OPUNTIA. 



43 



The type species is Cactus opuntia Linnaeus. 



Karl Schumann recognized 131 species in his " Gesamtbeschreibung der Kakteen," 

 pubUshed during the years 1897 and 1898. Many have been described since this mono- 

 graph was pubhshed. 



The name Opuntia was that of a town in Greece, where some cactus-hke plant is said 

 to have grown. 



The genus is important economically. It furnishes the well-known tuna fruit largely 

 imported into our eastern cities from Italy and which is common in the markets of Mexico. 

 Some species are used for hedges, the branches of others are cooked like spinach, and still 

 others furnish forage for stock. 



The species are numerous and very diverse, and have at various times been grouped 

 by authors into several genera, while other species, now referred by us to Nopalea, 

 Maihuenia, and Pereskiopsis, were included in Opuntia. 



The following genera now referred to Opuntia have been regarded as distinct from it : 



Consolea was described by Lemaire in 1862. He described five species, of which 

 C. rubescens is the first and therefore the type. This group is a striking one, characterized 

 by a pronounced cylindric trunk in old plants, with an unjointed central woody axis, 

 pecuUar semaphore-like branches at the top, and very small flowers. There are eight species 

 of this group, described under our series Spinosissimae. They are confined to the West 

 Indies, although C. rubescens, the spineless race of Opuntia catacantha, was originally 

 described as from Brazil — doubtless erroneously. 



Tephrocactus was described by Lemaire in 1868, and to it he referred eight species of 

 Opuntia. T. diadematus is the type species. Schumann included it in Opuntia as a sub- 

 genus, with 15 species. They are all South American, chiefly in Argentina and Bolivia. 



Ficindica was established by St. Lager in 1880, based on Opuntia ficus-indica, which 

 is clearly congeneric with Opuntia opuntia. 



In 1856 the name Cactodendron was proposed in an account of Whipple's Expedi- 

 tion, published in volumes 3 and 4 of the Pacific Railroad Reports. It was apparently 

 not intended to be a formal publication, but as a definite species is indicated, the name 

 is published. It will be of interest to record here the evidence upon which we reach 

 this conclusion: 



Cactodendron Bigelow Pac. R. Rep. 3: 102; 4: 7, 11; Additional Notes and Corrections iii. 1856. 



"There are * * * Opuntia of many varieties; some with wide leaf -like joints, others of 

 shrubby form and woody fibre, which the botanist proposes to name Cactodendron. " Pac. R. Rep. 

 3: 102. 



"Immediately on our entrance into this valley (November 19 [1856]) we found and collected a 

 new species of Opuntia, with prostrate, nearly terete joints, entirely devoid of woody fibre ; * * *_ 

 Lieutenant Whipple discovered the first specimen of our new Cactodendron, as we were pleased to 

 call it, to distinguish it from the O. arborescens. " Pac. R. Rep. 4: 7. 



"The arborescent Opuntia, first found near Zuni, which, to distinguish from the true 0. arbores- 

 cens, we called Cacto-dendron, finds its western limits near the termination of this region." Pac. 

 R. Rep. 4: 10. 



"15. 'New arboresent Opuntia,' called also 'our new Cactodendron,' pages 7 and 11, is Opuntia 

 whipplei, E. & B., new species." Pac. R. Rep. 4: Additional Notes and Corrections iii. 



Opuntias are known under a great variety of names. Among the names for the flat- 

 jointed species, the most common are: prickly pear in the United States; tuna in Mexico; 

 sucker and buUsucker in the Lesser Antilles. For the round-stemmed forms we have: 

 cane cactus, and such Mexican names as cholla and tasajo. Dr. David Griffiths has 

 published a list of names used in Mexico. 



The genus Opuntia, as understood by us, is composed of at least 250 species, but more 

 than 900 names are to be found in literature. No type specimens of many of the species 



