OPUNTIA. 



8 9 



y 



Figure 103 is from a photograph of an herbarium specimen collected by Carl Skotts- 

 berg in the Territory of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, in 1908. 

 59. Opuntia glomerata Haworth, Phil. Mag. 7: in. 18.30. 



Opuntia articulata Otto, Allg. Gartenz. i: 116. 1833. 



Cereus articulatiis Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 103. 1837. 



Cereus syringacanthus Pfeiffer, Enura. Cact. 103. 1837. 



Opuntia platyacantha Salm-Dyck in Pfeiffer, Allg. Gartenz. 5: 371. 1837. 



Opuntia tuberosa spinosa Pfeiffer, Knum. Cact. 146. 1837. 



Opuntia andicola Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 145. 1837. 



Opuntia diademata Lemaire, Cact. Aliq. Nov. 36. 1838. 



Opuntia turpinii Lemaire, Cact. Aliq. Nov. 36. 1838. 



Opuntia andicola elongata Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 72. 1839. 



Opuntia andicola fulvispina Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 72. 1839. 



Opuntia andicola major Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 72. 1839. 



Opuntia caha Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 73. 1839. 



Opuntia platyacantha gracilior Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1844. 43. 1845. 



Opuntia platyacantha momillei Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort Dyck. 1849. 71. 1850. 



Opuntia platyacantha deflexispina Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849 245. 1850. 



Opuntia papyracantha Philippi, Gartenflora 21: 129. 1872. 



Opuntia syringacantha Schumann, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 6: 156. 1896. 



Opuntia plumosa nivea Walton, Cact. Journ. i: 105. 1898. 



Forming low, spreading clumps, the branches either erect or prostrate; joints globular, 3 to 6 

 cm. in diameter, often in cultivated specimens even smaller, dull grayish brown, hardly tuberculate 

 except in drying; areoles large, bearing numerous long, brown glochids; spines often wanting, when 

 present i to 3, long, weak, thin and papery, hardly pungent, either white or brownish, sometimes 

 10 cm. long; flowers light yellow, small; fruit globose, i to 1.5 cm. long, dry; seeds corky. 



Type locality: Brazil, according to Haworth, 

 but erroneously. 



Distribution: Western Argentina. It has also 

 been referred to Brazil and Chile, but surely not 

 found in Brazil, and we should not expect it to 

 inhabit Chile. 



The plant figured by Nicholson (Diet. Card. 

 2: f- 755) as 0. platyacantha hardly belongs here. 



0. glomerata, which is common on the dry 

 hills about Mendoza, is very variable, especi- 

 ally as to whether it is spine-bearing or not; 

 while the spines which are really not spines but 

 thin ribbon-like processes vary much as to their 

 color, markings, and length. These variations 

 are partly the cause of so many synonyms for the 

 species. Dr. Rose, who visited the region in 

 which this species grows, found wide variation in 

 the size of the joints, as well as in the absence or 

 presence of spines. 



Tephrocactus diadcmatus Lemaire (Cact. 88. 

 1868), T. turpinii Lemaire (Cact. 88. 1868), FIG. io 4 .o P untia glomerata. XQ.S. 



Opuntia polymorpha Pfeiffer (Enum. Cact. 103. 1837), an d Opuntia turpinii poly- 

 morpha Salm-Dyck (Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 71. 1850) are usually given as synonyms 

 of Opuntia diademata, but none of them was actually published. Opuntia polymorpha 

 Pfeiffer was used by Pfeiffer as a synonym for Cereus articulatiis Pfeiffer. 



Tephrocactus andicolus, T. cahits, and T. platyacanthus, all of Lemaire (Cact. 88. 1868), 

 without descriptions, are referred here by inference. 



Spegazzini (Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires III. 4: 511. 1905) describes three varieties 

 of this species under O. diademata, from Argentina, as follows: incrinis, oligacantha, and 

 polyacantha; while Weber (Diet. Hort. Bois 896. 1898) under the same name describes var. 

 caha, but these all seem to be forms of this very variable species. 



