[62 



Tim CACTACICA1C. 



( ibsi-rvcd lime iS3<> ;il San Cristobal near Lima by A. T. Agate, of the \Yilkes' 

 Kxploring Kxpcdition. Agate's painting of it is preserved in the Library of the Gray 

 Herbarium. 



Plate xxv, figure 3, shows a flowering plant collected at the type locality by Dr. Rose 

 in 1914 which flowered in the New York Botanical Garden in the same year. 



5. Borzicacrus decumbens (Yaupel). 



(.'i-rcns iIcfHiiil'Ciis Yuiipcl, But. Jahrb. Kngk-r 50: Beibl. in: 18. 1913. 



1'lant cespitose, procumbent or ascending, forming small clumps; branches slender, 3 to 4 cm. 

 in diameter; ribs numerous, 20, low, almost hidden under the spines, the intervals acute; are<>les 

 close together, about 5 mm. apart; radial spines very numerous, about 30, acicular, short, 5 to 8 

 mm. long, yellowish; central spines usually 5, much longer and stouter than the radials, often 2 to 

 3 cm. long, subulate; flower 8 cm. long, with a slender cylindric tube gradually expanded into the 

 throat, the limb about 5 cm. broad; perianth-segments described as white, oblong to oblanceolate. 



Type locality: Rocky sandy bottoms, Mollendo, Peru. 

 Distribution: On hills, southwestern Peru, and northwestern Chile. 

 The type of this species was first collected by Weberbauer in 1902 on the hills about 

 Mollendo, and here Dr. Rose collected living and herbarium specimens in 1914. Old flowers 

 and fruits were obtained, but no flowers have appeared on the living specimens in the 

 New York Botanical Garden. 



Three collections made by Dr. Rose in southern Peru are referred here tentatively. 

 One is from near Arequipa, altitude about 7,000 feet, the second is from near Posco, altitude 

 about 2,000 feet, and the third is from hills above Mollendo, altitude about 200 feet, as 

 mentioned above. This is an unusually wide range for a species in this region. The 



plants themselves show consider- 

 able variation, suggesting that 

 more than one species is involved. 

 Until fresh flowers have been ob- 

 tained it seems best to recognize 

 only the one species. 



l-'i'.. 232. Homcurtus decumbens. 



FIG. 233. Flower of Bor/i- 

 cactus decumbens. Xo.". 



Figure .232 is from a photograph taken by Dr. Rose near Arequipa, Peru, showing this 

 plant in the foreground at the base of a ledge; figure 233 shows a flower collected by Juan 



nr;ir Tacna, Chile. 



