OPUNTIA. 



153 



some joints bearing 20 or more; petals 2.5 cm. long, mucronate; filaments numerous, scarlet-rose- 

 stigma-lobes 6, green; fruit small, 3 to 4 cm. long, red, not edible; seeds few, flattened, .5 mm. broad! 



Type locality: Described from cultivated specimens. 



Distribution: Not known in the. wild stafp. but nnw \T(^r\T o^mmnti «^ti +%« -o^rC^^r. 



Mr 



forming 



named for Alwin Berger, formerly 



Mortola, Italy, who sent material to the late Dr. Weber, from which the species was 



described. 



especially about Bordighera, Italy, 

 but blooms more or less throughout 



common 



May 



Opuntia ledienii (Berger, Hort. Mortol. 233. 1912), unpubHshed, is referred here. 

 Illustrations: Gard. Chron. III. 35: f. 14; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 16: 156. 

 Plate XXVI, figure i , represents a flowering joint of a plant sent from La Mortola, 

 ^ to the New York Botanical Garden in 1006. 



157. Opuntia elatior Miller, Gard. Diet. ed. 8. No. 4. 1768. 



Cactus nigricans Haworth, Misc. Nat. 187. 1803. 

 Opuntia nigricans Haworth, Syn. PI. Succ. 189. 1812. 



r 



^ Cactus tuna elatior Sims, Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: under pi. 1557. 1813. 

 Cactus pseudococcinellifer Bertoloni, Excerpta Herb. Bonon. 11. 1820. 



Plants densely bushy-branched, up to 5 meters high ; joints obovate to oblong or suborbicular, 

 olive-green, i to 2 dm. or even 4 dm. long; leaves 4 mm. long, green with reddish tips; areoles 2 to 

 4 cm. apart; spines 2 to 8, acicular, mostly terete, dark brown, 2 to 4 cm. or even 7 cm. long; 

 flowers about 5 cm. broad; petals dark yellow striped with red or sometimes salmon-rose, with 

 mucronate tips; filaments numerous, pink or red; style nearly white; stigma-lobes 5, green; ovary 

 ovoid, deeply umbilicate, its areoles either with or without spines; fruit obovoid, truncate when 

 mature, reddish, the pulp dark red; seeds about 4 mm. broad. 



Type locality: Unknown. 



Distribution: Common or frequent in Curasao, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, 

 escaped from cultivation in Austraha. 0. nigricans has been referred to Mexico, but 

 doubtless wrongly, unless cultivated there. Plants brought by Dr. Howe from Tobogilla 

 Island, Panama, have narrowly obovate joints. 



The early history of this species and its various synonyms are rather confusing. Dil- 

 lenius figured Opuntia elatior and this name was taken up by Miller in 1768. There is 

 some doubt as to its native home, but it probably came from northern South America, or 

 possibly Curasao. Opuntia nigricans, also referred here, was described by Haworth from 

 cultivated specimens; plate 1557 of Curtis's Botanical Magazine was made from Haworth's 

 specimen and may be considered typical. 



Introduced into cultivation in Europe about 1793. 



Illustrations: Loudon, Encycl. pi. ed. 3. f. 6877, as Cactus elatior; Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: 

 pl- 1557, this last as Cactus tuna nigricans; Dillenius, Hort. Elth. pi. 294, this as Tuna elatior, 

 etc.; Agr. Gaz. N. S. W. 23: pi. opp. 208; pi. opp. 210, both these as Opuntia nigricans; 

 Journ. Hort. Home Farm. III. 60: 30, this as Opuntia occidentalis. 



Plate XXVI, figure 2, shows a flowering joint of a specimen obtained by Dr. Brit ton 

 and Dr. Shafer in Curasao in 19 13. 



158. Opuntia hanburyana Weber in Berger, Gard. Chron. III. 35: 34. 1904 



Bushy, 

 green; leaves 



I to 2 meters high, somewhat straggling; joints narrowly oblong, about 3 dm. long bright 



. s subulate, 4 to 5 mm. long; areoles closely set, Hlled with brown or blackish wool; 



spines several, spreading, acicular, somewhat flattened and twisted, yellowish brown, the longest 

 3 cm. long; flowers widely spreading, rather small; fruit small. 



Type locality: Described from cultivated plants. 

 Distribution: Not known in the wild state. 



Upuntta nigricans Haworth, byn. PI. bucc. isg. 1812. _/ . ^ f <^-*«»^ 



Cactus elatior Willdenow, Enum. Hort. Berol. Suppl. 34. 1813. . „U^,^ t^a^—f^^^' ^*^ ^ o-f-^ 



Cactus tuna nigricans Sims, Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: pi. 1557. 1813. <p*J^'} ^f-i-r'*^ o-v*>-» '^ 



I 



