228 



THE CACTACEAE. 



vSoon 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 fiat 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; Mollers Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 25: 477. f. 11, No. 2, 9, as Mehcactus 

 maxonii; Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: pi. 6; Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. 1908: pi. 2, f. 2. 



Figure 239 is from a photograph of the type plant. 



7. Cactus Salvador (Murillo). 



Melocactus Salvador Murillo, Circular [about 1S97]. 



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. 



Fig. 238. Cactus mclocactoidcs. 



FlG. 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 fur 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. 1898). 



Dr. Rose in 191 2 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. 



"This is a new and beautiful plant, of spherical form, with 13 symmetrical furrows, which are 

 deeply marked and covered with long and conic spines that are arranged in the shape of a crown, 

 8 radial, 1 to 3 central, the latter much longer and all slightly curved. It reaches a diameter of from 



