From the Bi-lletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 35: 561-569. 1908. 



Studies of West Indian plants II 



Nathaniel Lord Britton 

 7. HARRISIA, A NEW GENUS OF CACTACEAE 



Night-flowering cacti with slender upright branched cylindric 

 stems, the branches fluted, with from 8 to 1 1 rounded ribs, sepa- 

 rated by shallow grooves and bearing areoles at frequent intervals, 

 each areole with several acicular spines. Flowers borne singly, 

 at areoles near the ends of the branches, funnelform, large, with a 

 cylindric scaly but spineless tube as long as the limb or longer ; 

 buds globose, ovoid or obovoid, densely scaled, the scales bearing 

 long or short woolly hairs ; sepals pink or greenish, linear-lanceo- 

 late ; petals white ; stamens shorter than the petals, style some- 

 what longer than the stamens ; fruit globose to ovoid-globose, 

 green to yellow, spineless but with deciduous scales, the corolla 

 withering-persistent ; seeds very numerous, small. 



The genus is named in honor of William Harris, Superintendent 

 of Public Gardens and Plantations of Jamaica, distinguished for his 

 contributions to the knowledge of the flora of that island. The 

 descriptions are drawn up mainly from field observations and from 

 living plants in the collections of the New York Botanical Garden. 



Bud-scales densely covered with hairs I 1 . 5 cm. long. 



Hairs bright white ; areoles 2.5-3 crn - a P art ; spines 6-9, 



the longer 2.5-3 cm - l n g- * H. eriophorus. 



Hairs tawny; areoles 2-2.5 cm - a P ar t ; spines 8-1 1, the 



longer 1 cm. long. 2. II. Fernowi. 



Bud-scales loosely covered with hairs 3-10 mm. long. 



Buds rounded-truncate. 3. H. portoricensis. 



Buds pointed. 



Plant dark green ; hairs of the bud-scales straight. 4. //. gracilis. 



Plants light green ; hairs of the bud scales curled. 



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