoles, with slender, cylindric, ascending, 

 hardly tuberculate branches ; branches, especially the fruiting ones, thickly set with short, usually 

 spineless joints spreading nearly at right angles to the main branches, very easily detached ; leaves 

 green, awl-shaped, 12 mm. long or less, acute; spines usually sohtary at young areoles, very slender, 

 white, at areoles of old branches 2 or 3 together, 2 to 5 cm. long or less ; sheaths of^spmes closely fit- 

 ting or loose and papery, yellowish brown to whitisl ' "' ' *"""* —*'-*" • 

 greenish or yellowish, 1.5 to 2 cm. long including the o^ 



very short white wool 

 ary ; sepals broadly ovate, acute, or cu 



leaves, its glochids 



brown; fruit small, globular to obovate or even clavate, often proliferous, red or rarely yellow 10 

 to 18 mm. long, turgid, slightly fleshy; seeds compressed, 3 to 4 mm. broad, with narrow, often 

 acute, margins. . 



Type locality: In Mexico. 

 Distribution: Southwestern 



Stat 



Opuntia, extending from southern 



Mexico 





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