CACTACEA! OF SIMPSON’S EXPEDITION. 299 
XII. CACTACEZ OF SIMPSON’S EXPEDITION. 
From Report oF EXPLORATION ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF THE TERRITORY OF UTAH FOR A DIRECT WAGON-ROUTE FROM 
Camp FLoyp To GENOA, IN CARSON VALLEY, IN 1859, By Caprain [Now CoLONEL] J. H. Srmpson, U. 8S. ENGINEER. 
Washington, 1876. Engineer Department, U.S. A. 
HE geographical limits of the area of this curious American family have been con- [436] 
siderably enlarged by this Expedition, proving the presence of at least seven species in the 
Utah Basin between the thirty-eighth and fortieth parallels, — namely, two Echinocacti, one Cereus, 
and four Opuntize. Several species known before have been found in new localities, and three new 
and very distinct species have been discovered, — two Echinocacti and one Opuntia. 
MAMILLARIA VIVIPARA, Haworth, ee Pp: bl Torrey & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 2, p. 554; Engelm. Synops. 
Cact., p. 13. Cactus viviparus, Nuttall, Gen. 1, p. 2 Was collected in the South Pass and on Sweetwater River. 
It extends from here to the mountains of mr a ae Mexico ; but its most characteristic forms are peculiar to 
the more elevated plains, where it assumes that ces itose, spreading g dulte sea from which it has received its name. 
The mountain form usually makes larger heads, but remains single or branches out very sparingly. Its large purple 
flowers, with numerous lance-linear, long acuminate, bristle-pointed vitals and its leather-brown pitted seeds, readily 
one it as allied species. ‘ 
EcHrINocactus SIMPSONI, sp. nov.:1} simplex, subglobosus seu depressus, basi turbinatus, conser ; [487] 
cars te cals ; tuberculis laxis ovatis apice oblique truncatis axilla nudis, rahe rien ompressis 
basi deorsum productis, ConareR ibus obcompressis basi dilatatis; areolis ovatis seu ovato-lan aki nascentibus 
ie cctlesiseirais mox nudatis; aculeis exterioribus sub-20 radiantibus tennibus rigidis rectis albidis, additis supra 
aculeis 2-5 setaceis brevibus, interioribus 8-10 robustioribus obscuris erecto-patulis, areola florifera sub tuberculi apice 
areole aculeigerze contigua circulari; floribus in vertice dissitis minoribus ; ovario abbr eviato —_ sepaloideis 
triangulatis paucissimis (1-3) instructo; sepalis tubi brevis late infundibuliformis orbiculatis seu ovatis obtusis 
membranaceo-marginatis crenulatis fimbriatis, pelt superioribus 10-12 ovatis obtusis isteineiale petalis 12-13 
oblongis apice crenulatis cuspidatis ex virescente roseis ; stigmatibus 5-7 brevibus erectis, bacca parva viridi sicca 
umbilico latissimo truncata squamis paucis subinde aculeiferis instructa flore marcescente demum deciduo coronata 
irregulariter basi seu latere dehiscente; seminibus magnis obovatis ie minute tuberculatis, hilo ace aa ovato 
subbasilari, sg aio circa albumen parcum fere cirenmyohato amat 
: tota planta, tuberculis, aculeis, floribus iste eat minoribus 
Butte Valley, ; in the Utah desert, and Kobe Valley, farther west. Flowers in ye and May ; fruit in June 
and July. Var. 8. comes from the mountains of Colorado. — This, and the New Mexican Echinocactus papyracanthus,? 
the Mexican £. Rersitager: —_ nd perhaps the South American E. Odierti, Lem., and E. Cummingit, Salm, and 
probably o r two others, form the small group of Echinocacti, with the appearance of Mamillaria (Theloidei, 
tuberculis aia Siete eu Salm, Cact. Hort. Dyck, 1849, cult., p. 34). They constitute the closest ‘asd 
most imperceptible transition to Mamillaria, subgen. ntha, Synops. Cact., p. 8, which bear the flowers in the 
ils of the nascent tubercles, the flower-bearing and the spine-bearing areole being connected by a woolly groove. 
In M. macromeris, Ragelumen they come from the middle of the tubercle (Cact. Mex. Bound., tab. 15, fig. 4), and 
in the Theloidet they advance to the top of the tubercle, close to the spines, thus assuming the position which the 
flowers pia frais in the genus Echinocactus (see Cact. Mex. Bound., tab. 20, fig. 2; tab. 21; tab, 25, fig. 1; 
tab. 27, fig. 1; tab. 28, fig. re 8 The ovary is also almost naked, like that of Manilla generally, or has only a few 
scales, like ae of M. macromeris. On the other hand, the dry fruit, —such as is often found in Echinocactus, but 
never in Mamillaria, — the eabencataied black seeds, and especially the large and curved embryo, and the presence of 
an albumen, do not permit a separation from Echinocactus. 
1 An extract of this description was published in the nascent tubercles. Thus far Mr. Fendler’s specimen, eee 
Transactions of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, Vol. II. near Santa pas eg remained the only one ever obtained o! 
p- 197 (1863). this pretty spec 
2 The plant I formerly described as Mamillaria papyr- 8 Echi: este edibles Engelm., forms an exception. 
acantha, Plant. Fendl., p. 49, Synops. Cact., p. 8, proves to In this species the flowers are situated exactly as in Cory- 
belong to this section of pitvsanons A closer examination phantha, at the base of the tubercle, and connected with the 
of Mr. Fendler’s original specimen shows that the floral distinet spiniferous areola by a “end groove. (See Cact. 
areola joins the spiniferous one at the apex of the small Mex. Bound., tab. 19, fig. 2 and 3 
