48 UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 
remotis griseo-tomentosis; setis flavis rigidis valde inequalibus sparsis; aculeis paucis (in 
areolis superioribus plerumque 2-3) validis compressis seu angulatis rectis seu subinde curva- 
tis deflexis seu varie divergentibus stramineis corneisve basi rufis, cum adventitiis inferioribus 
1-2 gracilioribus pallidioribus szpe deficientibus; floribus flavis intus rubellis ; ovario obvato- 
subgloboso seu rarius elongato subclavato sepalis e basi lata subulatis et pulvillis 20-25 griseo- 
sue fulvo-tomentosis parce setosis instructo ; sepalis tubi sub-13, exterioribus ovato-lanceolatis 
acuminatis, interioribus orbiculato-obovatis cuspidatis ; petalis 8-10 obovatis subspathulatis 
obtusis mucronatis ; stylo crasso parum tumido; stigmatibus 8-10 erectis ; bacca globoso- 
obovata seu rarius pyriformi late umbilicata ; seminibus minoribus sub-irregularibus plerumque 
_anguste marginatis. (Tab. LXXV, fig. 1-4.) ‘ 
From the Canadian river, Bigelow, to New Braunfels, in Texas, Lindheimer, and to the mouth 
of the Rio Grande ; westward to the Pecos and Presido, Bigelow, El Paso, Wright, and perhaps 
to the Pacific, Parry, south to Chihuahua, Wislizenus: fl, May and June.—A stout, coarse- 
looking plant, 4-6 feet high ; lower part of old stems woody with loosely reticulated ligneous 
fibres, and with grey bark often covered with lichens, about 6 inches in diameter. Joints, in 
the larger specimens, one foot long, 9 inches in diameter ; leaves subulate, 3-4 lines long, patu- 
lous; pulvilli 13-1} inch apart, 3-4 lines in diameter ; bristles coarse, sparse and very 
unequal ; longer ones on the upper edge of the pulvillus sometimes 4-6 lines long; spines 1-14 
inch long, lower smaller ones 6-9 lines long. Flower 24-3 inches in diameter, character- 
ized by the usually quite short ovary, and the comparatively narrow and not emarginate petals ; 
ovary commonly 1-1} inch long, almost globose ; in some instances, however, I have seen it 
clavate and nearly 2 inches long, (perhaps then sterile and inclined to become proliferous. ) 
Fruit subglobose, somewhat contracted at base, nearly 2 inches long ; umbilicus about an inch in 
diameter, flat or a little depressed ; fruit dirty purplish, usually with a bright purplish pulp, of 
an insipid or even nauseous taste. Seeds usually less than 2 lines, in most specimens only 
1,5-1.7 line in diameter, of a regular (from Matamoras) or commonly more irregular twisted 
shape, with an obtuse or acutish, rather natrow margin. Young plants, raised from seed » are char- 
acterized by the fascicles of very long (2-1 inch) fine woolly hairs on the pulvilli, which appear 
in the second season, and remain for several years. Among the numerous varieties of this spe- 
cies, the var. cyclodes, from the Upper Pecos, has been described in Capt. Whipple’s Pacific Rail- 
road Report; another one was collected, by Mr. Wright, on the Limpia, with 1-6 stout, curved 
spines on the upper pulvilli, and none at all on the lower ones, 
Dr. Bigelow distinguishes from this species another plant, which he has frequently observed 
near Presidio del Norte and Eagle Pass. From his notes, and from the meagre material on 
hand, I venture to describe it, without asserting dts specific difference from the last species. 
O. DULcIS (sp. nov.) : adscendens, patula; articulis obovatis ; pulvillis remotis ; setis fulvia 
difformibus, exterioribus confertis tenuioribus brevioribus subequalibus, interioribus uniseriatis 
robustioribus multo longioribus ; aculeis 2-3 an gulatis sepius tortis pallidis deflexis, ssepe cum 
1-3 gracilioribus; bacca ovata late umbilicata pallida; seminibus minoribus regularibus 
anguste marginatis. (Tab. LXXV, fig. 5-7.) 
A sub-erect, spreading bush, lower and with 
with a very sweet and pleasant-tasted fruit. Pla 
1-1} inch in length, almost white ; 
separates the spiniferous from the brist 
smaller joints than the last species, and always 
nt about 2 feet high ; joints 4 foot long ; spines 
a semicircle of short spines or long bristles distinctly 
ly part of the pulvillus ; the bristles themselves are much 
