228 THE CACTACEAE. 
Soon after this species was described E. von Tuerckheim, who had spent many years in 
Guatemala, wrote that the plant was an old acquaintance and that some 20 years before 
he had sent several hundred from Salama to a European dealer. 
The habitat of this plant is various; Mr. Maxon reported finding it on barren stony 
hillsides while Charles C. Deam found it in flat exposed rocky places and sometimes in open 
woods. ‘The plants grow singly or in pairs at an altitude of about 300 meters. 
Illustrations: Stand. Cycl. Hort. Bailey 2: 612. f. 729, as melon-cactus; Monatsschr. 
Kakteenk. 23: 179; MOollers Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 25: 477. f. 11, No. 2, 9, as Melocactus 
maxonti; Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: pl. 6; Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. 1908: pl. 2, f. 2. 
Figure 239 is from a photograph of the type plant. 
7. Cactus salvador (Murillo). 
Melocactus salvador Murillo, Circular [about 1897]. 
Simple, globose, 3 to 4 dm. in diameter; ribs 13; radial spines 8, somewhat recurved; central 
spines 1 to 3, longer and stouter than the radials, those near the center of the plant nearly erect, 
those on the side somewhat curved downward; cephalium 8 cm. in diameter; flowers rose-pink; 
seeds black. 
Fic. 238.—Cactus melocactoides. Fic. 239.—Cactus maxonii. 
Type locality: Not cited. 
Distribution: High mountains above Jalapa, Vera Cruz. 
This plant was first described in a circular issued by Louis Murillo of Jalapa about 
1897. It was offered for sale in March 1898 in the Cactus Journal (p. 28) and in several 
subsequent numbers. It was later described by Walton (Cact. Journ. 2: 103. 1899) and 
is referred to incidentally in the Monatsschrift fiir Kakteenkunde (9: 178; 18: 61, 62, 64, 
93; 19: 81), sometimes as M. san-salvador, and is also incidentally mentioned by Schumann 
(Gesamtb. Kakteen 454. 18098). 
Dr. Rose in 1912 found four photographs of the plant at Kew which had been sent by 
Professor Murillo. Murillo’s original description was accompanied by an illustration of 
four potted plants; as his description is accessible to only a few it is reproduced here: 
‘“MELOCACTUS SALVADOR. 
“A new and very scarce Cactus. Discovered by Louis Murillo.—Jalapa, Mexico. 
his is a new and beautiful plant, of spherical form, with 13 symmetrical furrows, which are 
deeply marked and covered with long and conic spi i 
pines that are arranged in the shape of a crown, 
8 radial, 1 to 3 central, the latter much longer and all slightly curved. tt reaches a diameter of from 
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