OPUNTIA. 163 



This species is composed of many races varying greatly in habit, character and number 

 of spines, shape of joints, and color of flowers. Brother Leon has sent us specimens of 

 several individually quite different plants which inhabit hilltops in Cuba. 



Opuntia litcayana Britton (Bull. N. Y. Bot. Card. 4: 141. 1906), inhabiting Grand 

 Turk Island, Bahamas, differs in having elongated, often narrowly oblong joints 2 to 4 

 times as long as wide and many elongated, little-flattened spines. It grows with Opuntia 

 dillcnii and O. nashii, and is believed to be a hybrid with these species as parents. A 

 closely similar plant was observed on Buck Island, St. Thomas, Danish West Indies, 

 growing immediately with 0. dillcnii and 0. rubcsccns, the hybrid nature of which was 

 unmistakable, and similar plants were seen also on Antigua, British West Indies. 



Opuntia cubcnsis Britton and Rose (Torreya 12: 14. 1912), observed in a valley near 

 the southern coast of Cuba at Guantanamo Bay, differs in having narrower joints, rather 

 readily separable and smaller flowers, its stout spines little flattened. It grows near 

 colonies of Opuntia dillcnii and 0. militaris, and is probably a hybrid between them. 



Reference has already been made to the possible hybrid origin of Opuntia ant ilia n a, 

 with 0. dillcnii as one of its parents. (See p. 115). 



Two varieties of Opuntia dillcnii are given by name only; minor Salm-Dyck (Hort. 

 Dyck. 185. 1834); orbiculata Salm-Dyck (Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 67. 1850). 



Opuntia gilva Berger (Hort. Mortol. 233. 1912) is unpublished. The name was ap- 

 plied to a specimen collected by Carl F. Baker in Cuba in 1907, and has been distributed 

 under this name. It is only a form of this very variable species. 



The plant is hardy on the Gulf coast of the United States and in southern California. 

 It is widely distributed through cultivation in the warmer parts of the Old World, being 

 a "pest pear" in southern India and in Australia; it is used for hedges in Teneriffe, and is 

 common along the sea on Grand Canary Island. On Bermuda, when growing in shade, 

 the plant is often spineless, and its joints elongate sometimes to a length of 3 dm., while 

 only 6 or 7 cm. wide. This elongation of the joints also appears in plants from Florida. 



Illustrations: Edwards's Bot. Reg. 3: pi. 255, as Cactus dillcnii: Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 

 22: pi. i, 2, both these as Opuntia bentonii; Dillenius, Hort. Elth. 2: pi. 296, this as Tuna 

 major, etc. ; Amer. Journ. Pharm. 68: pi. opp. 169, as Opuntia vulgar is; Descourtilz, Fl. Med. 

 Antill. 7: pi. 513, this as Cactus Opuntia. Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. Miinchen 2: pi. 3, f. 7 (?) ; 

 Amer. Garden 11:473 (?);Cycl. Amer. Hort. Bailey 3: f. 1545, 1 546; Cact. Journ. i: 154 (?); 

 Dept. Agr. N. S. W. Misc. Publ. 253: pi. [2]; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 2: f. 757; W. Watson, 

 Cact. Cult. f. 86, all these as Opuntia tuna; Journ. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 10: f. 26, this as Opun- 

 tia incnnis; Loudon, Encycl. PI. ed. 3. f. 6878, this as Cactus tuna; Britton, Fl. Bermuda 255. 



Plate xxvin, figure 2, represents a flowering joint of a plant collected in 1901 by N. L. 

 Britton and J. F. Cowell on the Island St. Martin, West Indies; plate xxix, figure i, is 

 from a photograph of the related Opuntia kcyensis growing on Boot Key, Florida, taken 

 by Marshall A. Howe in 1909; figure 2 is from a photograph of the plant on Bermuda, 

 obtained by Dr. Britton in 1912. Figure 201 is from a photograph of the plant growing 

 on Antigua, British West Indies, taken by Paul G. Russell in 1913. 



175. Opuntia linguiformis Griffiths, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 19: 270. 1908. 



A bushy plant, i meter high or more; joints elongated, oblong to ovate-oblong or lanceolate, 

 2 to 5 dm. long or even more, often several times longer than wide, pale green and slightly glaucous ; 

 leaves 6 mm. long, terete; spines yellow, very slender, terete or nearly so; areoles filled with brown 

 wool; flowers yellow, 7 to 8 cm. broad; petals broad ; filaments white or greenish at base; stigma- 

 lobes 9, green; ovary bearing numerous long glochids at the upper areoles; fruit reddish purple; 

 seeds 3 or 4 mm. broad, acute on the back. 



Type locality: Near San Antonio, Texas. 



Distribution: Southern Texas, in the vicinity of San Antonio. 



