io6 



THE cactaceae;. 



I or 2, subulate, usually brownish when young, in age straw-colored; flowers pale yellow, rather 

 large for the plant ; petals few, about 8, spreading, acute. 



Type locality: Not cited. 



Distribution: Usually assigned to South America, but not known from any definite 

 locality; Schumann, in his Keys, however, says West Indies. 



This species has usually passed under the name of O. foliosa, although all writers seem 

 to agree that the older name, 0. pusilla, was given to the same species. It may belong in 

 the series Aurantiacae rather than in the Curassavicae. 



Specimens distributed from European gardens as 0. foliosa in recent years are not 

 typical, and are probably referable to O. drmnmondii. 



Tephrocactus pusillus Lemaire (Cact. 88. i868), an unpubHshed name, referred by 

 Lemaire to his third section of Tephrocactus, may belong here. The Index Kewensis refers 

 it to Opuntia pusilla. 



Illustration: Pfeiffer and Otto, Ab- 

 bild. Beschr. Cact. i: pi. i8, as Opuntia m 



foliosa. m 



Figure 129 is copied from the illus- 

 tration above cited. 



89. Opuntia darrahiana Weber in Gosselin, 

 Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 10: 388. 

 1904. 



Growing in masses, 2 to 2.5 dm. high 

 3.5 to 4 dm. broad, very much branched, 

 joints 7 to 8 cm. long by 4 to 5 cm. broad, bright green 

 to sea-green ; areoles somewhat elevated, especially when 

 young, I cm. apart; spines 6, the two uppermost the 

 longest, these 4 to 4.5 cm. long, all suberect, white or 

 grayish white, more or less brownish at tip ; glochids said 

 to be wanting; flowers and fruit not known. 



Type locality: Turks Islands. 



Distribution: Known only from the type lo- 

 cality. 



This species is known only from the Turks 

 Islands, a small group at the southeastern end of 

 the Bahaman Archipelago. It was introduced 

 into Europe by the late Charles Darrah. 



We know the plant only from the above-cited description, and, so far as we have been 

 able to learn, it is not now in cultivation, nor have we been able to find any herbarium 

 specimens preserved. The opuntias known to us to inhabit Turks Islands are 0. dillenii, 

 0. nashii, and 0. lucayana. The description of 0. darrahiana does not agree with any of 

 these. The species is referred to the series Curassavicae with doubt, but as this series has 

 representatives in Florida, Cuba, and Hispaniola, the existence of one in the Bahamas is 

 not improbable. 



Series 3. AURANTIACAE. 



The species of this series are low plants, mostly with readily detached joints; the main stems are 

 often terete or turgid, the ultimate joints narrow and flat. They inhabit southeastern South Amer- 

 ica. During the expedition to Brazil and Argentina conducted by Dr. Rose in the summer of 1915, 

 only a few of the species here grouped were found ; Dr. Shafer collected several of them in the winter 

 of 1916-17. Dr. Spegazzini has given us photographs of several. 



We recognize 8 species, and have appended another, which may belong here. 



Fig. 129. — Opuntia pusilla. 



