﻿52 PLANTiE fendlerian;e. 



obovatis compressis ; areolis orbicularis fusco-setosis margine inferiore aculeos robustos 

 1 - 5 rectos compressos inaequales fuscos apice pallidiores plerumque deflexos gerentibus 

 rariusve nudis; ovario obconico areolis sub-30 tomento pallide fusco instructis, superiori- 

 bus albo-setosis ; sepalis interioribus sub-20 late obovatis retusis seu emarginatis ; petalis 

 10 - 13 obovatis retusis seu emarginatis; stigmatibus 5-7 suberectis stamina vix supe- 

 rantibus ; bacca obovato-pyriformi nuda. — On rocky hills about -Santa Fe, and on the 

 Rio Grande, very common ; flowering in May and June. This appears to be the most 

 northern form of the Opuntia; with yellow or brown and flattened spines, which belong to 

 the section of 0. Tuna. Another species, with larger joints and larger fruit, occurs in 



Texas. Some specimens before me are prostrate, with ascending branches ; the joints 



5 or 5i inches long, and 3i or 4 wide ; areolae an inch distant from each other, most of 

 them bearing stout spines ; the lower sometimes only one, the upper from two to five, 

 but mostly three or four : one or two are directed upwards, the other and stouter ones 

 more or less downward. Larger spines H to 2 inches long, dark brown with lighter 

 tips ; the smaller from half an inch to one inch long, whitish. — Another specimen 

 has larger, more orbiculate joints, from six to eight inches long, and five or six wide ; 

 the spines fewer, all directed downwards, or on many areola? none at all. The flowers 

 which have been distributed under this number are two or two and a half inches in diam- 

 eter: ovary about one inch long: sepals yellow with red : petals yellow: stamens red or 

 yellow : stigmas apparently green. The fruit which Mr. Fendler says belongs to this 

 species is about half an inch long, red, smooth, apparently juicy when fresh ; the seeds 

 often three lines in diameter, margined like those of O. vulgaris. — Several other Opun- 

 tiae with compressed joints, some of them with fleshy, others with dry and spiny fruit, 

 some of them very spiny, and others almost destitute of spines, have been collected by 

 Mr. Fendler about Santa Fe ; but for want of more complete materials, a description is 

 not here attempted. 



" 251. O. clavata, Engelm. in Jf'isliz. Rep. not. 12. Plains around Santa Fe ; 

 never found on the mountains ; flowering in June. — I add to the description already 

 published, that the areola; are very large and closely approximate. From nine to 

 eleven smaller and narrower spines are directed upwards or radiating; about six of 

 them are turned downward, and are larger and longer; the former are from two to 

 four, or even six or eight, lines long; the latter are from six to fourteen lines long. 

 The joints form a large and spreading, level-topped mass, which attains the diameter 

 of several feet. 



- 252. O. arborescens, Engelm. I. c. not. 5. Hills and elevated plains, from Bent's 

 Fort on the Arkansas to Santa Fe ; flowering in June.— About five feet high, sometimes 



