OPUNTIA. 



In spite of its troublesome glochids, which easily become detached, this species has 

 long been a greenhouse favorite. No cactus collection, however small, lacks one or more 

 pots of this species, which rarely grows large in cultivation. 



Opuntia niicrodasys is usually credited to Lehmann, but he apparently pubHshed it 

 as Cactus niicrodasys, and this is the way it is cited in the Index Kewensis. Lehmann 

 soon repubUshed this species (Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. i6: 317) where it appears as Cactus 

 (Opuntia) microdasys. The first use of the name of Opuntia microdasys was by Salm-Dyck 

 (Hort. Dyck. 186) in 1834, but was without description or synonymy. Pfeiffer in 1837, 

 however, repubhshes Lehmann's description 

 under Opuntia and is therefore cited as the 

 author of the binomial. Here it is first cred- 

 ited to Mexico, although Lehmann stated 

 definitely that it comes from Brazil; this he 

 does also with regard to Opuntia tunicata and 

 Cactus bradypus, both Mexican species, while 



Fig. 150. — Opuntia microdasys. 



Fig. 151. — Opuntia, probable hybrid. 



Cactus linkii and C. ottonis, both credited to Mexico, are known only from South America. 

 If this Opuntia really came originally from Brazil, it might very well be the same as 



Opuntia inamoena. 



As shown above (p. 116), Opuntia puberula is referred to 0. decumbens. The 0. puberula 

 of our gardens, however, is quite a different plant, and in all probability is of hybrid origin. 

 It is almost identical with a hybrid between 0. microdasys and 0. cantabrigiensis which Dr. 

 Rose collected in Hidalgo, Mexico, in 1905, and which is now grown in the collection in 

 Washington and in the New York Botanical Garden. 



Illustrations: Agr. Gaz. N. S. W. 25: pi. opp. p. 138; p. 138; Gard. Chron. III. 30: f. 76; 

 Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 19: pi. 28, in part; 20: pi. 12, in part; Safford, Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. 

 1908: pi. 10, f. 4; U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 262: pi. 5, f. 2. 



Plate XXII, figure i, represents joints of the plant grown in a garden at Riverside, Cal- 

 ifornia, received by Dr. Rose in 1905. Figure 150 is from a photograph taken by Professor 

 F. E. Lloyd in Zacatecas, Mexico, in 1908. 



