(;,rQ FICOIDE^. Opunlia. 



Tbrou<'bout the Californian desert from the mountains to the Colorado, and into Arizona. 

 Bushes 4 to 6 feet high ; trunk solid, sometimes 2 inches in diameter ; joints only i or i inch 

 thick • spines an incli or two long ; llowers ti to 9 lines wide ; fruit 9 lines long ; seeds 2 lines 

 wide. 



11. O. echinocarpa, Eii<,'oliu. & lUg. A low much-bramihud aiul ai.rcudiii^^ 

 shrub : joints uvulc rluviiLu, iloiiscly covuri'd with imnieru\is spines (."5 or 4 slouti-r, 

 8 to 16 weaker ones in a huncli), wliieli are loosely coated witli a wliilish glistening 

 sheatli : flowers i)ale greenish yellow, about 1^ inches wide : fruit depressed, deeply 

 unibilicate, very spiny : seeds lew {'2 lines wide), with a broad Hat rhaphe. — Cact. 

 1. c. 51, t. 18, lig. 5- 10 ; IJot. Ives Colorado Kxp. U. 



Common in the desert from the mountains to the Colorado Uiver, and into Arizona. UMudly 

 only 1 to li fell high, vny showy from its eonsiiicuous shining sinuoa, an inch or two long. 



\'l. O. serpentina, Kngilm. A large straggling dcuisuly bmncliud shrub: joinl.s 

 elongated, covereil with oljlong i)roniinent tubercles, which bear bunches of numer- 

 ous 'short spines, very soon losing their inconsi)icuous sheaths : Howers clustered, 

 greenish yellow, reddish externally : petals siKitulate, obtuse : stigmas 8, whitish : 

 fruit broadly oval, deeply umbilicate : seeds thick, irregular, with a narrow rhaphe. 

 — Am. Jour. Sci. 2 ser. xiv. 338. 



Common near the coast, at San Diego, Purnj, Hitchcock. Bushes 3 to 5 feet high ; spines 

 8 to 15 in a bunch, 3 to ti lines long ; llowers IJ inches wide ; fruit about 9 lines long. 



++ Fruit green, fleshy, and without spines : flowers red. 



13. O. prolifera, Engehn. An arborescent shrub with elongated joints, covered 

 with oblong obtuse tubercles, which bear 3 to G or 8 spines, obscurely sheathed : 

 flowers densely clustered at the ends of the branches, small, brick-red ; fruit clavate, 

 obovate, or subglobose, strongly tuberoled, deeply umbilicate, almost always sterile 

 and often proliferous : seeds large, regular, with a broad prominent rliaphe. — Am. 

 Jour. Sci. 1. c. 



San Diego (Parry, Sckott, Jtjassk), ui> the coast to San Buenaventura, and soutliward 

 into tlie rcninsula,"r/a/A Larger tlnui tlie last, with stouter more strongly tuberded joints, 

 and fewer and .nliorter spines, and easily distinguiah.Ml from it in llower antl fruit : longest spines 

 1 to U inches long ; llowers U inches wide ; seeds 3 linos in diameter, with a more pronunent 

 and broader rhaphe than its allies. 



Several other OpmilicE, belonging to this la.st section, all with red flowers and fleshy fruit, are 

 found in Western Arizona and may also be expected on the western side of the Colorado. Tliey 

 are all erect much-branched bnsiies, covered with shining sheathed spines. The more northern 



0. BloEi-OVii, Engelm., has sliort tubercles. 



O. FULOIDA, Engelm. & I5ig., ami 0. mamii.lata, Scliott, both south of the Gila (perhaps 

 forms of a single species), have very jirominent tubercles, and small curiously irregular sceils 

 IJ to 2 lines long, with a linear rhaplie. 



0. LEi'TOCAVl.ls, DC, including O. frulescem, Engelm., 0. vaginala, Engelm., and several 

 other synonym.s, is the slenderest of all Ojmutice, with long branches scarcely thicker than a 

 goose-nuill, small yellow llowers, and a small puli)y scarlet fruit ; connnon throughout all 

 Northern Mexico, ranging into Texas, New Mexico, and Western Arizona, and may also be 

 found west of the Colorado Uivcr. 



Order XLIV. FICOIDE^. 



A miscellaneous group, chielly of Hcshy or sm;cident plants, with mostly opposite 

 leaves and no stipules ; dilfering from Cari/ophyllacete and Fortulacaceie by having 

 distinct partitions to the ovary and capsule (which are therefore 2 - many-celletl) ; 

 the petals and stamens sometimes numerous in the manner of Caclaceoi (but the 

 former wanting in most of the genera) ; agreeing with all these orders in the campy- 

 lotropous or aiuphitn.pous seeds ; the slender embryo curveil i)artly or completely 

 round a mealy albumen. 



