78 THE CACTACEAE. 



1 914, was not able to find it wild in either country but found it abundant in Ecuador 

 in 1918. This species was introduced into England in 1799, but flowers were not known 

 until about 1834. 



There are two abnormal forms in cultivation which are offered under the names variety 

 cristata and monstruosa. Several varieties of this species are given in catalogues: cristata 

 (Haage and Schmidt, Haupt-Verzeichnis 1908: 228. igo?>) ; cristata minor Haage and 

 Schmidt (Verzeichnis Blumenzwiebeln 1913: 37. 191 3); and robustior (Haage and Schmidt, 

 Haupt-Verzeichnis 1908: 228. 1908). 



Illustration: Curtis's Bot. Mag. 61: pi. 3301; Carnegie Inst. Wash. 269: pi. 10, f. 88. 



Plate XIV, figure 2, shows a leaf-bearing top of a plant grown at the New York 

 Botanical Garden. 



Series 12. MIQUELIANAE. 



Bushy plants, with elongated cylindric bluish joints; tubercles large, elevated; leaves minute, 

 early deciduous. The series consists of but one species, confined to the deserts of northern Chile. 



45. Opuntia miquelii Monville, Hort. Univ. i: 218. 1840.* 



Opuntia pulverulenta Pfeiffer, Allg. Gartenz. 8: 407. 1840. 



Opuntia pulvendenia miquelii Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1844. 49. 1845. 



Opuntia geissei Philippi, Anal. Univ. Chile 85: 492. 1894. 



Opuntia rosiflora Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 686. 1898. 



Often growing in colonies 2 to 5 meters broad ; stems cylindric, much branched, usually less than 

 I meter high, but occasionally 1.5 meters high, with numerous lateral branches; branches rather 

 short, usually only 8 to 20 cm. long, thick (5 to 6 cm. in diameter) ; old branches bluish green, with 

 low tubercles sometimes 2 cm. long; young joints bright green, with high tubercles flattened laterally; 

 spines tardily developing, but formidable on old branches, very unequal, in clusters of 10 or more, 

 the longest ones nearly 10 cm. long, whitish in age; glochids numerous, brownish, caducous; leaves 

 minute, 2 to 3 mm. long; areoles circular, when young filled with white wool, in age somewhat ele- 

 vated on the areoles; flowers rather variable in length, 4 to 8 cm. long including the ovary, rose- 

 colored to nearly white; petals broad, apiculate, 2 to 2.5 cm. long; filaments rose-colored; ovary 

 strongly tuberculate ; areoles filled with numerous brown glochids and subtended by minute leaves ; 

 style white; stigma-lobes green; fruit ovoid to oblong in outline, nearly white; umbilicus truncate; 

 seeds small, 4 mm. broad. 



Type locality: In South America, but no definite locality. 



Distribution: Province of Atacama, Chile. 



Opuntia miquelii and 0. pulverulenta have long been considered identical. We have 

 not seen the types of either, but are following such authorities as Salm-Dyck (in 1850), 

 Labouret (1853), and Riimpler (1885) in uniting them. They seem to have been pub- 

 lished in the same year. 



Opuntia geissei, according to a statement made to Dr. Rose by Juan Sohrens, of San- 

 tiago, is the same as 0. miquelii, and this the former was able to verify by later herbarium 

 and field studies. 



Opuntia rosiflora Schumann was based on Phihppi's unpublished name O. rosea; while 

 0. rosea was made by Philippi the type of 0. geissei. This is clearly shown by Philippi's 

 herbarium, where he has erased the name 0. rosea and substituted 0. geissei. Dr. Rose 

 also obtained from William Geisse a part of Philippi's original specimen, which came, as the 

 label states, from near Bandurrias, in the valley of Carrizal, in the Province of Atacama. 

 Later on, while making field observations in Atacama, Dr. Rose found this species very com- 

 mon from north of Castillo to Vallenar. This is in the general region of 0. geissei (O. rosea 

 and 0. rosiflora) and in the river valley of the Huasco. Huasco, the type locality of 

 0. miquelii, is 25 miles lower down this valley, and we have no hesitancy in uniting them all. 



Although this species is not uncommon in cultivation, it has rarely been seen in flower, 

 and we believe that the fruit has not heretofore been described. 



♦Schumann states that this book was published in 1839. 



