OPUNTIA. 127 



long, those toward the top of the joint each with a single stout, stiff, pungent spine 2.5 to 4 cm. 

 long; fruit short-obovoid, 2.5 cm. long, 1.5 cm. thick, with a few areoles bearing tufts of brownish 

 wool but no spines and but few glochids; flowers yellow, 6 to 8 cm. broad; sepals deltoid to rhom- 

 bic; fruit 2.5 to 4 cm. long; seeds 4 to 6 mm. wide, much thicker than those of Opuntia opunlia. 



Type locality: Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi. 



Distribution: Coastal plain, Church Island, North Carolina, to northern Florida, Ala- 

 bama, and Mississippi. 



Figure 159 is from a photograph of fruiting joints collected by A. H. Howell on 

 Petit Bois Island, Alabama. 



118. Opuntia opuntia (Linnaeus) Karsten, Deutsch. Fl. 888. 1882. 



Cactus opuntia Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 468. 1753. 



Cactus compressus Salisbury, Prodr. 348. 1796. 



Cactus opuntia nana De Candolle, PI. Succ. Hist. 2: pi. 138. [A]. 1799. 



Cactus humifusus Rnfinesque, Ann. Nat. 15. 1820. 



Opuntia vulgaris major Salm-Dyck, Observ. Bot. 3: 9. 1822. 



Opuntia vulgaris media* Salm-Dyck, Observ. Bot. 3: 9. 1822. 



Opuntia humifusa Rafinesque, Med. Fl. U. S. 2: 247. 1830. 



Opuntia mesacantha Rafinesque, Bull. Bot. Seringe 216. 1830. 



Opuntia caespitosa Rafinesque, Bull. Bot. Seringe 216. 1830. 



Opuntia intermedia Salm-Dyck, Hort. Dyck. 364. 1834. 



Opuntia nana Visiani, Fl. Dalmatica 3: 143. 1852. 



Opuntia rafinesquei] Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 295. 1856. 



Opuntia rafinesquei microsperma Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 295. 1856. 



Opuntia rafinesquei minor Engelmann and Bigelow, Pac. R. Rep. 4: 55. 1856. 



Opuntia vulgaris rafinesquei Gray, Man. Bot. ed. 2. 136. 1856. 



Opuntia rafinesquei arkansana Riimpler in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 922. 1885. 



Opuntia mesacantha microsperma Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 429. 1896. 



Opuntia mesacantha parva Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 429. 1896. 



Opuntia vulgaris nana Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 715. 1898. 



Opuntia humifusa microsperma Heller, Cat. N. Amer. Pl..ed. 2. 8. 1900. 



Opunlia humifusa parva Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 



Low, spreading plants, sometimes ascending, with fibrous roots; joints orbicular to oblong, 

 3 to 13 cm. long, rarely longer, thick, dark green; areoles usually far apart; leaves subulate, appressed 

 or spreading, 4 to 8 mm. long, early deciduous; spines often wanting, when present usually one from 

 an areole, rarely two, 5 cm. long or less, brownish or sometimes nearly white, but on seedlings 5 to 

 12; glochids numerous, yellow to dark brown; flowers usually bright yellow, sometimes with reddish 

 centers, 5 to 8.5 cm. broad; petals 8 to 10, widely spreading; filaments yellow; stigma-lobes white; 

 fruit obovoid to oblong, red, juicy, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, edible; seeds 4 to 5 mm. broad. 



Type locality: In Virginia. 



Distribution: Sandy and rocky places from Massachusetts to Virginia, the mountains 

 of Georgia and central Alabama extending north into southern Ontario, Canada (Point 

 Pelee), west in isolated colonies to northern Illinois, eastern Missouri and Tennessee, and 

 long established in the mountains of northern Italy and Switzerland. 



Linnaeus undoubtedly had two species in his Cactus opuntia, one being the low Virginia 

 plant commonly known as 0. vulgaris, and the other a tall, branching plant figured by 

 Bauhin (p. 154). Upon Bauhin's illustration Miller based his Opuntia vulgaris, a name 

 which was afterwards transferred to the low, procumbent plant of the eastern United States. 

 For this reason Burkill (Rec. Bot. Surv. India 4: 288. 1911) would displace the name O. 

 vulgaris and take up the name 0. nana. We are quite in agreement with him as to the 

 0. vulgaris Miller, but we retain for the low plant the specific name opuntia Linnaeus. The 

 tall species is 0. monacantha, which we now call 0. vulgaris, as suggested by Burkill. 



It is to be noted that the southern Atlantic coast specimens of Opuntia opuntia have 

 yellow or greenish-yellow glochids, while those in its northern and western range have 

 brown glochids. Its southwestern limit is uncertain. It probably does not extend to 

 Texas, although two varieties have been reported from there; these we are disposed to treat 

 as species under the names Opuntia macrorhiza and O. grandiflora. It is reported from 



"Opuntia vulgaris minor (Labouret, Monogr. Cact. 476. 1853) was doubtless intended for this name. 

 fSometimes spelled rajinesquiana. 



