234 



THE CACTACEAE. 



Illustrations: Bliihende Kakteen 2: pi. 92, as Melocactus caesius; Mus. Bot. Leide 3: 

 pi. 5, io, A; Versl. Kon. Akad. Wetensch. Amst. 6: opp. p. 192. pi. [4]; Gartenflora 46: pi. 

 1439; 52: 61. f. 8, as Melocactus humilis. 



Figure 245 shows the Surinam plant growing on a mass of rock on the nearly bare sum- 

 mit of a hill; figure 246 is from a photograph of a plant obtained by Mr. Pittier near La 

 Guayra in 1913; figure 247 was also obtained by Mr. Pittier at Barquisimeto in 1913; 

 figure 244 shows a plant of Patos Island, Trinidad, taken by Professor Tracy E- Hazen 

 in 1921. 



14. Cactus townsendii nom. nov. 



Melocactus peruvianus Vaupel, Bot. Jahrb. Engler 50: Beibl. in: 2S. 1913. Not Cactus peruvianus Lin- 

 naeus, 1753- 



Usually solitary, but sometimes several plants together forming a clump, nearly globular, 1 to 

 1.5 dm. in diameter; ribs usually 12 or 13, prominent; areoles 1 to 1.5 cm. apart, somewhat elliptic; 

 spines usually 8 or 9, brown or brownish, long and spreading or recurved; central spine, if present, 

 porrect, sometimes 4 cm. long ; cephalium usually 6 to 8 cm. high, composed of reddish brown bristles 

 and white wool ; flowers pinkish, 2.5 cm. long, persistent on the ovary ; fruit red, narrowly clavate, 1 2 

 to 16 mm. long; seeds black, roughened. 



Fig. 245. Cactus caesius 



Type locality: Chosiea, on the Lima and Oroya Railroad, central Peru. 



Distribution: Mountains of western central Peru, from above Lima to above Eten. 



Some years ago Dr. C. H. Tyler Townsend sent us a specimen of Cactus from Peru 

 which we studied and described, but before our description could be printed Dr. F. Vaupel 

 published his Melocactus peruvianas. His specific name can not be used under Cactus and 

 we have, therefore, substituted the one which we first gave the plant. 



This is the most southern species of the genus Cactus on the west coast of America. 

 Although described as a distinct species only in 1913, the presence of a so-called Melo- 

 cactus has been known in Peru for a long time; various travelers, including Roezl (1874), 

 mention such a plant. 



IS. Cactus bahiensis sp. nov. 



Dull green, 1 dm. high, 1.5 dm. in diameter; ribs 10 to 12, broad at base, 2.5 cm. high, each 

 bearing 6 or 7 areoles; spines all brown; radial spines about 10, the longest 2.5 cm. long; central spines 

 usually 4, the longest 3.5 cm. long; cephalium low, with many dark brown bristles; flowers pinkish; 

 fruit red, clavate, 1.5 cm. long; seed black, shining, 1 mm. in diameter. 



Collected by Rose and Russell near Machado Portella, Bahia, Brazil, in 1915 (No. 

 x 9935)- The plant was found only at a single locality in central Bahia, but it was there 



