208 



THE CACTACI^AIv. 



235. Opuntia rubescens Salm-Dyck in De CandoUe, Prodr. 3: 474. 1828. 



Opunlia catacantha Link and Otto in PfcifTer, Enum. Cact. 166. 1837. 



Consoled rubescens Lemaire, Rev. Hort. 1862: 174. 1862. 



Consoled catacanthd Lcmairc, Rev. Hort. 1862: 174. 1862. 



Opuntid gtuinicdna Schumann in Giirke, Monatsschr. Kaktecnk. 18: 180. 1908. 



Trunk erect, nearly cylindric below, flattened above, 3 to 6 meters high, sometimes 1.5 dm. in 

 diameter, branching above, its areoles bearing several or many acicular spines up to 8 cm. long or 

 more, or spineless: ultimate joints thin and flat, mostly dark green or reddish green, not reticulate- 

 areolate except when young, oblong to oblong-obovate, 2.5 dm. long or less, mostly 2 to 4 tirnes as 

 long as wide, the terminal ones often much smaller; areoles i to 1.5 cm. apart, bearing several acicular 

 nearly white spines i to 6 cm. long, or spineless; flowers yellow, orange or red, about 2 cm. broad; 

 ovary long-tuberculate, 4 to 5 cm. long, about 1.5 cm. in diameter; petals obovate, apiculate; sta- 

 mens about half as long as the petals; fruit reddish, obovoid or subglobose, 5 to 8 cm. in diameter, 

 spiny or spineless; seeds suborbicular, 6 to 8 mm. in diameter. 



, * 



* L 



V 



«#** 



Figs. 263, 264. — Opuntia rubescens. 



Typ 



Mona and Porto Rico to Tortok; 

 Thomas, St. Jan, and Montserrat 



vSchumann 



American 



/ — ^— '— ^ "'- '-'^ "~ -w — -^^ w^ 1^ ^-^ - 



agree with the description of 



simae {Cruciformcs), as pointed 



through field observations in the Virgin Islands, and greenhouse plants of O. rubescens 

 develop spines. 



Both the spiny and spineless races exhibit _^_^ ^,, ,_,^„, 



these often forming chains of several joints while attached to the pranTitheserf ailing to 



remarkable 



the ovaries, 



ilifi 



Op 



I 



1 



J 



. ->-: 



