OPUNTIA. 215 



Opuntia clavata Philippi (Anal. Univ. Chile 41: 722. 1872), 0. ottonis G. Don (Hist. 

 Dichl. PI. 3: 172. 1834), O. phyllanthus Miller (Card. Diet. ed. 8. No. 9. 1768), 0. salicor- 

 uioidcs Sprengel (Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 141. 1837), and 0. spini flora Philippi (Unnaea 

 30: 211. 1859) are of the tribe Ccreeae. 



7. GRUSONIA F. Reichenbach in Schumann, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 6: 177. 1896. 



A low, much branched cactus, the branches terete, jointed, and ribbed; areoles borne on the 

 tops of the ribs, very spiny, but all except the flowering ones without glochids, subtended by small 

 deciduous leaves; corolla rotate, yellow; fruit baccate. 



This was first described as a Cereus from specimens collected by Mrs. Anna B. Nickels 

 in 1895, then as a new genus Grusonia, and lastly as an Opuntia. It clearly is not Cereus, 

 but when growing might easily be mistaken by its habit for Echinoccreus. The leaves, 

 glochids, flowers, and fruit are those of Opuntia, but its ribbed stem is unlike that of any 

 known species of that genus. 



1. Grusonia bradtiana (Coulter). 



Cereus bradtianus Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 406. 1896 (April). 



Grusonia cereiformis F. Reichenbach in Schumann, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 6: 177. 1896 (December). 



Opuntia bradtiana K. Brandegee, Erythea 5: 121. 1897. 



Opuntia cereiformis Weber, Diet. Hort. Bois 897. 1898. 



Forming dense, often impenetrable thickets 2 meters high or less, very spiny; stems light green, 

 4 to 7 cm. thick, with 8 to i o low, longitudinal, somewhat tuberculate ribs ; areoles i to 1.5 cm. apart, 

 3 to 5 mm. in diameter; leaves linear, fleshy, green, 8 mm. long, early deciduous; spines 15 to 25, 

 yellowish brown when young, soon becoming white, acicular, terete or slightly compressed, i to 3 

 cm. long, not sheathed, some of the longer ones reflexed; wool white, turning brown, early disappear- 

 ing; corolla rotate, opening in bright sunlight, 3 to 4 cm. broad; sepals ovate, acute, fleshy; petals 

 bright yellow, spatulate, fringed; filaments brownish yellow; stigma-lobes 8, yellow; areoles of the 

 ovary with long, yellow, weak spines, white wool, and yellow glochids; berry (according to Schu- 

 mann) ellipsoid, deeply umbilicate; seeds not seen. 



Type locality: Plains of Coahuila, Mexico. 



Distribution: Coahuila, Mexico. 



This species first appeared in print in the catalogue of Johannes Nicolai under the name 

 of Grusonia cereiformis, but we are informed that there was no description and therefore it 

 was not technically published. The same name next appears in the Monatsschrift fur 

 Kakteenkunde for 1 894. Here Dr. Schumann wrote a long article about the name, especially 

 condemning the loose manner in vogue of publishing new names without descriptions, but 

 giving no characters of the plant, and as a matter of fact he did not then know it. Two 

 months later this name again appears in this same publication, but without description. 

 Two years later Dr. Schumann records seeing this plant and describes it briefly, although he 

 does not approve of the name Grusonia. If the name is to be considered published, it should 

 not date earlier than this (December 1896), although Dalla Torre and Harms accept the 

 date of 1894. In 1898 Weber transferred the name to Opuntia, publishing it as Opuntia 

 cereiformis; in the meantime Coulter (in 1896) published the name Cereus bradtianus 

 for the plant and Mrs. Brandegee (in 1897) transferred it to Opuntia, calling it Opuntia 

 bradtiana. 



Illustrations: Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 21: 121, as Opuntia bradtiana; Schumann, 

 Gesamtb. Kakteen f. 101, as Opuntia cereiformis. 



Plate xxxin, figure 4, represents a joint of the plant collected by C. A. Purpus at 

 Cerro de Cypriano, near Morano, Mexico, in 1910. 



