Tas. 7046. 
OPUNTIA potyacantna. 
Native of the United States. 
Nat. Ord. CactEm. 
Genus Opuntia, Mill. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. i. p- 851.) 
Oruntta (Elliptic) polyacantha ; prostrata, radice fibrosa, articnlis adscen- 
dentibus ellipticis ovatis obovatisve compressis, foliis minutis subulatis, 
pulvillis snbeonfertis pallide tomentosis setosis et armatis, aculeis radi- 
antibus albidis 1-5 interioribus longioribus patulis albidis v. rufescenti- 
bus, floribus sulphureis raro purpurascentibus, ovario obovoideo pulvillis 
aculeatis instructo, sepalis tubi ad 13 interioribus obovatis, petalis 12-20 
obovato-orbiculatis retusis apiculatis, stigmatibus 5-8 viridibus in capi- 
tulum profunde sulcatum dispositis, bacca ovoidea v. subglobosa pulvillis 
albo-tomentosis setosisque instructa, seminibus magnis late et subacute 
marginatis. 
O. polyacantha, Haworth Suppl. Plant. Succulent. p. 82 (1819). 
’ O. missouriensis, DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 472; Engelmannin Proc. Amer, Acad. 
vol. iii. p, 299; in Bot. Whipple Exped vol. iv. p. 44, t. xiv.; in Bot. 
King’s Exped. vol. iii. p. 118; in Bot. Simpson’s Exped. p. 442; in Bot. 
Wheeler’s Exped. p. 129. _ 
Cactus ferox, Mutt. Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 296, non Willd. 
This is the third hardy Opuntia figured in the Borantcan 
Macazing, the others being O. vulgaris (Tab. 2393) and O. 
fafinesquii (Tab. 7041). It was discovered by Nuttall on 
the Upper Missouri in 1811, and called by him Cactus ferox, 
a specific name that might well have been retained, for 
Engelmann states that the original form greatly deserves. 
it, were it not that there is an earlier (. ferox, of Willdenow, 
a native of tropical America, which also being an Opuntia 
claims the name. The present plant was first published by 
Haworth in 1811 under the very appropriate name of O. 
polyacantha, which was changed to O. missouriensis by 
De Candolle for no assigned reason. In this De Candolle 
has been followed by Engelmann in his various works on 
the American Cacti, who strangely altogether omits any 
reference to Haworth’s name or work. According to the 
last-named author, it was cultivated at Chelsea, in 1814. 
Opuntia polyacantha is a very wide-spread and variable 
Maxcu Isr, 1889. 
