LEPTOCEREUS. 



79 



Distribution: On limestone rocks, Sierra de Anafe and Sierra de Guane, west- 

 ern Cuba. 



The wood is very hard ; the flowers appear from August to November. 



At the type locality this tree-like species inhabits a steep rocky slope and cliff, diffi- 

 cult of access, growing as a colony. 



Figure 113 is from a photograph of the type plant, obtained by Brother Leon, of the 

 Colegio de la Salle, Habana, in whose honor the species was named. 



3. Leptocereus prostratus sp. nov. 



Plant prostrate, bright green, y-ribbed, 1.5 

 to 2 cm. thick, the ribs scarcely crenate; are- 

 oles elevated, about i cm. apart; spines 15 to 

 20 at an areole, acicular, i to 2 cm. long, yel- 

 low when young, gray when old ; ovary densely 

 covered with yellow spines; perianth about 

 1.5 cm. long; fruit about 1.5 cm. in diameter. 



On high, dry, exposed rocks, La Guira, 

 north of Sumidero, Pinar del Rio, Cuba 

 (Shafer, No. 13754, August 17, 1912). 



Leptocereus prostratus is related to 

 L. leonii, which differs in having an erect 

 trunk, the ribs of the branches deeply 

 crenate, the areoles depressed in the cre- 

 natures, and larger flowers and fruit. 



4. Leptocereus assurgens (C.Wright) Britton 

 and Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 

 433- 1909- 



Cereus assurgens C. Wright in Grisebach, 

 Cat. PI. Cub. 116. 1866. 



Plant 2 to 3 meters high, not much 

 branched, the ultimate joints 3 cm. in diam- 

 eter or less; ribs 4; areoles i to 2.5 cm. apart; 

 spines acicular, brown, 2 to 8 cm. long; flow- 

 ers 4 to 5 cm. long; tube and ovary bearing 

 scattered clusters of spines; inner perianth-seg- 

 ments short, numerous, spreading or even 

 turned backward; stamens and style pale 

 greenish white ; fruit covered with clusters of 

 short spines. 



Type locality: Western Cuba. 



Distribution: On limestone, near 

 northern coast of Habana Province, Cuba. 



This species was long known only from the collections of Charles Wright, but has been 

 rediscovered by collectors connected with the New York Botanical Garden. 



The name Cereus pellucidus (Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 108. 1837) belongs to this species 

 or to some other Cuban member of the genus ; the published description is not sufficiently 

 complete to enable us to identify the plant more accurately. 



Illustration: Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 33, as Cereus assurgens. 



Plate vin, figure 4, shows a plant collected by Britton and Cowell at Cojimar, Cuba, 

 in 1911, which flowered in the New York Botanical Garden in July 1915. Figure 114 is 

 from a photograph obtained by Brother Leon at the same locality. 



FIG. 114. Leptuccreus assurgens. 



