CACTUS MAXONII, A NEW CACTUS FROM GUATEMALA 



By J. N. ROSE 



In 1905 Mr. Wm. R. Maxon, an Assistant Curator in the Na- 

 tional Museum, was detailed by the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture for field work in Guatemala, and while there he acquired a fine 

 series of living specimens of a new cactus, which is here described. 

 The same year Prof. W. A. Kellerman of the Ohio State University 

 sent another specimen of the same from Guatemala. Some of the 

 larger plants have flowered and fruited, which has enabled me to 

 ascertain fully the characters and preserve specimens for the her- 

 barium. The two photographs here reproduced are of the same plant 

 taken at an interval of just 24 hours. Among other things they 

 show how quickly the fruit is pushed out. 



CACTUS MAXONII Rose, sp. nov. 



Plate VI 



Plant body simple, deep green, broadly cone-shaped or short-cylin- 

 drical, 10 to 15 cm. high; cephalium rather small-, consisting 

 of a mass of white wool and brown bristles; ribs 11 to 15, rather 

 broad, either mottled or plain ; spines generally 9, rarely only 8 or 

 sometimes with several smaller ones making 1 1 in all, the central one 

 (rarely 2) short, standing nearly at right angles to the rib, 1.5 to 2 

 cm. long; radial spines spreading or even recurved, pale red or 

 rose-colored with a whitish bloom, but when old colored amber ; 

 flowers small, rose-colored ; fruit narrowly oblong or club-shaped, 

 red, resembling that of Mamillaria ; seeds black, shining. 



Collected in Guatemala near El Rancho by W. R. Maxon in 1905 

 (no. 3766, type) and near Salama, January 22., 1905 (no. 3378) ; 

 also collected in Guatemala by Prof. W. A. Kellerman. The de- 

 scription is drawn up from living plants in Washington. 



Type in U. S. National Herbarium no. 535,059. 



Perhaps nearest C. neryi but with more ribs, with a smaller cepha- 

 lium, and with the spines almost always 9. 



This species is of the Melocactus type, under which name it would 

 be placed by most cactus students. My reasons for using the generic 



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