146 



THE CACTACHAE. 







flowers. 



Opuntia occidcntalis, but that is a much 



more or less flattened spmes, and is common 



^ ■ 



coast. 



■^ ^ / ■. 



Figure 183 represents a joint of the plant sent by Dr. MacDougal from Elsinore 



Calif omi 



from a photograph of a specimen collected by Mr 



from 



■ d 





*^ 



148. 



1908. 



- .* - 



■ ^ K 





r t 



'- I 



Misc. Coll. 50: 



Opuntia mesacantha vaseyi Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 43i- 1S96. 

 Opuntia rafinesquet vaseyi Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 717. 1898. 

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

 Opuntia magenta Griffiths, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 19: 268. 1908. 

 Opuntia ruhiflora Davidson, Bull. South. Calif. Acad. 15: 2>3- 1916, 



Plants low, the lower stems spreading at base, but some of the branches erect and 4 to 7 joints 

 high; joints thick, small (usually 10 to 12 cm. long), ovate, pale green, somewhat glaucous; areoles 

 rather large, 2 to 3 cm. apart, bearing i to 3 spines; spines porrect, usually short (rarely 2 cm. long), 

 grayish brown or bright brown, whitish or yellowish towards the tips, somewhat flattened; young 

 joints bright green, thickish, bearing short purplish leaves and a single brownish spine from an areole; 

 flowers deep salmon, almost a red-salmon, from the very first; ovary globular to shortly oblong; 

 areoles few, mostly towards the top of the ovary, spineless but with a few brown glochids ; fruit 

 globular to shortly oblong, 4 to 5 cm. long, deep purple, truncate at apex, with few areoles, the pulp 

 sweetish but hardly edible; umbilicus broadly depressed. 



Type locality: Cited as Yuma, Arizona, presumably erroneously. 



Distribution: San Bernardino and Orange Counties, southern California. 



Even from a moving train this species is distinguishable from its relatives by the 

 color of its flowers. It 

 Los Angeles, either alone or interspersed with one or more other species, and it is also common 

 in the San Bernardino Valley toward the Cajon Pass where it forms great thickets either 

 alone or with Opuntia covillei. , Considerable quantities were seen also on hills near River- 



forms 



side, and it was found cultivated in the cactus garden at River- 

 side and in the Soldiers' Home Grounds at Santa Monica. 



Illustration: Bull. South. Calif. Acad. 15: 32, as Opuntia 

 ruhiflora. 



Figure 185 represents a joint of the plant collected by Dr. 

 Rose at Fernando, Cahfornia, in 1908. 



149. Opuntia occidcntalis Engelmann and Bigelow, Proc. Amer. Acad. 



3:291. 1856. 



Opuntia Undheimeri occidentalis Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 421. 

 1896. 



Opuntia engelmannii occidentalis Engelmann in Brewer and Watson, Bot 



Calif, i: 248. 1876.* 

 Opuntia demissa Griffiths, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22: 29. 1912. 



Erect or spreading, often i meter high or more, forming large 

 thickets ; joints large, obovate to oblong, 2 to 3 dm. long; areoles remote; 

 spines 2 to 7, stout, unequal, the longest ones 4 to 5 cm. long, more or 

 less flattened, brown or nearly white, sometimes wanting; shorter spines 

 often white ; glochids often prominent, brown ; flowers yellow, large, in- 

 cluding the ovary often 10 to 11 cm. long; fruit large, purple. 



Type locality: Western slopes of the California Mountains 



^ ■'I 



Distribution: 



I^os 



California 



Lower Fig. 185.— Opuntia vaseyi 



X0.5. 



Kng^ 



Mountains near San Diego and Los 



In the 



♦Coulter refers this name to Pac. R. Rep. 4: errata, 3, 1856, but no formal name Is published there 



J 











r > 





.^ " , 



^ 



F L 



_- J 



■ ■-.*-" 



'It - ■ ^ . 



^ ^H - 



. / - ■ " 



<^- 



\^L 



■^^ 



- Jf- 



-^ 



■i ¥ 





\ 



i'> ^ 



^ 



-J t 



' 





r-t 



■ t . xi^^^y 



■A ^■ ■■'■■. ■ 



^ - 



X ' 



I h* 









■, '' 



■ r , 



.:■ _ 



ki 





-^ 



?i- 



