OPUNTIA. 75 



OPUNTIA MALDONADENSIS Arechavaleta, Anal. Mus. Nac. Montevideo 5: 286. 1905. 



Cespitose, erect; branches cylindric, entangled or intertwined; joints 3 to 10 cm. long, about 2 

 cm. in diameter, the terminal ones obovate-spherical, dark green to olive-colored; areoles each sur- 

 rounded by a violet blotch, small or prominent, orbicular; spines 5 or more, stout, spreading, elon- 

 gated, unequal, the longest one 2 to 2.5 cm. long, reddish to brown; flowers and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Punta Ballena, near Maldonado, Uruguay. 



Distribution: Uruguay. 



This species, referred to the subgenus Cylindropuntia by Arechavaleta, inhabits the 

 coast of Uruguay and is known to us only from description; we append it to the series 

 Salmianac, but its nearest relationship may be elsewhere. 



Series 11. SUBULATAE. 



This series is confined to South America and represents a very distinct group, differing greatly 

 from the tall cylindric-jointed species of North America. They lack sheaths to the spines, and the 

 typical species has elongated persistent leaves. Although several of the species have long been in 

 cultivation, at least two of them being known only from garden plants; for a long time the flowers 

 were unknown and the plants were as frequently called Cereus or Pereskia as Opuntia. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



Leaves long-persisting, elongated. 



Leaves up to 12 cm. long; spines yellowish white . . . 41. 0. subulata 



Leaves i to 7 cm. long; spines brownish .... 42. O. exaltala 



Leaves early deciduous, short. 



Stem i meter high; leaves 4 mm. long. . ... 43. 0. pachypus 

 Stem 3 to 4 meters high; leaves 10 to 13 mm. long 44. 0. cylindrica 



41. Opuntia subulata (Mtihlenpfordt) Engelmann, Card. Chron. 19:627. 1883. 



Pereskia subulata Mtihlenpfordt, Allg. Gartenz. 13: 347. 1845. 

 Opuniia ellemeetiana Miquel, Nederl. Krudk. Arch. 4: 337. 1858.* 

 Opuntia segelhii Philippi, Bot. Zeit. 26: 861. 1868. 



Either with a simple erect stem or with several main branches from the base, 2 to 4 meters high; 

 trunk 6 to 10 cm. in diameter, the old bark smooth and brown, its areoles bearing clusters of 8 spines 

 or more ; branches numerous, more or less clustered but not whorled, at first almost at right angles 

 to main stem but soon erect, bright green; leaves persistent, green, nearly at right angles to branch, 

 straight or somewhat bowed above, nearly terete, pointed, 5 to 12.5 cm. long, grooved on the under 

 side; tubercles large, depressed, becoming obliterated on old branches, arranged in longitudinal or 

 spiral lines, more or less diamond-shaped, but retuse at apex and pointed or attentuate below, 2 to 

 4 cm. long; areoles in the retuse grooves of the tubercles bearing a few short yellow spines or some- 

 times spineless, but usually having i or 2 slender spines ; flowers borne toward the ends of the branches ; 

 sepals reddish, minute, 4 to 8 mm. long or less; petals broader than the sepals, orange or greenish 

 yellow; style rose-red except the whitish base, including the stigma-lobes about 3 cm. long, about as 

 long as the longest stamens; stigma-lobes 5 or 6, slender, orange-yellow; fruit oblong, more or less 

 persistent, 6 to 10 cm. long, leafy, with a deep umbilicus, sometimes proliferous; seeds few, 10 to 12 

 mm. long. 



Type locality: Valparaiso, Chile, but doubtless described from cultivated plants. 



Distribution: Chile is usually given as the home of this plant, but it is not found wild 

 there. It may be a native in Argentina. 



This species has long been in cultivation, it having originally been sent from Valpa- 

 raiso, but Dr. Rose did not find it wild there or in any other part of Chile. It is rarely seen 

 in cultivation in Chile. For many years it passed as a species of Pereskia, but in 1883 Dr. 

 George Engelmann pointed out that it could not be retained in that genus and transferred 

 it to Opuntia. The leaves are the largest in the genus, and it has larger seeds than any 

 other Opuntia. 



We have referred Opuntia ellemeetiana (originally described from Chile), a species 

 with very long leaves, to 0. subulata, although we have never seen specimens. Schumann 

 did not know it and only lists it. 



*Schumann says iS.sy. 



