FEROCACTUS. 129 



8. Ferocactus lecontei* (Engelmann;. 



Echinocactus lecontei Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 274. 1856. 



Echinocactus wislizeni lecontei Engelmann in Rothrock, Rep. U. S. Geogr. Surv. 6: 128. 1878. 



Becoming cylindric, 2 meters high or more, rather slender; ribs numerous, 20 to 30, somewhat 

 undulate; areoles longer than broad; some of the radial spines thread-like or bristly; the other 

 radials and the central spines flattened and flexible, usually appressed against the plant, most of 

 them ascending, rarely if ever hooked, white to red; flowers originally described as yellow, also 

 reported as red, 5 to 6 cm. long; fruit oblong, yellow; seeds minute, less than 2 mm. long, black, 

 shiny, reticulated, slightly compressed. 



Type locality: Lower parts of the Gila in western Arizona. 



Distribution: Southern California along the Colorado, northern Lower California, 

 Sonora, and east into Utah and Arizona. The geographic limits of the plant are ill-defined. 

 It seems to overlap or at least to interlock with the western range of F. wislizeni, while the 

 dividing line of the west between it and the following species is unknown to us. 



The species always has been confused with Ferocactus wislizeni, some writers consider- 

 ing it a distinct species, others only a variety or form, while Engelmann treated it at one 

 time as a species and at another as a variety. We believe that it will eventually ^>e 

 proven to be a distinct species. This is the concensus of opinion of good field observers 

 who have visited the western deserts. 



The following differences have been reported and, while they may not all hold, some of 

 them certainly do: F. lecontei is said to be taller and slenderer; the spines more flexible and 

 flattened, perhaps never hooked; the flowers smaller, perhaps red instead of yellow; the 

 seeds smaller and more reticulated. 



E. lecontei albispinus (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 17: 32. 1907) and var. hagei (Monatsschr. 

 Kakteenk. 4: 144. 1904) are only names. E. wislizeni phoeniceus Kunze (Monatsschr. 

 Kakteenk. 23: 8. 1913) and var. albus (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 17: 118. 1907) may 

 belong here. 



This species was named for Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte (1825-1883) who first noticed 

 the plant on the Lower Gila in Arizona. 



Illustrations: Bull. Geol. Surv. 613: pi. 38, B; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 9: 67; Schelle, 

 Handb. Kakteenk. 168. f. 98, as Echinocactus wislizeni lecontei; Watson, Cact. Cult. 

 107. f. 38; ed. 2. 249. f. 93; Gartenflora 32: 148; Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 7: 53; Garten- 

 Zeitung 4: 243. f. 56; Pac. R. Rep. 4: pi. 2, f. 3 to 5; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 4: 43; 20: 71 ; 

 22: 5; Cact. Journ. 2: 102; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 27; Rumpler, Sukkulenten 117. f. 64; 

 Diet. Gard. Nicholson 1: 500. f. 691; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 211. f. 18; 511. f. 62, as 

 Echinocactus lecontei. 



9. Ferocactus acanthodes (Lemaire). 



Echinocactus acanthodes Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 106. 1839. 



Echinocactus viridescens cylindraceus Engelmann, Amer. Journ. Sci. II. 14: 338. 1852. 



Echinocactus cylindraceus Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 275. 1856. 



At first globular but in age cylindric, sometimes nearly 3 meters high, very spiny ; ribs numerous, 

 often as many as 27, acute, 1 to 2 cm. high; areoles large, 1 cm. in diameter or more, densely brown- 

 felted when young, closely set, often nearly contiguous; spines often white or pinkish or sometimes 

 bright red; radial spines weak, setiform or acicular, usually pungent, often spreading; central spines 

 subulate, slender, spreading, more or less flattened, annulate, tortuous and more or less curved, but 

 never hooked at the tip, the longest 10 to 12 cm. long; flowers campanulate, yellow to orange, 4 to 

 6 cm. long, usually broader than long; scales on the ovary and flower-tube imbricate, ovate, with a 

 large purple blotch on their back, gradually passing upward into the perianth-segments; inner 

 perianth-segments glossy, narrowly oblong to spatulate, obtusish, often toothed; filaments numerous, 

 yellow, papillose; style greenish yellow, swollen below; stigma-lobes 14, yellow, about one-third the 

 length of the style ; fruit oblong, 3 cm. long, crowned by the scaly perianth, dry, dehiscing by a basal 

 pore; seeds black, 3.5 mm. long, pitted. 



*The specific name is sometimes incorrectly written E. lecontii or E. lecomtei. 



