146 



THE CACTACEAE. 



in conjunction, 0. covillci is considerably taller, has joints of different color, and has yellow 

 flowers. It has doubtless generally passed as Opuntia occidcntalis, but that is a much 

 larger, stouter plant, with strong, more or less flattened spines, and is common along the 

 coast. 



Figure 183 represents a joint of the plant sent by Dr. MacDougal from Elsinore, 

 California, in 1913; figure 184 is from a photograph of a specimen collected by Mr. S. 

 B. Parish from near the type locality in 1916. 



148. Opuntia vaseyi (Coulter) Britton and Rose, Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: 532. 1908. 



Opunlia niesacantha vaseyi Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 431. 1896. 

 Opuntia rafinesquei vaseyi Schumann, Gesamtb. Kaktecn 717. 1898. 

 Opuntia liHinifiisa vaseyi Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 

 Opunlia magenta Griffiths, Rep. Mo. Bot. Card. 19: 268. 1908. 

 Opuntia rubiflora Davidson, Bull. South. Calif. Acad. 15: 33. 1916. 



Plants low, the lower stems spreading at base, but some of the branches erect and 4 to 7 joints 

 high; joints thick, small (usually 10 to 12 cm. long), ovate, pale green, somewhat glaucous; areoles 

 rather large, 2 to 3 cm. apart, bearing i to 3 spines; spines porrect, usually short (rarely 2 cm. long), 

 grayish brown or bright brown, whitish or yellowish towards the tips, somewhat flattened; young 

 joints bright green, thickish, bearing short purplish leaves and a single brownish spine from an areole ; 

 flowers deep salmon, almost a red-salmon, from the very first; ovary globular to shortly oblong; 

 areoles few, mostly towards the top of the ovary, spineless but with a few brown glochids ; fruit 

 globular to shortly oblong, 4 to 5 cm. long, deep purple, truncate at apex, with few areoles, the pulp 

 sweetish but hardly edible ; umbilicus broadly depressed. 



Type locality: Cited as Yuma, Arizona, presumably erroneously. 



Distribution: San Bernardino and Orange Counties, southern California. 



Even from a moving train this species is distinguishable from its relatives by the 

 color of its flowers. It forms great thickets along the Southern Pacific Railroad north of 

 Los Angeles, either alone or interspersed with one or more other species, and it is also common 

 in the San Bernardino Valley toward the Cajon Pass where it forms great thickets either 

 alone or with Opuntia covillci. Considerable quantities were seen also on hills near River- 

 side, and it was found cultivated in the cactus garden at River- 

 side and in the Soldiers' Home Grounds at Santa Monica. 



Illustration: Bull. South. Calif. Acad. 15: 32, as Opuntia 

 ntbiflora. 



Figure 185 represents a joint of the plant collected by Dr. 

 Rose at Fernando, California, in 1908. 



149. Opuntia occidentalis Engelmann and Bigelow, Proc. Amer. Acad. 



3: 291. 1856. 



Opuntia lindheimeri occidcntalis Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 421. 



1896. 

 Opuntia engclmannii occidentalis Engelmann in Brewer and Watson, Bot. 



Calif, i: 248. 1876.* 

 Opuntia demissa Griffiths, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22: 29. 1912. 



Erect or spreading, often i meter high or more, forming large 

 thickets; joints large, obovate to oblong, 2 to 3 dm. long; areoles remote; 

 spines 2 to 7, stout, unequal, the longest ones 4 to 5 cm. long, more or 

 less flattened, brown or nearly white, sometimes wanting; shorter spines 

 often white; glochids often prominent, brown; flowers yellow, large, in- 

 cluding the ovary often 10 to 1 1 cm. long; fruit large, purple. 



Type locality: Western slopes of the California Mountains, 

 between San Diego and Los Angeles. 



Distribution: Southwestern California and northern Lower 

 California and adjacent islands. 



In their description of this species, Engelmann and Bigelow state that it was found on 

 the western slope of the California Mountains near San Diego and Los Angeles. In the 



FIG. 185. Opuntia vaseyi. 

 Xo.5. 



*Coulter refers this name to Pac. R. Rep. 4: errata, 3, 1856, but no formal name is published there. 



