CACTUS. 



231 



Globose to cylindric, sometimes nearly a meter high; cephalium cylindric, sometimes nearly as 

 long as the plant-body, made up of white wool and soft brown bristles; ribs 14 to 20, thick, large, 2 

 to 3 cm. high; spines 10 to 15, stout, yellow to brown, 2 to 7 cm. long; flowers pinkish, 1.5 to 2 cm. 

 long; outer perianth-segments acutish or obtuse and mucronulate; inner perianth-segments acute; 

 stigma-lobes 6 or 7, apiculate; fruit oblong to broadly clavate, 2 to 2.5 cm. long; seeds dull black, 

 strongly tubercled, especially at the distal end. 



Type locality: Antigua, West Indies. 



Distribution: Southern Bahamas, Porto Rico, Virgin Islands, St. Christopher, Antigua, 

 Montserrat, and Dominica. 



Urban, who has followed us in restoring Miller's old specific name in tort its, although 

 using it under Melocactus, has applied the name to the Hispaniolan plant while, as a matter 

 of fact, Miller's plant came from Antigua and represents a very different species. 



The plant is abundant along and near the coast in southwestern Porto Rico and grows 

 also on the Porto Rican Islands Culebr aj Vieques, Mona, and Desecheo; a headland near 

 Cabo Rojo, Punta Melones, has taken 

 its name from this cactus. On the 

 islands Mona and Desecheo in the 

 Mona Passage a race with elongated 

 slender spines exists; and through the 

 Virgin Islands, east to Anegada, the 

 species shows much variability in its 

 armament. It grows on several islands 

 in the southern part of the Bahamas, 

 north to Acklin's Island and Long 

 Island, called Turk's cap or Turk's 

 head here as in the Lesser Antilles; 

 the Turk's Islands have taken their 

 name from this plant which appears 

 on their postage stamps. 



Illustrations: Bradley, Hist. Succ. 

 PI. ed. 2. pi. 32, as Echinomclocactus; 

 Joum. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 6: 7. f. 3; 

 9: 46. f. 11, as Melocactus sp. ; Curtis's Bot. Mag. 58: pi. 3090, as Melocactus com- 

 munis ovatus; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 6: 87, 135; 26: 115; Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 

 f. 6; Zool. Soc. Bull. 22: 1466; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 2: 347. f. 539, as Melocactus 

 communis; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 4: 568. f. 42; Suppl. 530. f. 568; Nov. Act. Nat. Cur 18: 

 vSuppl. 1. pi. 7; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 432. f. 47; Watson Cact. Cult. 141. f. 55., as 

 Melocactus miquelii; Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 18: Suppl. 1. pi. 11, as Melocactus macracanthoides; 

 Bradley, Pi. Succ. pi. 32, as Echinomelocactus; Linnaea 11: pi. 4, as Echinocactus xantha- 

 canthus; Mus. Bot. Leide 3: pi. 1, 2, 4, A, as Melocactus eustachianus ; Mus. Bot. Leide 3: 

 pi. 3, 4 E, as Melocactus portoricensis; Wendland, Coll. PI. Succ. 1 : pi. 5, fide Miquel; Verh. 

 Kon. Akad. Wetensch. Amst. II. 5 3 : pi. 2, f. 4, 4a, 4b, 6; Mus. Bot. Leide 3: pi. 

 4, B, 12, 13, 19, as Melocactus linkii; Mus. Bot. Leide 3 : pi. 4, C, as Melocactus linkii (form) 

 Mus. Bot. Leide 3: pi. 11, as Melocactus linkii (seedlings); Verh. Kon. Akad. Wetensch. 

 Amst. II. 5 3 : pi. 2, f. 5 to sd; Mus. Bot. Leide 3: pi. 4, D, 12, 20, as Melocactus croceus; 

 Mus. Bot. Leide 3 : pi. n (seedlings) ; Mus. Bot. Leide 3 : pi. 4, C, as Melocactus linkii 

 trispinus. 



The following illustrations, more or less diagrammatic, while generally showing the 

 characters of this genus remarkably well, do not bring out the specific differences and we 

 have been unable to distribute them. It seems desirable to make a record of them here: 



Fig. 243. Cactus intortus. 



