954 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL, HERBAEIUM. 



ments linear with more or less pungent tips; inner perianth segments nar- 

 rowly oblong, about 3 cm. long; ovary and fruit bearing linear scales, their 

 axils very woolly; fruit dehiscing by a basal pore, oblong, red, 3 cm. long, 

 clothed with long white wool ; seeds 2 mm. long, more or less angled, brownish 

 black, papillose. " Manca mula," " biznaga meloncillo," " biznaga de dulce " 

 (Durango, Patoni) ; "manca caballo " (Zacatecas) ; "biznaga" (Texas). 



The flesh of the young plants is said to be employed for making a sweet- 

 meat, like that prepared from Ferocactus. 



36. HOMALOCEPHAIiA Britt. & Rose, Cactaceae 3: 181. 1922. 

 A single species is known. 

 1. Homalocephala texensis (Hopffer) Britt. & Rose, Cactaceae 3: 181. 1922. 



Echinocactus texensis Hopffer, Allg. Gartenz. 10: 297. 1842. 



Echinocactus platycephalus Miihlenpf. Allg. Gartenz. 16: 9. 1848. 



Northern Mexico. Texas and New JNIexico ; type from Texas. 



Usually simple, sometimes globose, but generally much depressed, in large 

 plants 30 cm. broad, 10 to 15 cm. high ; ribs 13 to 27, very prominent, acute ; 

 areoles only 2 to 6 to a rib, densely white-felted when young, large; radial 

 spines usually 6, rarely 7, spreading or recurved, more or less flattened, un- 

 equal, 1.2 to 4 cm. long, rarely 5 cm. long, reddish, more or less annulate; 

 central spine solitary, longer than the radials, 3 to 6.5 cm. long, 3 to 8 mm. 

 broad, much flattened, strongly annulate ; flowers broadly campanulate, 5 to 

 6 cm. long and fully as broad, scarlet and orange below, pink to nearly white 

 above ; outer perianth segments linear with more or less lacerate margins and 

 terminated by long spinose tips ; inner perianth segments with less pungent 

 tip or without any, but with strongly lacerate margins ; stigma lobes 10, linear, 

 pale pink ; scales on ovary and flower tube linear, pungent ; fruit scarlet, 

 globular, 16 to 40 mm. in diameter, nearly smooth when mature, at first pulpy 

 but becoming dry and apparently splitting open unequally; seeds large, uni- 

 form, black, smooth, shining, somewhat flattened, angled on the back, 3 mm. 

 broad. " Manca caballo " (Nuevo Le6n). 



37. ASTROPHYTUM Lem. Cact. Hort. Monv. 3. 1839. 



Plants globular or more or less flattened to short-cylindric ; ribs few, very 

 prominent, more or less covered with white radiating hairy scales; spines 

 usually wanting, weak or subulate in two species ; flowers borne at the top 

 of the plant, large, yellowish with a reddish center, soon fading, persistent, 

 campanulate to short-funnelform ; fruit globular, covered with brown scarious 

 imbricate scales, these woolly in their axils, and more or less pungent ; seeds 

 dark brown, smooth and shining, with a large depressed hilum having inturned 

 margins. 



The following are the only species known. 



Spines none. 



Plants globular to columnar; flowers 4 to 6 cm. long 1. A. myriostigma. 



Plants much depressed ; flowers 3 cm. long 2. A. asterias. 



Spines present. 



Spines flat, ribbon-like, hardly pungent 3. A. capricome. 



Spines subulate 4. A. ornatum. 



1, Astrophytum myriostigma Lem. Cact. Hort. Monv. 4. 1839. 



Cereus callicochc Galeotti; Scheidw. Bull. Acad. Brux. 6*: 88. 1839. 



Echinocactus myriostigma Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1844. 22. 1845. 



Northern Central Mexico ; occurring in Coahuila and San Luis Potosi and 

 elsewhere. 



