23 
characters of the several kinds under consideration. Anyone 
interested in the prickly-pears may secure joints for propagation 
from the plants growing in the garden at Buena Vista, by ad- 
dressing the author of this paper. . 
In 1832 Rafinesque writes thus:! ‘having seen in gardens 
and herbals several rare or new species] of Florida, I will here 
describe some of them.” The first species proposed is Opuntia 
(Cactus) maritima and is said to grow on the seashore from Florida 
to Carolina. However, Rafinesque’s own reference to a pre- 
viously published work? shows that the name is really founded on 
a description of Elliott.3 The-second species proposed is Opuntia 
(Cactus) Bartrami and is founded on the account of an Opuntia 
in Bartram’s “Travels” referred to in the earlier part of this 
paper. A third species proposed is Opuntia spinalba founded on 
a Cactus Opuntia of Lunan. It is said to have grown on the 
Keys of Florida. 
The following schedule is offered as a tentative interpretation 
of the Florida prickly-pears. The notes and descriptions are 
based mainly on observations made on plants in the field and 
on specimens grown in the garden referred to in a preceding 
paragraph, and in the greenhouses of the New York Botanical 
Garden, 
Interesting discoveries of cacti in Florida have not been con- 
fined to the genus Opuntia; but different genera have been repre- 
sented as well. A subsequent paper will deal with other genera 
of the Cactaceae. 
The present era in the studies of prickly-pears dates from the 
publication of “A Preliminary Treatment of the a of 
North America,” in 1908, by Dr. N. L. Britton and Dr. J. 
Rose. In this paper four species of Opuntia were recorded 
Florida and correctly so as far as the flora of the state was then 
known, 
Publication of this paper is made at this time in order that it 
may be cited in the forthcoming first volume of the Monograph 
' Atlantic Journal 146. 
* Medical Flora 2: 247. 1830. 
"A Sketch of the Bota any of South Carolina and Georgia 1: 537- I82r. 
‘Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 50: 503-539. 
