NOPALEA. 



33 



hand, that it is Ptcrocactits kuntzci, from the same region, which was described as new by 

 Schumann in 1897. 



Opuntia alpina Gillies (Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 146. 1837) was not published, but was 

 given as a synonym of Opuntia tnbcrosa. Schumann referred both names to Opuntia 

 platyacantha. 



Illustrations: Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 7: 7; .Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 107, both 

 as Pterocactus kuntzci; Bliihende Kakteen 3: pi. 140, as P. dccipicns. 



Figure 36 shows a seed of a plant, collected by Dr. Rose near Mendoza, Argentina, 

 in 1915; figure 37 is from a photograph of same plant; figure 38 is from a photograph 

 taken by Dr. Carlos Spegazzini. 



FIG. 38. Pterocactus tuberosus. 



3. NOPALEA Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 63. 1850. 



Much branched cacti with definite cylindric trunks; roots so far as known fibrous; branches or 

 joints flattened, fleshy, often narrow; glochids usually less abundant than in Opuntia; spines solitary 

 or in clusters at the areoles, sheathless; leaves small, subterete, soon deciduous; areoles bearing white 

 wool, glochids, and often spines; flowers originating in the areoles usually at or near the edges of the 

 joints; sepals ovate, erect; petals red or pinkish, erect, closely appressed against the numerous 

 stamens and the style; filaments and style slender, much longer than the petals; ovary more or less 

 tuberculate, naked or spiny, with a very deep umbilicus; fruit a juicy berry, red, edible, usually 

 spineless; seeds numerous, flat, covered by a hard bony aril. 



Nopalea is closely related to Opuntia, with which it is sometimes united; the erect 

 petals and elongated filaments and style are constant in Nopalea, however. 



Three species were included by Salm-Dyck in this genus when it was described, of 

 which Opuntia cochenillifera Linnaeus was the first and is therefore considered the type. 



Karl Schumann described five species in his monograph, but since then two species, 

 A T . guatemalensis and N. lutca, have been described by Dr. Rose, and one, N. inaperta, 

 by Dr. Griffiths. N. moniliformis (Linnaeus) Schumann, based on plate 198 of Plumier, 

 is Opuntia moniliformis (Linnaeus) Steudel. 



The species are natives of Mexico and Guatemala, and have been accredited to Cuba, 

 although none has recently been observed wild on that island. Some of them are widely 



