864 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



3. Nopalea auberi (PfeifE.) Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 64. 1850. 

 Opuntia auberi Pfeiff. Allg. Gartenz. 8: 282. 1840. 



Central to southern Mexico ; type locality unknown. 



Often 8 to 10 meters high, with a cylindric jointed trunk, never very spiny 

 but the areoles bearing tufts of brown glochids ; branches often at right angles 

 to the stem ; joints narrow, thick, 30 cm. long, bluish green and glaucous ;. 

 areoles circular, about 2 mm. broad, bearing short white wool and later a 

 tuft of brown glochids ; spines when present 1 or 2, subulate, the upper one- 

 about twice as long as the other, white or nearly so, with brownish tips, the- 

 longest one 2 to 3 cm. long; flowers from base of ovary to tip of style about 

 9 cm. long; petals erect, closely embracing the stamens, rose-pink, ovate-lance- 

 olate, acuminate, 2 to 3.5 cm. long; filaments 12 to 15 mm. longer than the 

 petals, white below, but the exposed parts pinkish ; ovary 4 cm. long, with 

 low but very distinct tubercles and a deep umbilicus, its areoles bearing many 

 brown glochids, these sometimes 10 mm. long. 



4. Nopalea dejecta Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 64. 1850. 

 Opuntia dejecta Salm-Dyck, Hort. Dyck. 361. 1834. 

 Cultivated in tropical IMexico ; type locality unknown. 



Plants 1 to 2 meters high, with definite trunk, very spiny, the old areoles- 

 often bearing 6 or 8 spines; joints narrow, 10 to 15 cm. long, only moderately 

 thick, often drooping, bright green even in age, bearing usually two somewhat 

 spreading spines at an areole ; spines at first pale yellow or pinkish, in age 

 gray, the longest 4 cm. long; flower, including ovary and style, 5 cm. long; 

 sepals obtuse ; petals erect, dark red ; stamens long-exserted, dark red. " Nopal 

 ehamacuero " (Tamaulipas). 



The fruit is edible. The joints are sometimes cut into strips and boiled a& 

 a vegetable. 



5. Nopalea karwinskiana (Salm-Dyck) Schum. Gesamtb. Kakt. 752. 1898. 

 Opuntia karwinskiana Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 239. 1850. 

 Widely distributed in Mexico. 



A tree, 2 meters high or more, with a definite jointed terete spiny trunk; 

 joints oblong, 15 to 30 cm. long, light dull green, only slightly glaucous ; leaves 

 elongate, acute ; areoles distant ; spines 3 to 7 from an areole, porrect, 1 to 

 2 cm. long, pale yellow to nearly white ; glochids yellow, numerous, caducous ; 

 flowers red, 11 to 12 cm. long ; ovary deeply umbilicate, 3 cm. long. " Nopalillo 

 de flor" (Jalisco) ; "nopalillo." 



The root is said to be employed as a remedy for dysentery. 



6. Nopalea inaperta Schott; Griffiths, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 23: 139. 1913. 

 Yucatan. 



Described as 5 to 7 meters high but in cultivation much smaller, diffusely 

 branched, often bushlike ; trunk very spiny ; terminal joints rather small, obo- 

 vate, 6 to 17 cm. long, strongly tuberculate, bright green ; spines usually 3 to 

 6 at areoles of young joints, more at old ones, yellowish brown, 2 cm. long 

 or less ; flowers including ovary and stamens 4 cm. long ; filaments numerous, 

 long-exserted; style much longer than the stamens; fruit red, 1.5 cm. long. 



4. OPUNTIA Mill. Gard. Diet. Abr. ed. 4. 1754. 



Plants sometimes with definite trunks or more often much branched from 

 the base, the branches often spreading, reclining, or prostrate, sometimes clam- 

 bering, but never climbing (one species known with annual stems) ; i-oots 

 fibrous or rarely tuberous and large and fleshy; ultimate branches (joints or 

 pads) cylindric to globose or flattened, usually very fleshy, sometimes woody; 



