1088 



ECHINACEA 



ECHINOCACTUS 



With the growing appreciation of hardy borders and 

 of native plants, it should be possible to procure four 

 or five distinct colors in the flower, associated with 

 low, medium and tall-growing habits. They do well 

 in ordinary soils, and may be used to help cover unusu- 

 ally dry and exposed spots. 



They respond well to rich soil, especially sandy loam, 

 and prefer warm and sunny sites. They are perennials 

 of easy culture. Propagated by division, though not 

 too frequently; sometimes by seeds. The roots of E. 

 angustifolia are black, pungent-tasted, and are included 

 in the United States pharmacopoea as the source of an 

 oleo-resin. 



purptlrea, Moench. (Brauneria purpurea, Brit.). 

 Commonly not hairy, typically taller than E. angusti- 

 folia, 2 ft. or more high: Ivs. ovate-lanceolate, or the 

 lower ones broadly ovate, often 5-nerved, commonly 

 denticulate or sharply serrate, most of them abruptly 

 contracted into a margined petiole; upper Ivs. lanceo- 

 late and 3-nerved: rays at first an inch long and broad- 

 ish, later often 2 in. long or more, with the same color- 

 range as E. angustifolia, but rarely almost white. Rich 

 or deep soil. Va. and Ohio to 111. and La. G.L. 

 19:28. G.M. 22: suppl. Nov. 11; 31:374. Gng. 5:41. 

 Var. serotina, Bailey (Rudbeckia purpurea var. serdtina, 

 Nutt. R. serdtina, Sweet). The varietal name means 

 late-flowering, but the chief point is the hairy or bristly 

 character of the plant. L.B.C. 16:1539. P.M. 15:79 

 (as E. intermedia). Perhaps the best form for garden 

 purposes, the rays said to be much brighter colored, 

 broader and not rolling at the edges. 



angustifolia, DC. (B. angustifolia, Brit.). Bristly, 

 either sparsely or densely: Ivs. narrower than in E. 

 purpurea, from broadly lanceolate to nearly linear, 

 entire, 3-nerved, all narrowed gradually to the base, 

 the lower into slender petioles: fl.-heads nearly as large 

 as in E. purpurea, but sometimes much smaller. 

 Prairies and barrens, Sask. and Neb. to Texas, east to 

 111., Tenn. and Ala. B.M. 5281. G. W. 4 : 164. This 

 species has several forms, which approach and run into 

 E. purpurea. 



A dealer advertises (1912) a "red sunflower" obtained by cross- 

 ing a species of Echinacea with Helianthus multiflorus. It is 

 described as 5-6 ft. high, with fls. 4-7 in. diam., red. See 

 Helianthus. 



ECHINOCACTUS (Greek, spine and cactus). Cac- 

 tacese. A very large group of globular, strongly ribbed, 

 and strongly spiny cacti, growing from the United 

 States to South America, particularly abundant in 

 Mexico. 



Sometimes these cacti become very short-cylindrical; 

 occasionally the ribs are broken up into tubercles which 

 resemble those of Mammillaria; and rarely spines are 

 entirely wanting: the fls. usually appear just above 

 the young spine-bearing areas, but sometimes they are 

 farther removed, and occasionally they are in the axil 

 of a tubercle; the ovary bears scales which are naked or 

 woolly in the axils, and the fr. is either succulent or dry. 

 The genus is well developed within the U. S., about 40 

 species haying been recognized, but its extreme north- 

 ern limit is the southern borders of Colo., Utah, and 

 Nev., apparently having spread from the great arid 

 plateau regions of Mex. proper and Low. Calif. 

 The genus extends throughout Mex. but is not found in 

 Cent. Amer. It is well represented, however, in the 

 drier regions of S. Amer. Echinocactus and Mammillaria 

 are distinguished chiefly by the way in which the fls. are 

 borne, terminal on the tubercles in the former, and 

 axillary to tubercles in the latter. In external appear- 

 ance they are very similar. The genus Astrophytum is 

 here included, although it seems to be very different 

 from the typical forms of Echinocactus and should 

 doubtless be kept distinct. It is impossible to identify 

 with certainty all of the specific names found in 

 trade catalogues, but the following synopsis con- 



tains the greater part of them. In all cases the original 

 descriptions have been consulted, and in some cases 

 it is certain that a name originally applied to one 

 form has been shifted to another. The following 

 synopsis may be useful, therefore, in checking up the 

 proper application of names, but it may thus leave 

 some of the common species of the trade unaccounted 

 for. No attempt is made to group the species accord- 

 ing to relationships, but a more easily handled artificial 

 arrangement, chiefly based upon spine characters, is 

 used. It must be remembered that the species are 

 exceedingly variable, especially under cult., and large 

 allowance must be made for the characters given in the 

 key and in the specific descriptions. 



Unlike most globular forms of cacti, echinocacti do 

 not readily produce offsets; consequently they must 

 be propagated by seeds if one wishes to increase these 

 plants in quantity. Seeds of echinocactus, and, in fact, 

 most cacti, will germinate as freely as seeds of other 

 plants, provided they have been allowed to ripen 

 properly before gathering and carefully dried after- 

 ward. The months of May and June have been found 

 to be by far the most favorable for germination. Seeds 

 of echinocactus will then germinate in five or six days, 

 while during the winter months it takes almost as many 

 weeks. Opuntias will germinate in even less than six 

 days; they germinate most readily of all the Cactacese, 

 and grow the fastest afterward, while mammillarias are 

 the slowest to germinate and grow the slowest after- 

 ward. The seeds should be sown in well-drained 4- 

 inch pots in a finely sifted mixture of one part leaf- 

 mold, one part loam and one part charcoal dust and 

 silver sand. The surface should be made very smooth, 

 and the seeds pressed lightly into the soil with the 

 bottom of a flower-pot and then covered with about 

 ^8 inch of fine silver sand. This allows the seedlings to 

 push through readily and prevents the soil from crust- 

 ing on the surface of the pots, as they usually have to 

 stay in their seedling pots at least one year. The pots 

 should be placed in a greenhouse where they will 

 receive plenty of light but not the direct sunlight, for, 

 although cacti are natives of desert regions, the seed- 

 lings will roast if exposed to full sunlight under glass. 

 For the first winter, at least, the seedlings should be 

 kept in a temperature of not less than 60 and care- 

 fully looked over every day to ascertain the condition 

 of the soil, for, although they should be kept on the 

 dry side, they must never be allowed to become quite 

 dry during the seedling stage. When about a year old 

 they may be transplanted to shallow pans not more than 

 6 inches in diameter, and prepared with the same mix- 

 ture as for seedling pots. These pans will be found 

 better than small pots, because the soil may be kept 

 more evenly moist and the seedlings do better in conse- 

 quence. When grown from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, 

 seedling echinocacti may be transferred to pots, using 

 only sizes just large enough to accommodate them, as 

 they make but few roots. Pot them in a mixture of -two 

 parts fibrous loam, one part leaf-mold and one part 

 pounded brick and silver sand. During the spring and 

 summer months, established plants may be given a 

 liberal supply of water, but must be studiously watered 

 during the fall and winter months. During the winter 

 they should be given a light position in a dry green- 

 house, with a night temperature of 45 to 50, and a 

 rise of 10 by day. For the summer, they may be either 

 kept in an airy greenhouse or placed in some conve- 

 nient position outside, plunging the pots in the soil or 

 in some light non-conducting material. Some of the 

 species will begin to blossom in May and others at 

 intervals during the summer. The flowers vary con- 

 siderably in size, and embrace a good range of color, 

 from white to deep yellow, and from faintest purple to 

 deep rose. They do not readily produce seed (in New 

 England, at least) unless artificially pollinated. Like 

 most of the cactus family, the more cylindrical species 



