OPUNTIA. 



153 



some joints bearing 20 or more ; petals 2.5 cm. long, mucronate; filaments numerous, scarlet-rose; 

 stigma-lobes 6, green; fruit small, 3 to 4 cm. long, red, not edible; seeds few, flattened, 5 mm. broad. 



Type locality: Described from cultivated specimens. 



Distribution: Not known in the wild state, but now very common on the Riviera, 

 northern Italy, forming large thickets. 



Mr. Berger would place this species next to 0. nigricans, which we now call 0. elatior. 

 This species was named for Alwin Berger, formerly curator of the Hanbury Garden at La 

 Mortola, Italy, who sent material to the late Dr. Weber, from which the species was 

 described. The species is quite common on the Riviera and has run wild in many places, 

 especially about Bordighera, Italy. It produces a great abundance of flowers in May, 

 but blooms more or less throughout the year. 



Opuntia ledienii (Berger, Hort. Mortol. 233. 1912), unpubHshed, is referred here. 



Illustrations: Gard. Chron. III. 35: f. 14; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 16: 156. 



Plate XXVI, figure i , represents a flowering joint of a plant sent from La Mortola, 

 Italy, to the New York Botanical Garden in 1906. 



157. Opuntia elatior Miller, Gard. Diet. ed. 8. No. 4. 1768. 



Cactus nigricans Haworth, Misc. Nat. 187. 1803. 



Opuntia nigricans Haworth, Syn. PI. Succ. 189. 1812. 



Cactus elatior Willdenow, Enum. Hort. Berol. Suppl. 34. 1813. 



Cactus tuna nigricans Sims, Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: pi. 1557. 1813. 



Cactus tuna elatior Sims, Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: under pi. 1557. 1813. 



Cactus pseudococcinellifer Bertoloni, Excerpta Herb. Bonon. 11. 1820. 



Plants densely bushy-branched, up to 5 meters high ; joints obovate to oblong or suborbicular, 

 olive-green, i to 2 dm. or even 4 dm. long; leaves 4 mm. long, green with reddish tips; areoles 2 to 

 4 cm. apart; spines 2 to 8, acicular, mostly terete, dark brown, 2 to 4 cm. or even 7 cm. long; 

 flowers about 5 cm. broad; petals dark yellow striped with red or sometimes salmon-rose, with 

 mucronate tips; filaments numerous, pink or red; style nearly white; stigma-lobes 5, green; ovary 

 ovoid, deeply umbilicate, its areoles either with or without spines; fruit obovoid, truncate when 

 mature, reddish, the pulp dark red; seeds about 4 mm. broad. 



Type locality: Unknown. 



Distribution: Common or frequent in Curagao, Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama, 

 escaped from cultivation in Austraha. 0. nigricans has been referred to Mexico, but 

 doubtless wrongly, unless cultivated there. Plants brought by Dr. Howe from Tobogilla 

 Island, Panama, have narrowly obovate joints. 



The early history of this species and its various synonyms are rather confusing. Dil- 

 lenius figured Opuntia elatior and this name was taken up by Miller in 1768. There is 

 some doubt as to its native home, but it probably came from northern South America, or 

 possibly Curagao. Opuntia nigricans, also referred here, was described by Haworth from 

 cultivated specimens; plate 1557 of Curtis's Botanical Magazine was made from Haworth's 

 specimen and may be considered typical. 



Introduced into cultivation in Europe about 1793. 



Illustrations: Loudon, Encycl. pi. ed. 3. f. 6877, as Cactus elatior; Curtis's Bot. Mag. 38: 

 pi. 1557, this last as Cactus tuna nigricans; Dillenius, Hort. Elth. pi. 294, this as Ttina elatior, 

 etc.; Agr. Gaz. N. S. W. 23: pi. opp. 208; pi. opp. 210, both these as Opuntia nigricans; 

 Journ. Hort. Home Farm. III. 60: 30, this as Opuntia occidentalis. 



Plate XXVI, figure 2, shows a flowering joint of a specimen obtained by Dr. Britton 

 and Dr. Shafer in Curagao in 191 3. 



158. Opuntia hanburyana Weber in Berger, Gard. Chron. III. 35: 34. 1904- 



Bushy I to 2 meters high, somewhat straggling; joints narrowly oblong, about 3 dm. long, bright 

 green- leaves subulate, 4 to 5 mm. long; areoles closely set, filled with brown or blackish wool; 

 spines' several, spreading, acicular, somewhat flattened and twisted, yellowish brown, the longest 

 3 cm. long; flowers widely spreading, rather small; fruit small. 



Type locality: Described from cultivated plants. 



Distribution: Not known in the wild state. 



