190 



The Journal of Heredity 



The plants are upright in habit, and 

 while not compact in growth, thc\' arc 

 stout and firm and never lax, sprangh' 

 or ungainly in habit. Its slightly 

 fibrous condition is the main dis- 

 advantage for breeding purposes. How- 

 ever, this may be mitigated if characters 

 happen to be properly combined, in 

 that it is desirable to add strength to 

 some of our present spineless forms of 

 the Indian fig group. Being free from 

 spines, not especially infested with 

 spicules, and able to withstand tem- 

 peratures of the San Antonio to Austin, 

 Texas, regions without any injury, it is 

 one of the promising forms for increasing 

 hardiness of the more tender spineless 

 stocks. Figure 15 accompanying the 

 text well illustrates the great range of 

 variation in spination of this species. 



Opuxtia sl"bakm.\ta Griffiths. 



Plant upright to ascending, rather compactly 

 branched, making a shrub IM-IJH2 rn- high, 

 and nearly 2 m. in diameter; joints oval, 

 obovate to subcircular, commonly 17-25 cm. 

 in diameter, broadly to narrowly rounded 

 above, glaucous, bluish-green, changing through 

 yellowish to brownish, and finally to gray, 

 scaly; areoles elliptical to ovate or subcircular, 

 3-6 mm. in longest diameter, 33/2-43^ cm. 

 apart, tawny, changing to dirty gray or black, 

 enlarging but slightly with age; spicules 

 yellow, about 2 mm. in length, never formid- 

 able, numerous, nor increasing in length with 

 age; spines none; flowers yellow, develoj)ing a 

 faint tinge of red along midribs of petals as 

 day advances, opening at 8:00 a. m., and fully 

 open by 9:00, 7-8 cm. in diameter when fully 

 opened, petals 4 cm. long, filaments white 

 above, greenish below, style white below, very 

 slightly greenish tinged above, stigma large, 

 deep, dark green, 11-parted; fruit i)urple 

 throughout, bearing light tawny sul)circular 

 areoles 1-2 mm. in diameter, having a small 

 central tuft of yellow spicules; seeds flattened, 

 regular, about 4 mm. in diameter, jjrominently 

 notched at hilum, with marginal callus about 

 ^i mm. wide. 



This species is based tqjon this sjnne- 

 less form, two collections of which have 

 been made in the type locality, neither 

 one of which has de\'eloped any s])incs 

 imder cultivation . f )ther closely related 

 forms, considered to be of the same 

 species, have been secured in the same 

 locality. They have yellowish bone- 

 like spines an inch or more long, in 

 very varying numlxTs. The cold re- 

 sistance of the species is j^robably 

 somewhat greater than thai of cacanai)a; 



and on the whole, it is a more promising 

 species for breeding purposes, for it 

 more closely resembles the best native 

 economic species of Texas in both fiber 

 content and succulence. It was selected 

 some years ago in the region of Devil's 

 River, Texas, where the spiny forms 

 are common enough; but this spineless 

 one is rare. It is found at the base of 

 the limestone cliffs, so abundant in this 

 region. Although rare, I have seen 

 three or four plants which were perfectly 

 spineless. It has been vegetatively 

 propagated at San Antonio and Browns- 

 ville, Texas, and Chico, California. 

 At none of these places have any species 

 been developed. 



Opuntia ellisiana Griffiths. 

 Plant spreading, ascending, laxly to com- 

 pactly branched, 1-1}'^ m. high, and 1^-2 m. 

 in spread of branch, depending upon moisture 

 and fertility conditions; joints light, pale, 

 glaucous, green, when young, Ijut yellowish 

 shortly after maturity, broadly obovate, about 

 20 X 24 cm., slightly elevated at areoles when 

 young; areoles at first almost cottony white, 

 turning gray, and finally black, small, 2-i mm. 

 in diameter, after leaves have fallen and 

 maturity has approached, made up of a central 

 papillum in which the s})icules are produced 

 surrounded by a depressed groove separating 

 it from the outer zone of gray or white wool; 

 leaves long, prominent, circular in sections or 

 slightly flattened, subulate, cuspidate, broadly 

 arched backward, 12-15 mm. in length; 

 spicules light yellow, never prominent, scarcely 

 visible, few and only 1 mm. or less in length, 

 scarcely distinguisliable except by feeling from 

 the central ])apillum of wool in which they are 

 situated; spines entirely absent; flowers deep 

 yellow, changing to orange, reddish when 

 closed, son^e <jf the outer periantli segments 

 dull, greenish red in bud, about 6 cm. in 

 diameter when open, filaments and style 

 white, stigma very light greenish yellow, 

 7-parted; fruit pyriform to hemispherical, 

 deep reddish purple throughout, young ovary 

 thickly beset above with small white sub- 

 circular areoles 3 mm. apart, and 1,'2 mm. in 

 diameter, the wool being prominently raised 

 to 1 mm. or more in a compact columnar tuft, 

 from center of wliich arc produced 1-2 delicate 

 yellowish fugaceous spines, 2-?> mm. long and 

 1-3 or 4 minute spicules 1 mm. long or less, 

 the lower |)art of ovary having only 1-3 

 spicules, and the areoles l)eing much fartlier 

 apart. 



1 1 is thought that all of the material 

 of this s])ecies iti cultivation today has 

 been grown from stocks secured at 

 Cori)Us Christi, Texas. The origin is 

 not known, btit it has evidently been 

 in ciiltiN-ation a long time. It is now 



