178 



THE CACTACEAE. 



spineless form which points very definitely to 0. megacantha as the origin of this form. (See 

 Reversion in Prickly Pears, Journ. Hered. 5: 222. 1914.) 



Illustrations: Amer. Garden u: 471 ; Bull. U. S. Dept. Agr. 31: pi. i ; pi. 2, f. i ; Cycl. 

 Amer. Hort. Bailey 3: f. 1543; Dept. Agr. N. S. W. Misc. Publ. 253: pi. [i], f. i, 3; Diet. 

 Card. Nicholson 2: f. 753; Dodon. Pempt. f. to, n ; Lemaire, Cact. f. 10; Meehan's Monthly 

 10: 28; Mem. Acad. Neap. 6: pi. i, 2; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 15: 151; W. Watson, Cact. 

 Cult. f. 8, in part; f. 80. 



FIG 217. Opuntia licus-indica, Cordoba, Argentina. 



Figure 217 is from a photograph of the plant growing at Cordoba, Argentina, taken by 

 Paul G. Russell in 1915 ; figure 218 represents the fruit, obtained in Bermuda by Dr. Britton 

 in 1913. 



197. Opuntia crassa Haworth, Suppl. PI. Succ. Si. 1819. 



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

 Opuntia crassa major Pfciffer, Enum. Cact. 153. 1837. 

 Opuntia glauca Forbes, Hort. Tour Germ. 158. 1837. 



Plant i to 2 meters high, somewhat branched; joints ovate to ob- 

 long, 3 to 12.5 cm. long, thick, bluish green, glaucous; areoles bearing 

 brown wool and brown glochids; spines wanting or sometimes i or 2, 

 acicular, 2.5 cm. long or less; flowers and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Described from cultivated specimens supposed 

 to have come from Mexico. 



Distribution: Unknown in the wild state; locally found in 

 cultivation in tropical America. 



Haworth, who first described this species, thought it to be 

 near 0. stricta. 



Pfeiffer (Enum. Cact. 153. 1837) uses 0. glabcrrhna Hort. 

 Berol. as a synonym of O. crassa major. 



Opuntia parvula, when first published, was supposed to be 

 native of Chile, but this was a mistake. Salm-Dyck compared 



the species with 0. crassa and 0. spinulifera, but says it is thrice smaller than either. 

 vSchumann refers 0. parvula directly to 0. crassa, which disposition we follow. 



Figure 219 is from a photograph of a plant in the Organ Mountains, Rio de Janeiro, 

 Brazil, taken by Paul G. Russell in 1915. 



FIG. 218. Fruit of Opuntia 

 ficus-indica. Xo.66. 



