duces offsets, marked with about twelve vertical, deep fur- 

 rows, the ridges between the furrows obtuse, studded with 

 rather closely set small tufts of reddish wool, from which 

 arise three or four rather strong spines, of a deep purplish- 

 brown colour, which stand forward, and are sometimes 

 curved, and several lesser pale-coloured spreading ones. The 

 longest and strongest spines are from the summit of the 

 stem ; but the largest of them rarely exceed half an inch in 

 length, and their bases are the most woolly. From the 

 summit of the stem arise one to three or four sessile flowers, 

 large in proportion to the size of the plant, and of a delicate 

 lemon colour. Calyx tapering at the base, imbricated with 

 scales, which are clothed with reddish or ferruginous wool, 

 mixed with long, slender, dark red spines. Petals numer- 

 ous, erecto-patent, linear-acute, obscurely and irregularly 

 serrulated, aristate, of a rather thin and scariose texture. 

 Stamens about half as long as the petals, yellow. Style 

 equal to them in length, bearing a bright red stigma, with 

 about twelve to fourteen rays. 



This very beautiful species of Echinocactus was first 

 described by Dr. Lehmann, (to whom our Glasgow Garden 

 is indebted for the possession of the plant,) and afterwards 

 was well represented in Link and Otto's excellent publi- 

 cation on the plants of the Berlin Garden. It is a native of 

 Brazil : and like all its tribe should be cultivated in a warm 

 and dry stove, and the pots kept well drained from mois- 

 ture. It blossomed with us in July, 1831. 



Our collections are now, by the zeal of the Botanists in 

 the New World, beginning to be well stocked with the 

 species of this curious and highly interesting family. At 

 one time, the hotter parts of that vast continent were alone 

 supposed to afford them : but from the lat. of Mendoza, 

 (33° South,) and at a considerable elevation above the level 

 of the sea, Dr. Gillies has supplied the Glasgow and other 

 Botanic Gardens, with no less than twenty -two species ; all 

 gathered within the distance of a morning's ride from that 

 city ; while in North America, Messrs. Douglas and Drum- 

 mond met with Cactuses between the parallels of 40° and 

 50°, in the Rocky Mountains : whereas, Professor Schouw 

 has scarcely extended the region of the tribe beyond the 

 tropics. 



Fig. 1. Cluster of Spines : magnified. 



