112 



THE CACTACHAE- 



triacantha (Willdenow 



1826. 



Cactus triacanthos Willdenow, Enum. PI. Suppl. 34- 18 13. 



procumbent 



turgid, oblong, 4 to 8 cm. long, the terminal and often the second and third ones breakmg off 

 easily spines usually 3. white but often drying yellowish. 4 cm long or less; flowers, including the 

 ovaries, 5 cm. long, brownish yellow to cream-colored, tinged with pink ; petals obtuse , filaments and 



green 



Type locality: Not cited; cultivated in the Berlin Garden. 

 Distribution: Desecheo Island, Porto Rico; Lesser Antilles, St. Thomas 



-X 



Fig. 138. — Opuntiabella. X0.75. 



Fig. 139. — Opuntia bella. X0.66. 



L 



When published, the origin of this species was uncertain. It has been referred to the 

 South American flora, but if our interpretation is correct it is a West Indian plant. It was 

 introduced into cultivation in 1796. 



This species is very common on flats or low hills and, so far as our observation goes, 

 is never found very far inland in the Lesser Antilles. 



Professor Schumann^s description includes two species, one of which belongs here and 

 one in the Streptacanthae, perhaps as Mr. Berger thinks to 0. amyclaea — and a tall plant, 

 3.5 meters high, is now grown in Italy under that name. The Index Kewensis refers 

 0. triacantha as a synonym of 0. curassavica, which is erroneous if our interpretation of 

 it is correct. 



Plate XVIII, figure 3, represents joints of the plant collected on Antigua by Rose, Fitch, 

 and Russell in 1913. Figure 140 is from a photograph taken on St. Christopher, British West 

 Indies, by Paul G. Russell in 1913. 



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