30 
My attention was first attracted to this species on the large 
sand-dunes south of Fort Pierce, in a region that has turned out 
to be the southern end of its geographic range. It reaches its 
best development, however, in the northern part of its range 
west of Lake George. It differs from all our other species in the 
gray-green color, the numerous elongate, very slender, often 
deflexed, spines, and in the small, thick-obovoid fruits. In spite 
of its vicious armament, the cattle that range through the country 
west of Lake George often browse upon it. 
This plant is the most conspicuous native prickly-pear in 
Florida, and curiously enough, in proportion to its striking habit, 
the most neglected one. It is confined to the so-called ‘‘scrub”’ 
or inland quiescent sand-dunes which range in a general way 
through the lake region and the east Florida flat-woods, from 
the region west of Lake George to that east of Lake Okeechobee, 
The first definite record of Opuntia in Florida begins with the 
record of the discovery of a large prickly-pear about the western 
shores of Lake George by William Bartram in the latter part of 
the eighteenth century.!. His account of the plant he observed 
suggests a form with the habit of Opuntia Ficus-indica; but this 
species could not have been established there at that early date, 
and, further, he describes the berries as purple and charged with 
juice. One could imagine that he found a plant or a colony of the 
plant just described; but its fruits are conspicuously small, at 
least relatively so in proportion to the size of the plant, and they 
are not particularly juicy, in fact they are rather dry. 
The writer recently visited the country west of Lake George, 
traveling many miles through it for the purpose of rediscovering 
the Bartram plant, but without success. If Bartram did find a 
particularly smooth and large-fruited prickly-pear, such as he 
describes, the cattle may have exterminated it by this time. 
Thus the Bartram Opuntia still remains a mystery. 
t Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida 
TOr, 
