Britton: Studies of West Indian plants 563 



eastern Cuba in company with Prof. B. E. Fernow, in 1906; col- 

 lected also bv C. WriVht. near Guantanamn 



3. Harrisia portoricensis sp. no v. 



Plant slender, 2-3 m. high, little branched, the branches 3-4 

 cm. thick, 1 1 -ribbed, the ribs rounded, the depressions between 

 them shallow. Areoles 1.5-2 cm. apart ; spines 13-17, grayish 

 white to brown with dark tips, the longer ones 2.5-3 cm - lor »g ', 

 bud obovoid, depressed-truncate, its scales with many curled white 

 hairs 6 mm. long or less; flower about 1.5 dm. long; sepals 

 pinkish green inside ; scales of the corolla-tube lanceolate, ap- 

 pressed, 1.5 cm. long, loosely hairy, the hair completely decidu- 

 ous in flakes ; fruit ovoid, yellow, tubercled, acuminate at the 

 apex, rounded at the base, 4 cm. long, 3 cm. in diameter. 



Description from N. Y. B. G. no. 24.653, collected by N. L. 



Britton and John F. Cowell, near Ponce, Porto Rico [no. 1324), 



in 1906. 



4. Harrisia gracilis (Mill.) 



M 



1768. 



^pandits Haw. Syn. PI. Succ. 183. 181 2. Not Cerens 



re pandits L. 



? Cerens subrepandu 



1819. 



Plant much branched, often 7 m. high, dark green, its branches 

 rather slender, somewhat divergent, 9-1 1 -ribbed, the ribs rounded, 

 the depression between them rather shallow. Areoles 1.5-2 cm. 

 a part ; spines 10- 1 6, whitish with black tips, the longer 2-2.5 cm - 

 l°ng ; bud oblong-ovoid, short-pointed, its scales with a (e\v straight 

 w hite hairs 8-12 mm. long; corolla 2 dm. long, the scales of its 

 tube greenish brown, narrowly lanceolate, abruptly bent upward 

 near the base, acuminate, about 2 cm. long, having a few hairs, the 

 sepals pale brown, the petals white ; fruit depressed globose, yel- 

 low, about 5 cm. bng, 6-7 cm. thick, the base flat, the top bluntly 

 Pointed, strongly tubercled when young, the tubercles low-conic, 

 about 4 mm. high, about 1.5 cm. from tip to tip, bearing a decidu- 

 ous triangular-lanceolate scale 6-8 mm. long, becoming confluent, 

 the fruit finally smooth or nearly so. 



Description from N. Y. B. G. no. 21902, collected in Jamaica 

 b y Mr. John F. Cowell in 1904, and from Britton 1255, Great 

 Pedro Bay, Jamaica. This plant has been observed by me in great 

 [uantities in the arid districts of the southern part of Jamaica, and 

 ls represented in our collections by living specimens from six locali- 

 ses. I designate this species as the type of the genus. 



