6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 72 



mated that it has borne 20 sets of flowers and fruits and may possibly 

 be 20 years old. While all the flowers we have seen are terminal, 

 it is ])ossible that they may sometimes occur from other places on 

 the terminal joint, in one specimen examined we have found an 

 enlarged areole near the base and one on the side of the terminal joint, 

 which suggests that they had been flower-bearing. Plumier's illus- 

 tration, which is not accurate, shows nimierous lateral flowers. The 

 stubby flowermg joints, while usuallv solitary, appear sometimes in 

 pairs. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES 



Platk t 

 Plumier's original illustration of Ncoahbotfia faiiii-iihta. reduced; repro- 

 duced from plate 92 of Burmann's Plantarum Americannm. 



Pi. ATI-: 2 

 Neoabbottia panicidata (Lam.) Britt. & Rose A. B. Two tjpes of growth. 



Platk ,^ 

 Neoabbottia paiiiculata (Lam.) Britt. & Rose. A, a plant growing in the 

 o])en ; B, a plant growing in a thicket. 



Platk 4 



A. Neoabbottia paiiiculata (Lam.) Britt. & Rose. Upper part of a plant. 



B. Neoabbottia and Ccphaloeereus. a. An elongated branch of Neoabbottia: 

 e, a terminal branch of Neoabbottia. fruiting for the first time ; c and f , stubby 

 branches of the same, which have produced fruit for many years ; b and d, 

 small plants of Cephaloccreus polyyonus. growing epiphytically on Neoab- 

 bottia. 



