9 6 



THE CACTACEAE. 



70. Opuntia sphaerica Forster, Hamb. Gartenz. 17: 167. 1861. 



Opuntia dimorpha Forster, Hamb. Gartenz. 17: 167. 1861. 



Opuntia leonina Haage and Schmidt in Regel and Schmidt, Gartenflora 30: 413. 



Opuntia leucop/iaea Philippi, Anal. Mus. Nac. Chile 1891'-: 27. 1891. 



Opuntia coro/illa Schumann in Vaupel, Bot. Jahrb. Engler Beibl. in: 28. 1913. 



1881. 



Plants often erect, always low, usually few-branched, often forming large patches; joints usually 

 globular, 12 to 40 cm. in diameter; areoles large, numerous, sometimes nearly hiding the surfaces of 

 the joints with their short brown wool; spines variable as to number, sometimes few, sometimes 

 numerous, brown at first, in age sometimes gray, i to 4 cm. long, usually stiff; flowers 4 cm. long, 

 deep orange; petals obtuse; fruit globular, often very spiny; seed globular, white, 4 mm. in diameter, 

 surrounded by a thin, broad band. 



Type locality: Near Arequipa, Peru. 



Distribution: Central Peru to central Chile. 



The three illustrations cited below were made from the same cultivated plant. They 

 look very much like a poor specimen of Opuntia glomcrata, and, if such it should prove, 

 the name 0. leonina should be re- 

 ferred to the synonymy of that 

 species. 



We have referred Opuntia di- 

 morfha here with some hesitancy. 



This plant often passes for 

 Opuntia ovata and, from herbarium 

 specimens we have seen, it has been 

 so identified by Rudolph Philippi. 



This species is very common in 

 sandy places on hills, dry flats, and 

 in mountain valleys, often cover- 

 ing the ground to the exclusion of 

 all other plants. The joints readily 

 break loose and, falling to the 

 ground, start new colonies. We 

 found the species very common 

 both above and below Arequipa, 

 Peru, where it is called corotilla; 

 in central Chile it grows at lower 

 altitudes but in similar situations. 

 In Chile it is called leon or leoncito, which is probably the origin of the name Opuntia 

 leonina. 



Opuntia pJiyllacantlia Haage and Schmidt (Regel and Schmidt, Gartenflora 30: 414. 

 1881), if it actually came from Chile, as stated, may belong here. The joints are more 

 elongated, although the habit is somewhat similar. The illustration is poor and has doubt- 

 less been made from a greenhouse specimen. This name was given, with Salm-Dyck as 

 authority, by Forster (Handb. Cact. 508. 1846), but without any description. 



Illustrations: Cact. Journ. i: 100; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. f. 133; Gartenflora 30: 

 413, all as Opuntia leonina. 



Figure 113 is from a photograph of joints of the plant collected by Dr. Rose above 

 Arequipa, Peru, in 1914. 



71. Opuntia skottsbergii sp. nov. 



Roots thick and fleshy, sometimes 10 cm. long, the plant doubtless more or less cespitose; joints, 

 at least some of them, globular, 3 cm. in diameter, almost hidden by the numerous closely set spines; 

 areoles close together, small, at times producing long tufts of white wool; spines about 10, black 

 except the yellowish tips, i to 2 cm. long; glochids numerous, elongated; flowers, including the very 



FIG. 113. Opuntia sphaerica. 



