940 CONTEIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Dietr., E. fluctuosus Dietr., E. foersteri Stieber, E. griseisjnnus Jacobi, E. 

 hexacantJius Miihlenpf., E. heyderi Dietr., E. hookeri Muhleupf., E. hystricho- 

 centrus Berg, E. Unkeanus Dietr., E. macrocephalus Miihlenpr., E. mammillifer 

 Miguel, E. ochroleucus Jacobi, E. octacanthus Miihlenpf., E. quadrinatus Wag- 

 ener, E. raphidacanthus Salm-Dyck, E. raphidocentrus Jacobi, E. sulphureus 

 Dietr., E. teretispinus Lem., E. tribolacanthus Monville, E. trifurcatus Jacobi. 



33. FEROCACTTJS Britt. & Rose, Cactaceae 3: 123. 1922. 



Globular to cylindric, often large cacti ; ribs thick and prominent ; spines 

 well developed, either straight or hooked ; areoles usually large, bearing flowers 

 only when young and then only just above the spine clusters, more or less 

 felted when young; flowers usually large, broadly funnel-shaped to carapanu- 

 late, usually with a very short tube ; stamens numerous, borne on the throat, 

 short; ovary and flower tube very scaly; scales naked in their axils; fruit 

 oblong, usually thick-walled and dry, dehiscing by a large basal pore; seeds 

 black, pitted, never tuberculate ; embryo curved. 



Besides the species here listed, one other is known, a native of the south- 

 western United States. The species of Ferocactus are well known in the arid 

 regions of Mexico and the United States because of their large size and abund- 

 ance, and the varied uses made of them. In the United States they are usu- 

 ally known by the name barrel cactus. By the Indians they were sometimes 

 employed as cooking vessels, the interior being scooped out and mashed, and 

 the water thus obtained being replaced in the cavity and heated with hot 

 stones, after which meat and other substances were placed in the liquid and 

 cooked. • The liquid obtained by crushing the pulp has sometimes been used 

 as a substitute for water in the desert. The pulp is often fed to horses and 

 cattle. 



The candied pulp makes an excellent sweetmeat, which is much used in 

 Mexico and the southwestern United States, and is often sold in the eastern 

 United States as " cactus candy." The Papago Indians of Arizona are re- 

 ported to have prepared a sweetmeat by boiling the pulp in the syrup of 

 Carnegiea gigantea. 



The usual Mexican name for plants of the genus is " biznaga " or " viz- 

 naga." The name biznaga is applied in Spain to the parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), 

 and the word is of Arabic origin. The Mexican word, however, is believed to 

 have been derived from the Nahuatl, huitzli, spine, and nahuac, around, i. e., 

 covered with spines. Concerning these plants Robelo^ writes as follows: "It 

 is well known that the Mexicans in their bloody and gloomy religion performed 

 the rite of sacrificing their flesh, drawing blood from the ears, thighs, arms, 

 and legs, nose, and even the tongue. For such sacrifices they employed the 

 spines of the biznaga and metl [maguey] ; and these objects being consecrated 

 or even deified, the biznaga founded a cult, which was personified by a deity, 

 Huitznahuatl, to whom was erected a temple, Huitznahua-teapan, and to the 

 place where the spines were kept was given the name Huitzcalco." The Mexi- 

 cans also used the name teocomitl, " divine vessel," for the plants ; while 

 Hernandez mentions the " comitl," " tepenexcomitl," and "hueycomitl," all of 

 which probably belong to this genus. The biznaga was sacred to the god Mix- 

 coatl. 



Buelna reports the Otomi name as " pe," and the name " caballuiia " is re- 

 ported for an unidentified species. 



Clavigero gives a description of one one of the species of Ferocactus occuring 

 in Baja California, and says : " In New Spain some people use the spines for 



lAnal. Mus. Nac. II. 2: 375. 1905. 



