

I 



ft 



t 



LEPTOCEKIiUS. 



79 



Distribution 



On limestone rocks, Sierra de Anafe and vSicrra dc Guanc, west- 

 ern Cuba. 



The wood is very hard ; the flowers apjjcar from August to November. 



At the type locaUty this tree-Hke species inhabits a steep rocky sloj^e and cHff, diffi- 

 cult of access, growing as a colony. 



Figure 113 is from a photograph of the type plant, obtained by Brother L6on, of the 

 Coledo de la Salle. Habana. in whose honor the snrripq wac namnrl 



■ c 



■^>f . 



3. Leptocereus prostratus sp. nov. 



Plant prostrate, bright green, y-ribbed, 1.5 

 to 2 cm. thick, the ribs scarcely crenate; are- 

 oles elevated, about i cm. apart; spines 15 to 

 20 at an areole, acicular, i to 2 cm. long, yel- 

 low when young, gray when old; ovary densely 

 covered with yellow spines; perianth about 

 1.5 cm. long; fruit about 1.5 cm. in diameter. 



On high, dry, exposed rocks, La Guira, 

 north of Sumidero, Pinar del Rio, Cuba 

 (Shafer, No. 13754, August 17, 1912). 



Leptocereus prostratus is related to 

 L. leonii, which differs in having an erect 

 trunk, the ribs of the branches deeply 

 crenate, the areoles depressed in the cre- 

 natures, and larger flowers and fruit. 



4. Leptocereus assurgens (C. Wright) Britton 

 and Rose, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 12: 



433 



1909. 



Cereus assurgens C. Wright in Grisebach, 

 Cat. PI. Cub. 116. 1866. 



Plant 2 to 3 meters high, not much 

 branched, the ultimate joints 3 cm. in diam- 

 eter or less; ribs 4; areoles i to 2.5 cm. apart; 

 spines acicular, brown, 2 to 8 cm. long; flow- 

 ers 4 to 5 cm. long; tube and ovar}^ bearing 

 scattered clusters of spines; inner perianth-seg- 

 ments short, numerous, spreading or even 

 turned backward; stamens and style pale 

 greenish w^hite; fruit covered with clusters of 

 short spines. 



Type locality: Western Cuba. 



Distribution 



On Hmestone, near 



Habana 



H-i 



Fig. 114. 



assurgens 



This species was long known only from the C( 

 rediscovered by collectors connected with the N< 



The name Cereus pellucidus (Pfeiffer, Enuni 

 or to some other Cuban member of the genus ; th 

 complete to enable us to identify the plant more 



Illustration: Schumann, Gcsamtb. Kakteen f. 33, as 



1837) belongs to this species 



Plate VIII, figure 4, shows a plant collected by Britton and Cowell at Cojimar, Cuba, 



J 



Figure 114 is 





from a photograph obtained by Brother Leon at the same 



