CACTEX OF PLANTA FENDLERIANA. 13 
stem an acute angle, sub-erect, tubercles more prominent, areole ep seh . si lower edge, with 3 dusky deflexed 
spines ; fruit clavate, tuberculate, pale yellow, 1 inch long, 4 lines in dia 
I believe this to be an undescribed species, and would propose ae name ee it of O. Californica. 
12. Opuntia. Oct. 1846. Abundant; 3 feet high, with spreading branches ; the same in circumference. 
I can see no Pie babe een this figure and a plant which - have received from El Paso by Dr. Wislizenus, 
and which I have described in his report under the name of O. vagin 
Nos, 13-15 are no Cacti. In 13 I recognize the Keberlinia, Zuccarini,—a shrub common in the chaparrals of 
northern Mexico, which has been collected in flower about Parras aan Saltillo by Dr. Wislizenus and Dr. Gregg. The 
fruit is unknown so far. The specimen figured is, however, in fruit; the berry (?) is globose, ?-i line in diameter, 
crowned with the rudiment of the style. It was collected Oct. 23, 1846, and is described as a shrub 3 feet high, with 
low, spreading boughs. 
Collected Nov. 15, 1846. 4 feet high; rare. Is perhaps another species of the same genus, but the entire 
absence of flower or fruit makes it impossible to decide. Branches similar, straight, leafless, ending in robust dark 
spines, but much elongated and sub-erect, not horizontal, as in No. 13. 
15. Is entirely unknown to me. Perhaps it is an Amaryllidaceous plant. The fruit is said to be 5 inches long. 
A gigantic cactus was observed along the Gila River, about the middle part of its course, at an elevation [159] 
of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet. It is frequently mentioned in the report from the Ist to the 9th of November, and 
figured on several plates (pp. 72-79). It most probably is a true Cereus. I judge so from the seed, which fortunately 
has been preserved. This is obovate, obliquely truncate at base, black, smooth, shining, small (only about 0.7 line 
long); the embryo is hooked, the cotyledons foliaceous, incumbent; no albumen. If it is a constant fact that the 
cotyledons of the seeds of the genus Pilocereus are thick and ae and straight, the plant in question cannot belong 
to that genus, which comprises the most gigantic of the Cactus tri 
large Cereus, C. Peruvianus, is vastly different from our plant, which I would propose to name Cereus 
giganteus. Unfortanatey, I can say but little about the character of this species. The stem is tall, 25 to 60 feet 
high and 2 to 6 feet in circumference, erect, simple, or with a few erect branches ; ribs about 20, oblique or spiral (?); 
no spines AS (Emory’s notes, — probably only below without spines) ; aoe produeed toward the top of the stem or 
branches. (None of the fruit was procured, being too late in the season, but the molasses expressed from it by the 
Indians was procured in abundance at the Pimos village.) It is called Pitahaya by the Californians; but this 
appears to be a general name applied in Mexico and South America to all the large columnar Cacti which bear an 
edible fruit, — capes cially to Cereus variabilis, which is common on the eastern coast, but is widely distinct from our 
California gian 
St, Louis, Feb. 13, 1848. 
Il. CACTEA OF PLANTA FENDLERIAN~. 
From Memorrs AMERICAN ACADEMY, VoL. IV. 1849. 
244, MAMILLARIA vivipaRA, Nutt. sub Cacto. Common from Bent’s Fort to Santa Fé, on rocky hills [49] 
and elevated plains ; flowering in waby- — “Heads mostly single, often in pairs, rarely ceespitose from the ramifi- 
eations of the subterraneous stem ;” not proliferous, as some specimens from the Upper Missouri are. — There can be 
little doubt that this is the true Cactus viviparus of Nuttall, although the flowers do not appear to be entirely central. 
I have living specimens from Santa Fé and from the Upper Missouri, and shall be able to decide their identity after 
having seen them flowering. — I possess also a living specimen of Nuttall’s Cactus mamillaris (Gen. p. 295), and have 
its flower and fruit. It is, as has been long suspected, entirely different from the West Indian Mamillaria 
simplex, DC., and is nearly related to M. similis, Engelm. in Pl. Lindh. I have named it after its discoverer. 
1M. Nvrra.til, sp. nov.: simplex (an semper ?), if laceris acutis; petalis 20-23 integris breviter abrupte mucro- 
axillis tnberculorum ovato-cylindricorum supra levi natis; stylo supra stamina (rubella) _— exserto, a eed 
sulcatorum subtomentosis; ge junioribus ey sree bus circa 5 brevissimis erectis adpress cis 
aculeis rectis albidis, radialibus 13-16 subinzequalibus setaceis, lateralibus subglobosis coccineis. Cactus cine libis , Nutt., 
centrali porrecto robustiore; “floribus ex axillis tuberculorum non Linn. — On high, dry prairies, about Fort Piorre, on the 
hornotinorum centralibus (ex rubello flavicantibus); sepalis Upper Missouri; flowering in May. — My specimen is 14 inch 
petalisque oblongo-lanceolatis; sepalis 10-13, brevioribus ex- high, and of the same diameter; the tubercles 6 or 
terioribus ciliato-fimbriatis obtusiusculis, interioribus apice long, in 8 spiral rows, slightly suleate. Radial spines 4 or 5; 
15 
