^r 



K, 



■> '.' ^ 



# 



JV 



OPUNTIA. 



127 



long, those toward the top of the joint each with a single stout, stiff, pungent spine 2.5 to 4 cm. 

 long; fruit short-obovoid, 2.5 cm. long, 1.5 cm. thick, with a few areoles bearing tufts of brownish 

 wool but no spines and but few glochids; flowers yellow, 6 to 8 cm. broad; sepals deltoid to rhom- 

 bic; fruit 2.5 to 4 cm. long; seeds 4 to 6 mm, wide, much thicker than those ot Opunlia opunlia. 



■ X 



L 



Type locality: Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi, 



Distribution: Coastal plain, Church Island, North Carolina, to northern Florida. Ala- 



bama 



Mississippi 



Figure 159 is from a photogr 

 t Bois Island, Alabama. 



Howell on 



f 



118. Opuntia opuntia (Linnaeus) Karsten, Deutsch. Fl. 888. 1882. 



« 



I -r . 



■ J 





X 



r n I 



r 



t 



1799. 



Cactus opuntia Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 468. 1753. 

 Cactus compressus Salisbury, Prodr. 348. 1796. 

 Cactus opuntia nana De Candolle, PI. Succ. Hist. 2: pi. 138. [A], 

 Cactus humifusus Rafinesque, Ann. Nat. 15. 1820. 

 Opuntia vulgaris major Salm-Dyck, Observ. Bot. 3: 9. 1822. 

 Opuntia vulgaris media* Salm-Dyck, Observ. Bot. 3: 9. 1822. 

 Opuntia humifusa Rafincsque, Med. Fl. U. S. 2: 247. 1830. 

 ">Opuntia mesacantha Rafinesque, Bull. Bot. Seringe 216. 1830. 

 Opuntia caespitosa Rafinesque, Bull. Bot. Seringe 216. 1830. 

 Opuntia intermedia Salm-Dyck, Hort. Dyck. 364. 1834.^ 

 Opuntia nana Visiani, Fl. Dalmatica 3: 143. 1852. 

 Opuntia rafinesquei\ Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 295. 1856. 

 Opuntia rafinesquei microsperma Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 295. 

 Opuntia rafinesquei minor Engelmann and Bigelow, Pac. R. Rep. 4: 55. 

 Opuntia vulgaris rafinesquei Gray, Man. Bot. ed. 2. 136. 1856. 

 Opuntia rafinesquei arkansana Riimpler in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 922. 

 Opuntia mesacantha microsperma Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 429. 

 Opuntia mesacantha parva Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3* 429- 

 Opuntia vulgaris wawa Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 715. 1898. 

 Opuntia humifusa microsperma Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 

 Opuntia humifusa parva Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 



1856. 

 1856. 



1896. 



900 



1885. 

 1896. 



X 



V 



"--^ 



H 





^ ^ 



■^k 



'\ 1 



w^,.^-- 



^ r 



^ - 



.^ 



n H L. 



^-- 



. ■-* ' ^ 



..■J r 



.> 







il-\ 



■- ■..\ ''• - 



H i 



Low, spreading plants, sometimes ascending, with fibrous roots; joints orbicular to oblong, 

 3 to 13 cm. long, rarely longer, thick, dark green ; areoles usually far apart; leaves subulate, appressed 

 or spreading, 4 to 8 mm. long, early deciduous; spines often wanting, when present usually one from 

 an areole, rarely two, 5 cm. long or less, brownish or sometimes nearly white, but on seedlings 5 to 

 12 ; glochids numerous, yellow to dark brown; flowers usually bright yellow, sometimes with reddish 

 centers, 5 to 8.5 cm. broad; petals 8 to 10, widely spreading; filaments yellow; stigma-lobes white; 

 fruit obovoid to oblong, red, juicy, 2,5 to 5 cm. long, edible; seeds 4 to 5 mm. broad. 



^''■\ 



.« 



?.. 





. .- ■ ■ •• 



fc'.-L 



fc- - 



^ 



I. 



i 



1- 



L _ 



Type locality 

 Distribution 



' and rocky places from Massachusetts to Vir 

 Alabama extending north into southern Ont 

 colonies to northern Illinois, eastern Missouri 



. i 



■iT: 



established in the mountains of northern Italy and Swit: 

 lyinnaeus undoubtedly had two species in his Cactus opunti 



commonly known 



V 



figured 



auhin 



154)- 



Miller based his Op 

 procumbent plant of the eastern 



For this reason Biirkill (Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 288. 191 1) would displace the name 0. 



name 



We are quite in agreement with him 



Miller, but we retain for the low plant the specific name opu 



The 



J^ 



Lh- 



% . 



I 



k 

 -. 



V,'- 





T ' i~ 



- I 



'■ A^ 







Jk 



monacantha 



specimens of Opuntia opunti 

 northern and western rang' 



glochids 



Its southwestern hmit is uncertain. It probably does not extend to 



Texas. althoncrTi fwr» iranVfiAG hflvp bppn rcDortcd from 



names Opuntia macrorhiza and 0. grandifl^ 



ported from 



' V 





ypuntia vulgaris minor (Labouret, Monogr. Cact. 476. 1853) was doubtless intended for this name 

 fSometimes spelled rafinesquiana. 



t 





^"f 



- V 



:^'-'. 





