82 Standley: Some Echinocerei of New Mexico 



obtuse. In some cases the petal narrows very gradually from the 

 apex toward the base ; in others the petal is very broad near the 

 apex and narrows abruptly near its middle, giving it a broadly 

 spatulate outline. The petals measured ranged in width from 6 

 to 21 mm. The number of petals is subject to some variation : 

 there are usually from two to three complete whorls of the perianth, 

 but in some flowers one finds about four, and in others scarcely 



more than a single whorl. 



The flowers exhibited quite a range of color. In most speci- 

 mens the upper part of the petal is deep-scarlet or orange-scarlet 

 of various shades (RRO to ROi and RO2, Prang Color Chart.) 

 The color of the base of the petals is much lighter, yellowish- 

 white, pale-yellow, greenish-yellow, pale orange-scarlet, rosy- 

 white, or even pure-white. Other flowers have the upper part of 

 the petals of a rose-color, passing into white at the base. Many 

 of the flowers that are at first orange-scarlet or deep-scarlet become 

 rose after a few days ; but others are rose-colored when the 

 flowers first expand. In a few flowers there was a decidedly 

 purplish tint but this is rare. These color characters seem to vary 

 without any relation to the other characters of the plants. 



The number of the flowers upon the plant varies but little. 

 The taller plants usually have a larger number of flowers than the 

 smaller ones. In the three older species the flowers are lateral, 

 mostly produced near the summit of the plant, each from the 

 upper side of an areola. In the new species the flowers usually 

 appear abundantly all over the plant, even from near the base. 



The plants of these species are cespitose in habit, having any- 

 where from one to ten branches. Larger plants are rare. ln e 

 mountain form, E. coccineus, is usually found as a plant of only a 

 few stems. Sometimes, however, plants of this species form laig e 

 hemispherical masses consisting of more than a hundred stems. 



The length of stamens varies in different, plants, seemingly 

 without regard to the other characteristics of the plant. In some 

 flowers the stamens are hardly more than half as long as the style , 

 in others they are only a little shorter than the style, while in mos 

 of the flowers they reach about to the stigmas. In a few flowers 

 the stamens were even longer than the entire pistil. The color 

 the stamens is about the same in all cases, the anthers a deep 





