50 Addisonia 



juicy and edible berry, from one inch to two inches long, and con- 

 tains many black seeds about one sixth of an inch broad. 



This plant is widely distributed in the eastern United States and 

 is the most northeastern in geographic range of any species of the 

 cactus family. It is frequent on coastal sand dunes from eastern 

 Massachusetts south to Virginia and occurs locally in sand or on 

 rocks westward to Illinois and Missouri and southward to Georgia 

 and Alabama. It has long been established in the mountains of 

 northern Italy and of Switzerland, where it has been called Opuntia 

 nana ; plants sent to us under that name from the famous Hanbury 

 Gardens at La Mortola, Italy, appear to be identical with wild 

 ones of the vicinity of New York. 



In botanical literature the species has often been described under 

 the name Opuntia vulgaris Miller, but that name properly belongs 

 to an altogether different, tall, erect cactus of wide distribution in 

 eastern South America. 



Races, or individual plants, of Opuntia Opuntia differ somewhat 

 in size and shape of the joints and of the fruit, and in size of the 

 flowers, and are with or without spines. Some of these have been 

 regarded as distinct species or varieties by various authors and the 

 synonymy of the plant is quite extensive, the names cited above 

 being only the most important which have been applied to it. It 

 has been suggested that plants with orange-based petals may be 

 specifically distinct from those with pure yellow petals, although 

 otherwise alike. We have grown the plant at the New York Botani- 

 cal Garden from many localities and have observed it at many 

 others. It grows naturally quite abundantly on rock out-crops 

 within the New York Botanical Garden. 



The plant from which our illustration was made was sent by 

 Mr. E. P. Bicknell, in 1904, from Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. 



N. L. Brixton. 



