OPUNTIA. 



129 



Cact. ed. 2. f. 126, as Opuntia rafinesquei arkansana; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 14: 124, as 

 Opuntia vulgaris nana; Miller, Fig. PI. Gard. Diet. 2: pi. 191, as Opuntia folio minori, etc., 

 Diet. Hort. Bois f. 638; Rev. Hort. 40: f. 10, 11; 66: f. 59, all as Opuntia rafinesquiana. 

 Wiener Illustr. Gartenz. 10: f. 112, as Opuntia rafinesquiana arkansana. 



Plate XXII, figure 5, represents a flowering joint of the plant which grows naturally on 

 schistose rocks in the New York Botanical Garden. Figure 160 is from a photograph qf 

 the plant growing on sand dunes at Crooke's Point, Staten Island, New York, taken by 

 Howard H. Cleaves in 19 14. 



119. Opuntia macrarthra Gibbes, Proc. Elliott Soc. Nat. Hist, i: 273. 1859. 



Stems prostrate or ascending; joints narrowly oblong to obovate, 12 to 35 cm. long, thick, 

 pale green, somewhat shining; leaves subulate, 10 mm. long, green, sometimes with purplish tips; 

 areoles large, 2 to 3 cm. apart, filled with brown wool ; spines wanting, or sometimes i , up to 2 .5 cm. long ; 

 glochids when present yellow ; flowers not known ; fruit narrowly obovoid, red, fleshy, 4 to 6 cm. long. 



Type locality: Near Charleston, South Carolina. 



Distribution: Coast of South Carolina. 



This species, long overlooked, has recently been col- 

 lected by Dr. J. K. Small in the vicinity of the type locality. 



This is doubtless one of the species to which Elliott 

 called attention and which he said he expected to publish, 

 but never did.* The original description long remained 

 unnoticed in the Proceedings of the Elliott Society of 

 Natural History ; it is as follows : 



"The second, which we will call Opuntia macrarthra, falls 

 under the same section with the preceding, and seems to be 

 near Opuntia angustata, of Engelmann, from the west of the Rio 

 Grande; a prostrate species, joints from ten to fifteen inches 

 long and three inches wide, one-third of an inch thick; no 

 spines, fruit two and a half inches long, slender, clavate." 



Plate XV, figure 3, represents a fruiting joint collected 

 by Dr. Small on James Island, South Carolina, in 1916; 

 plate XXII, figure 2, represents a flowering joint of the plant 

 collected by Dr. Small on the Isle of Palms, near Charles- 

 ton, South Carolina, in 1916; figure 3 shows a fruit of the 

 same plant and figure 4 a seed, enlarged. 



120. Opuntia grandiflora Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 295. 

 1856. 



Opuntia rafinesquei grandiflora Engelmann, Pac. R. Rep. 4: 55. 1856. 

 Opuntia mesacantha grandiflora Coulter, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 3: 429. 



Figs. 161, 162. — Opuntia grandiflora 



Low, with somewhat ascending branches; joints 12.5 to 15 cm. long; areoles 2.5 cm. apart; 

 spines usually wanting; flowers very large, 11 to 12.5 cm. broad, yellow with a red center; petals 

 broad; fruit elongated, 6 cm. long. 



Type locality: On the Brazos, Texas. 



Distribution: Eastern Texas. 



Although Dr. Engelmann formally described this as a species, he introduced it as 

 "probably only a southern variety of 0. rafinesquei ." A little later he actually used the 

 name as a variety. The position of the plant is still uncertain ; if specimens collected by 

 Mr. Wm. R. Maxon at Victoria, Texas, and by Mr. C. V. Piper at Dallas, Texas, belong 

 here, as they appear to, we believe it to be a distinct species. 



Illustrations: Pac. R. Rep. 4: pi. 11, f. 2, 3, as Opuntia rafinesquei grandifiora. 



Figures 161 and 162 are copied from the illustrations above cited. 



* Cactus opuntia. " It is probable that there are now three distinct species on the sea coast of the Southern States 

 covered under this name." ElUott, A Sketch of the Botany of South Carolina and Georgia, i: 537. 



