i88 



THE CACTACEAE. 



sinuate margins, green, shining; young joints bright green, not at all glaucous, oblanceolate to 

 narrowly oblong, rounded at apex; leaves reddish, subulate, 2 to 3 mm. long; areoles small, circular, 

 filled with white wool when young, and having white, somewhat cobwebby hairs on the outer edge; 

 glochids brown, in a dense cluster; spines 3 to 7, acicular on young joints, but finally 10 to 15, stout, 

 3 to 4 cm. long, at first yellowish, becoming white, somewhat spreading but not appressed to the 

 joint; flowers large, borne at the apex of the joints; petals yellow, broadly obovate, retuse with 

 crenulate margins; stigma-lobes green; fruit oblong, truncate, reddish, juicy, sweet. 



Type locality: Described from cultivated specimens grown at La Mortola, Italy. 

 Distribution: Known only from cultivated specimens, their origin unknown. 

 Illustration: Figure 231 shows a joint of a plant sent from La Mortola, Italy, in 1913. 



FIG. 230. Opuntia eichlamii. Xo.J. 



FIG. 231. Opuntia inaequilateralis. Xo.^. 



210. Opuntia pittieri sp. nov. 



Plant up to 5 meters high, with a rather definite cylindric spiny trunk; joints large, 25 to 50 cm. 

 long, 2 to 4 times as long as wide, narrowly oblong, green; leaves subulate, with purple tips; wool 

 in young areoles dark brown to purple; areoles elevated, rather large, 2 to 3 cm. apart; spines 3 

 to 6, slightly spreading, acicular, white, the longest 2 to 2.5 cm. long; glochids tardily developing, 

 few, often wanting; flowers deep orange, turning to scarlet; ovary nearly globular, more or less 

 spiny, nearly truncate at apex. 



Collected at Venticas del Dagua, Dagua Valley, western cordillera of Colombia, 

 February 1906, by H. Pittier, and since grown in Washington and New York. 



