APPENDIX. 



217 



82a. Opuntia pestifer nom. nov. (See page 103, ante.) 



Cactus nanus Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, Nov. Gen ct So 6 '68 

 CereM5 nawMi De Candolle, Prodr. 3 : 470. 1828. 



1823 



Low and nearly prostrate but sometimes 2 dm. High, much branched; the 



very 



8 cm. long, nearly terete, i to 3 cm. in diameter, or when young flattened and 

 2 to 3 cm. broad, very spiny; spines 2 to 5 at each areole, acicular. brownish 

 I to 3 cm. long; glochids numerous, yellow; flowers and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Near Sondorello and Guancabamb 

 time these places were in southern Ecuador, but 

 northern Peru. 



Distribution: Northern Pom fn r^^nfral 



they 



Humboldt's 

 are now in 



Ecuador 



Dr. Rose observed the plant in various places in Ecuador, usually 

 at an altitude ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 meters. The following col- 

 lections were made: at Huigra (No. 22306); at Sibambe (No. 22433); 

 and west of San Pedro, Province of I,oja (No. 23352). 



This plant, although widely distributed and very common, has ^'^- 280.— Opuntia de- 

 never been seen by botanists in flower or fruit. The joints, which p^^^*^'^^^- ^°-^- 



come loose easily, are freely distributed by animals, 

 hidden in the grass, it is easily overlooked but very ai 

 unawares. Humboldt speaks of its beiner troublesome 



It is so small that, growing half- 

 moying when one comes upon it 



& 



ty 



Fig. 281. — Opuntia pestifer. X0.5. 



Kunth who described it as Cactus nanus referred it with hesitancy to the Section Ccrcus. 

 De Candolle transferred it from Cactus to Ccrcus placing it in a new subgenus Opuntiacci 

 along witK C. moniliformis (which we know now is an Opuntia) and C. serpens. He 

 thought these might represent a genus between Opuntia and Ccrcus. 



Schumann (Gesamtb. Kakteen i66) considered it an Opuntia but did not formally 



refer it to that genus. 



This name should not be confused with Opuntia nana (Fl. Damatica 3: 143. 1852) 



which is Opuntia opuntia. 



Figure 281 is from a photograph taken by George Rose at Sibambe, Ecuador, in 191 8; 



figure 283 shows the joints of the same plant (Rose, No. 22433.) 



