72 



THE CACTACEAE. 



■^ 



Plate XI, figure 5, shows the plant collected by Dr. Rose in 1914; figure 6 is from a 

 plant received from La Mortola, Italy, in 1912. 



36. Opuntia shaferi sp. nov. 



Plants in clusters of 2 to 4, erect, about 3 dm. high; joints terete, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. in diameter, 

 elongated, very spiny; tubercles low, often indistinct; leaves deciduous, 6 mm. long; areoles i cm. 

 apart or less, circular, white-felted ; glochids numerous, whitish from the upper margin 

 of the areole; spines about 6 at an areole, brownish, acicular, often 4 to 5 cm. long 

 and associated with long white hairs; flowers not known; fruit globular, about 2 cm. 

 in diameter, bearing numerous large areoles, the areoles white-felted, with glochids and 

 hairs, but no spines; seeds turgid, pointed at base, 4 mm. long. 



Collected by J. A. Shafer among stones between Purmamaria and Tum- 

 baya, Argentina, February 6, 19 17 (No. 90). 



Nearest O. vestita but less cespitose, taller and larger, and with fertile fruit. 



37. Opuntia verschaffeltii Cels in Weber, Diet. Hort. Bois 898. 1898. 



Opuntia verschaffeltii digitalis Weber, Diet. Hort. Bois 898. 1898. 



Forms low, in dense clumps, much branched; joints globular to short-cylindric 

 I to 4 cm. long, somewhat tuberculate, pale green; spines i to 3, yellowish, weak. 

 and bristle-like, i to 3 cm. long; in cultivated plants joints elongated, 6 to 21 cm- 

 long, slender, i to 1.5 cm. in diameter, strongly tuberculate, spineless; glochids few, 

 white; areoles narrow, longer than broad, filled with short white wool. 



Type locality: In Bolivia. 



Distribution: Bolivia. 



In 19 14 Dr. Rose collected this species on the barren hills about La Paz, 

 Bolivia, and from his observations it seemed to be only a form of Opuntia 

 pentlandii. In cultivation, however, it behaves very differently from his spec- 

 imens of the latter, and in fact has developed a phase very unlike its normal 

 type but identical with other greenhouse specimens sent out by Mr. Berger 

 some years ago under the name of 0. verschaffeltii. 



Opuntia digitalis Weber (Diet. Hort. Bois 898. 1898) was given as a 

 synonym of 0. verschaffeltii digitalis. 



Figure 86 represents an elongated joint, from a greenhouse specimen; this 

 grew from the short normal joint, collected by Dr. Rose near La Paz, Bolivia, 

 in 1914. 



38. Opuntia hypsophila Spegazzini, Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires III. 4:509. 1905. 

 Cespitose, branching, small, 5 to 10 cm. high, pale green; joints 



globose to cylindric, 1.5 to 3 cm. long; tubercles depressed; spines 3 to 

 5, subulate, weak, spreading, white at first, in age brownish; flowers 

 and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: In the Province of Salta, Argentina, in the 

 Andes, at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,000 meters. 



Distribution: Salta, Argentina. 



We do not know this species, but Dr. Spegazzini thought 

 it might be a Tephrocactus and associated it with Opuntia ^j 

 verschaffeltii digitalis. 



Series 9. CLAVARIOIBES. 



This series is the same as the Etuberculatae of Schumann and contains but a single species, 

 recorded as a native of Chile. According to Schumann, the stems are cylindric to clavate, not 

 tuberculate, the leaves are small and caducous, and the spines are very small and appressed. The 

 fruit is said to contain one woolly seed. 



39. Opuntia clavarioides Pfeiffer, Enum. Cact. 173. 1837. 



Low, much branched, grayish brown, 4 dm. high or less, truncate or cristate at apex; joints not 

 tuberculate, rather fragile, short-cylindric or clavate, 1.5 cm. in diameter; leaves minute, 1.5 mm. 



-Opuntia verschaffeltii. 

 X0.66. 



