CACTACEZ OF THE BOUNDARY. 181 
colored line in the centre. The ovary does not exude the milky fluid which the tubercles and other parts of the 
plant contain. Fruit ripening the second spring and summer, till then hidden between the bases of the surrounding 
tubercles, and for the greater part buried in the tissue of the plant ; in spring the young fruit suddenly (in one or two 
weeks) grows to its full size, 9-12 or even 15 lines long, protruding far above the tubercles, and forming an exterior 
scarlet circle around the inner circle of rose-colored flowers. Seeds 0.5 line long, subglobose-obovate, with a narrow 
sub-basilar hilum, yellowish-brown, rugose, and somewhat pitted. 
10. M. spHa@rica, Dietrich: e radice crassa obovata seu clavata, prolifera et demum densissime czspitosa ; 
tuberculis ovato-elongatis versus apicem acutatum conicis, axilla lanatis; areolis junioribus breviter tomentellis ; 
aculeis setaceis basi bulbosis rectis seu curvatis albidis, radialibus 12-14, centrali singulo recto subulato subbreviore vix 
robustiore ; flore subverticali magno flavo; tubo supra ovarium emersum constricto elongato ; petalis sub-18 acuminatis 
aristatis integris ; ; stigmatibus 8 linearibus patulis. 
s on the Rio Grande, near Eagle Pass; Schott. Flowers from March throughout the season. — Dr. Poselger’s 
specimens were collected at Corpus Christi, on the coast of Texas. Dietrich’s description, taken from them, well 
agrees with Mr. Schott’s plants and with specimens now frequently cultivated at St. Louis, from both of which the 
above character is drawn. — This species is remarkable on account of its exsert ovary and large flower, by which 
characters it ree approaches to the next subgenus ; but the flowers, though apparently nearly vertical, come from 
last year’s growth. Specimens before me are 2 inches high, 1? inch in diameter above, narrowed below, the old 
tubercles withering, and leaving a short clavate scaly stem. The tubercles soon become yeni: and the [10] 
branches increase and reproduce often in such a manner as to form large and dense hemispherical m 
Tubercles 6-8 lines long ; spines 3-4} lines long. Flowers 14-2 inches in length, and fully as widely open in ‘prigtit 
sunshine ; tube slender, funnel-shaped, remarkably constricted above the oval ovary. Fruit not seen. 
Subgen. 2. CoRYPHANTHA. 
Plantz simplices seu czespitosze, tuberculate, aculeigerze 
Tubercula plus minus teretia, florifera facie superiore ‘longitndinaliter suleata, in stirpibus junioribus nondum 
floribundis sulco breviori notata, vel penitus esulcata. 
Areole floriferze axillares seu in tuberculo ipso supra-axillares, cum areolis aculeiferis sulco villoso plus minus 
profundo demum nudato subinde glandulifero junctz, tomentose. 
Flores ex areolis tuberculorum hornotinorum adultorum (inde laxi) seu vix evolutorum (inde congesti) oriundi, 
plerumque magni, speciosi, 
Ovarium emersum : bacca plerumque anno primo, rarissime anno secundo, maturescens, ovata seu subglobosa, 
viridis seu raro coccinea, sepissime floris rudimentis coronata. 
Semina plerumque majuscula, fulva, fusca seu nigra, levia seu scrobiculata, nunquam tuberculata 
This subgenus, characterized mainly by the vertical position of the flowers, principally competes species from 
the northern border of the Cactus region, most of them until lately unknown, or imperfectly known, to botanists. All 
the Mamillarie of the upper Missouri, and most of those from Texas and New Mexico, with which I had become 
acquainted, have grooved tubercles and showy vertical flowers, which fact I indicated as early as 1845 in the “ Plante 
Lindheimerianz,” and again in 1848 in Wislizenus’s Report. Dr. Poselger, who in his travels in Texas and Mexico 
had the best opportunity “at studying these plants, further verified this fact, and first noted that all the top-flowering 
Mamillarie had grooved tubercles, at least in the fully developed parts of the plant ; and he justly inferred that all 
Mamillarie with grooved tubercles (the section Aulacothece) belong here. But he went further, and removed them 
from Mamillaria to Echinocactus, solely on account of the vertical flowers. Now some Mamillarie of this section 
(e.g. M. robustispina) do approach Echinocactus in the shape of their embryo, as do others (e.g. M. macromeris) by 
having an occasional sepaloid scale on the ovary ; while some Echinocacti (e.g. E. setispinus, E. horizonthalonius) have 
a straight pages with very short connate cotyledons, and others have few and somewhat fugacious sepaloid scales on 
the ovary (e. g. E. intertertus, E. setispinus). Still, I think that a safe line of distinction can be drawn between them, 
and that Corgphndiag though forming a transition to Echinocactus, much rather belongs to Mamillaria. But it must 
be admitted that the characters ——s most genera of Cactacee are almost as difficult to define as those of 
the species. 
11. M. Nurranum, & casprrosa (M. similis, E. in Plant. Lindh. 1845), has been collected by Mr. Wright and 
others in the same part of Texas where Mr. Lindheimer had originally found it, — namely, from the Brazos to Austin 
and San Antonio. It has since also been brought from the Kansas River, but does not seem to extend into the 
mountains of western Texas. (Tab. LXXIV. fig. 7 
12. M. Scueert1, Muhlenpf. 8? vatipa: magna, robusta, ovato-globosa, simplex seu ad basin parce prolifera, 
glaucescens ; tuberculis magnis remotis patulis e basi lata subcylindricis, supra sulco profundo glandula singula 
