38 
II. OPUNTIA BRASILIENSIS (Willd.) Haw. Suppl. Pl. Succ. 79. 
1819 
Cactus brasiliensis Willd. Enum. Suppl. 33. 1813. 
Plant erect, tree-like, 5 m. tall or more, or often much smaller, 
with a terete upwardly tapering trunk which in mature plants 
supports terete spreading branches, these in turn divided into 
branching flat oblong, elliptic, or obovate relatively thin leaf- 
like, bright-green joints: leaves ovoid, mostly 1-3 mm. long, 
light-green: areolae small, minutely white-woolly, those of the 
stem, branches, and edges of the joints armed: spines slender, 
usually solitary, terete, mostly 1~3 cm. long, pale with reddish 
or brown tips, ultimately gray: flowers usually several on the 
terminal joints: sepals ovate, the inner ones broadly so: corolla 
lemon-yellow, mostly 3—4 cm. wide: berries subglobose to oval, 
2.5-4 cm. long, light yellow, the areolae conspicuous on account , 
of the tufted brown bristles. 
Woods, eastern peninsular Florida. Native of eastern South 
America. 
Among the eleven species of Opuntia growing naturally in 
Florida, only two are introduced and naturalized plants. The 
present species, although sometimes seen in and about gardens, 
has not been definitely determined as a naturalized plant until 
quite recently. However, like many other cultivated exotics, 
it may be more extensively naturalized than we now know. 
Last November, John Soar and Charles T. Simpson collected 
specimens of Opuntia brasiliensis on a shell mound south of 
Daytona, Florida. Although there is no habitation near the 
spot, at present, I have been informed that there is evidence that 
long ago a house and garden may have stood there. This would 
account for the occurrence of this prickly-pear now growing on 
the shell mound. 
To sum up: We definitely know eleven species of prickly-pears 
growing naturally in Florida, nine native kinds (Opuntia lata, 
O. Pollardi, O. austrina, O. ammophila, O. keyensis, O. Dillenit, 
O. stricta, O. sebrina, O. Drummondit), and two naturalized 
exotics, (Opuntia Ficus-indica, O. brasiliensis). Six of the native 
species are endemic (Opuntia lata, O. austrina, O. ammophila, 
O. keyensis, O. sebrina), three are found in other states (Opuntia 
