lOO 



THE CACTACEAE. 



Series 1. PTJMILAE. 



Low, spiny species, with slightly flattened, narrowly cylindric or linear-oblong, readily detached 

 ultimate joints, the main stem terete. We know three species, the typical one m Mexico and Guate- 

 mala, one from Oaxaca, Mexico, and one Peruvian. , In the structure of their joints they form a 



C ylindr punlia and PlatyopunUa 



reason 



Key to Species. 



X 



Young areoles with only i to 3 spines; joints 2 to 3 cm. thick. 



Plant I to 5 meters high; joints tubercled; spines yellowish 77- 



Plants about 2 dm. high; joints not tubercled; spines reddish to brown 77^- 



Areoles with 3 to 7 spines; plants i to 4 dm. high. 



Joints I to 1.5 cm. thick; areoles not blotched; spines brownish 78. 



Joints 2 to 3 cm. thick; young areoles dark -blotched ; spines yellowish 79- 



O. pumila 



O. depauperaia 



O. puhescens 

 O. pascoensis 



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Fig. 122. — Opuntia pumila forming low thickets 



77. Opuntia pumila Rose, Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: 521. 1908. 



very 



velvety-pubescent, terete or sometimes slightly flattened, turgid, bearing more or less prominent 

 tubercles ; areoles small, those of old stems bearing several slender spines, the longer ones 3 cm. long ; 

 areoles of young joints usually bearing 2 yellowish spines ; ovary pubescent, with few spines or none ; 

 petals yellow, tinged with red, 15 mm. long; fruit globular, red, 15 mm. long. 



Type locality: Near Oaxaca City, Mexico, on the road to Mitla. 



Distribution: 



southern Mexico 



When this species was described, attention was called to various forms 



pubescens 



more 



from a photograph of the type: figure 12.^ represents ioints of the same 



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