152 CACTACEAE 



fruit fleshy, subglobose to obovoid, 4-5.5 cm. long, shallowly umbilicate, bright reddish purple, 

 bearing glochids in areoles 1-1.2 cm. apart; seeds 3-4 mm. broad, the margm ridged. 



Along the coast, Upper Sonoran Zone; Santa Barbara County, California, to northern Lower California; 

 occasionally a few miles inland. April-July. 



21. Opuntia Vaseyi (J. M. Coult.) Britt. & Rose. Mesa Tuna or 

 Vasey's Prickly Pear. Fig. 3321. 



opuntia mesacantha var. Vaseyi J. M. Coult. Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 3: 431. 1896. 



Opuntia Rafinesquei var. Vaseyi Scherm. Gesamtb. Kakteenk. 717. 1898. 



Opuntia humifusa var. Vaseyi Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 



Opuntia magenta Griff. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 19: 268. 1908. 



Opuntia Vaseyi Britt. & Rose, Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: 532. 1908. 



Opuntia rubiflora Davidson, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. IS: 33. 1916. 



Opuntia intricata Griff. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 29: 10. 1916. 



Opuntia Vaseyi var. magenta Parish in Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 657. 1925. 



Main stems prostrate or low-spreading, with some branches erect, 4-6 dm. high, forrning 

 dense mats several meters in diameter. Joints orbicular, ovate or obovate, 8-25 cm. long, light 

 green, glaucous; areoles 3-5 mm. in diameter, bearing light brown wool, glochids, some spine- 

 less, others with 1-3 light brown or whitish, yellow-tipped spines 1-2 cm. long, these deflexed, 

 acicular to subulate; flowers 4-5 cm. broad, salmon or salmon-yellow; fruit globose to short- 

 oblong, 4-6 cm. long, spineless, bearing a few glochid-fiUed areoles, red-purple, the pulp red 

 throughout, scarcely edible, umbilicus truncate or slightly depressed ; seeds brown. 



Gravelly washes and dry mesas, Upper Sonoran Zone; western and southern foothills of the San Gabriel 

 and San Bernardino Mountains to western Riverside County and northern San Diego County, California. 

 May-June. 



22. Opuntia Covillei Britt. & Rose. Coville's Tuna. Fig. 3322. 



Opuntia Covillei Britt. & Rose, Smiths. Misc. Coll. 50: 532. 1908. 



Opuntia rugosa Griff. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 27:27. 1914. 



Opuntia occidentalis var. Covillei Parish in Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 657. 1925. 



Opuntia phaeacantha var. Covillei Fosberg, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 33: 102. 1934. 



Ascendingly branched shrub 0.5-2 m. high. Joints narrowly obovate, 7-15 cm. wide, 10-25 

 cm. long, light green to glaucous ; areoles orbicular, 3-4 mm. in diameter, filled with brownish 

 wool and yellow-brown glochids 1-3 mm. long; spines 1-9 (mostly 1-3 on sides of joint), 1-4 

 cm. long, terete to slightly flattened, frequently twisted, spreading, brown, or gray with a darker 

 base, the tips often yellowish, dull; flowers clear yellow, 5-8 cm. broad; fruit fleshy, obovate, 

 shallowly umbilicate, bright red to red-purple, 6-10 cm. long, bearing several glochid-filled 

 areoles near the summit, nearly naked on the lower third ; seeds 4-5 mm. long, ridged marginally. 



Interior cismontane regions, Upper Sonoran Zone; southern California, from Los Angeles County to San 

 Diego County. May-June. 



Opuntia Covillei var. Piercei (Fosberg) Munz, Man. S. Calif. 327. 1935. (O. phaeacantha var. Piercei 

 Fosberg, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 33: 102. 1934.) Plant low, decumbent; spines 3.5-6 cm. long mostly on upper 

 half of joint; glochids numerous, 4-10 mm. long. Dry hillsides, interior cismontane ranges Upper Sonoran Zone; 

 Saugus, Los Angeles County to Warner's Hot Springs, San Diego County, California. At higher elevations 

 than O. Covillei. 



23. Opuntia occidentalis Engelm. & Bigelow. Western Prickly Pear or Thicket 



Tuna. Fig. 3323. 



opuntia occidentalis Engelm. & Bigelow in Engelm. Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 291. 1856. 



Opuntia Engelmannii var. occidentalis Engelm. Bot. Calif. 1:248. 1876. 



Opuntia Lindheimeri var. occidentalis J. M. Coult. Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 3: 421. 1896. 



Opuntia demissa Griff. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22: 29. 1911. 



Opuntia semispinosa Griff. Bull. Torrey Club 43: 89. 1916. 



Ascendingly or spreadingly branched shrub 0.6-1 m. high, forming clumps 2 to several meters 

 in diameter. Joints oblong-ovate to narrowly oblong, 1-2.5 dm. long, bright green or glaucous; 

 areoles broadly elliptic, remote, 1.5-3.5 cm. apart, about 3 mm. broad, filled with dark brown 

 wool, numerous golden-brown to dark brown glochids 1-3 mm. long, and bearing 1-7 stout, 

 brown or brown but white-tipped, terete or slightly flattened spines 1-3.5 cm. long; the long-est 

 spine porrect or subporrect, the others downward-spreading; flowers 5-8 cm. long, nearly as 

 broad when open, lemon-yellow with tinge of red toward base of outer perianth-segments ; fruit 

 obovoid to narrowly pyriform, 4-8 cm. long, red-purple, seeds orbicular, flattened, 8-10 mm. 

 broad and prominently margined. 



Subcoastal hillsides and washes. Upper Sonoran Zone; from Ventura County, California, to northern Lower 

 California, occasionally reaching the coast from Los Angeles County southward. April-July. 



24. Opuntia megacarpa Griff. Large-fruited Tuna. Fig. 3324. 



opuntia megacarpa Griff. Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 20: 91. 1909. 



Opuntia Engelmannii var. megacarpa Fosberg, Bull. S. Calif. Acad. 33: 100. 1934. 



Decumbent spreading shrub 5-8 dm. high, forming open clumps up to 2.5 m. wide. Joints 

 broadly oval to suborbicular, 9-12 cm. wide, 15^17 cm. long, thin, rarely over 2 cm. thick, bluish 



