84 GRIFFITHS: NEW SPECIES OF OPUNTIA 
tinguished from O. brachycladaGriffiths by its much wider, different- 
shaped joints; and from O. basilaris by its much smaller as well — 
as different shaped joints. The branching in this species is more — 
truly basilate than in O. basilaris when it is young but as the < 
plants increase in size this characteristic is lost in the main — 
branches. Its distribution seems to be confined to the floor of — 
the mountain valleys of the San Bernardino region of California. — 
While in the type the spicules are decidedly brown like those ob 
the majority of O. basilaris, they may be entirely yellow. Indeed — 
the species varies in coloration of the entire plant. - 
The type is preserved under my collection No. 10787, and was — 
collected in the mountain cafions above San Bernardino, California, — 
September 17, 1912. The description was drawn in the main 
from cultivated plants, grown at Chico, California, July 28, 1914 a 
{ 
‘ Opuntia deltica sp. nov. i: 
A tall, erect, tree-like form, often reaching a height of 2-3 My a 
with a distinct trunk, rather loose and open branched; joints — 
obovate but often widest at middle, about 17 X 26 cm., light — 
rather yellowish green, with a little bloom, sharply rounded above — 
and contracted below into a short stipitate base; areoles bright, — 
larger, flattened, often twisted, not annular, 3 cm. long; flower? 
yellow, becoming deeper yellow with slight tinge of red only late 
in the day, 7-8 cm. in diameter when fully opened, slightly 
greenish tinged within, reddish when closed and bud greenish : 
with only a slight tinge of red in edges of occasional bud scales 
filaments greenish, style white, stigma long, five- to seven-parted; 
very light greenish tinged, almost white; fruit deep purplish red 
all way through, obovate with wide, nearly flat umbilicus, about 
4 X 4.5 cm., areoles large, subcircular, tawny, 3 mm. long and 
ten to fifteen in number, spicules yellow, 2-3 mm. or even 5 ™ 
long, but quite distinct from the fugacious spines which may 
face extreme length of 2 cm., widely spreading, five to te? wy 
number. = 
This is another species peculiar to the delta of the Rio Grande | 
It is not so conspicuously a tree as O. alta Griffiths, for it apPe ~_ 
Be 
