42 THE CACTACEAE. 



3. Maihuenia brachydelphys Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 756. 1898. 



Cespitose, prostrate; joints cylindric or nearly ellipsoid, naked below, 2 cm. long; spines 2 or 3, 

 one much stouter and longer, yellow except at base and there brown; leaves terete, 2 to 3 mm. long; 

 areoles circular, full of white wool; flowers usually from the tips of joints, red, 3.5 cm. long. 







Type locality: Pasco Cruz, Argentina, 34 south latitude, province of Mendoza. 

 Distribution: Western Argentina. 



Opuntia brachydelphys Schumann is mentioned by Kuntze (Rev. Gen. PI. y ' IO 7- 

 1898) by name only. 



Illustration: Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 108, A. 



Figure 52 is copied from Schumann's illustration above cited. 



4. Maihuenia valentinii Spegazzini, Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires II. 4: 289. 1902. 



Shrubby, i to 2.5dm. high, dull green; joints cylindric, somewhat clavate, i to 3.5 cm. long; 

 leaves ovate, small; spines 3, the central much larger, 2 to 6 cm. long; flowers from near the ends of 

 the branches, 2 cm. broad, the sepals reddish, the petals white to light yellow; stamens indefinite; 

 filaments white; style 6 mm. long, white, longer than the stamens; stigma-lobes 5, short, 2 mm. 

 long, purplish; ovary globular to obconic, 5 to 8 mm. long, bearing numerous triangular fleshy 

 leaves with long white hairs and sometimes i or 2 spines in their axils; fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Near Trelew, Chubut, Argentina. 



Distribution: Territory of Chubut, southern Argentina. 



Related to M. tehuelches and M. poeppigii, but said to be very distinct. 



Figure 50 is from a photograph furnished by Dr. Carlos Spegazzini. 



5. Maihuenia tehuelches Spegazzini, Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires II. 4: 288. 1902. 



Shrubby, 2 to 3 dm. high, with many intricate branches, dull green; joints cylindric, ellipsoid 

 to somewhat clavate, 2 to 8 cm. long by 10 to 12 cm. in diameter; leaves ovate, small, 2 to 4 mm. 

 long; spines 3, the central one erect, 2 to 4 cm. long, the 2 lateral ones only 5 to 10 mm. long; flowers 

 at the apex of the branches, 35 to 45 mm. broad, white to yellowish white ; fruit globose, naked, dry, 

 2 cm. in diameter; seeds black, 3 mm. broad. 



Type locality: Between San Julian and Rio Deseado, Argentina. 



Distribution: Dry, rocky deserts, southwestern Argentina. 



Figure 53 is from a photograph furnished by Dr. Carlos Spegazzini. 



6. OPUNTIA (Tournefort) Miller, Card. Diet. Abridg. ed. 4. 1754. 



Cactodendron Bigelow, Pac. R. Rep. 3 : 102; 4 : 7, 1 1, iii. 1856. 

 Consoled Lemaire, Rev. Hort. 1862: 174. 1862. 

 Tephrocactus Lemaire, Cact. 88. 1868. 

 Ficindica St. Lager, Ann. Soc. Bot. Lyon 7: 70. 1880. 



Cacti, sometimes with definite trunks, or more often much branched from the base, the branches 

 often spreading, reclining, or prostrate, sometimes clambering, but never climbing (one species 

 known with annual stems) ; roots fibrous or rarely tuberous and large and fleshy; ultimate branches 

 (joints or pads) cylindric to globose or flattened, usually very fleshy, sometimes woody; areoles 

 axillary, bearing spines, barbed bristles (glochids), hairs, flowers, and sometimes glands; leaves 

 usually small, terete, mostly early deciduous; spines solitary or in clusters, terete or flattened, 

 naked or sheathed, variously colored; glochids usually numerous, borne above the spines; flowers 

 usually one at an areole; ovary inferior, one-celled, many-ovuled, bearing leaves, the areoles often 

 with spines and glochids; sepals green or more or less colored, usually grading into the petals; 

 petals usually of various shades and combinations of green, yellow, and red (rarely white), widely 

 spreading; stamens much shorter than the petals, sensitive; style single, thick; stigma-lobes short; 

 fruit a berry, dry or juicy, often edible, spiny or naked, globular, ovoid or ellipsoid; seed covered 

 by a hard, bony aril, white, flattened; embryo curved; cotyledons 2, large. 



The species grow naturally from Massachusetts to British Columbia south to the 

 Strait of Magellan. Several have been naturalized and have become very abundant 

 locally in the Old World and in Australia. 



