iqS 



THE CACTACEaE. 



to 22 cm. long, strongly tuberculate, with some of the spines very strong, flattened, and re- 

 flexed; the fruit is very spiny; the seeds are 8 mm. broad, angled, with margins thin and 

 acute. This may be the plant Hsted in Weinberg's catalogue, also from the Grand Canyon, 

 under the name of Opuntia hochder_fferi. 



Opiiniia xerocarpa Griffiths (Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 29: 15. 1916), from Kingman, 

 Arizona, is of this relationship, described as "readily distinguished from other species of 

 its drj"-fruited allies by its spines, shape of joints and color of plant body." 



Illustrations: Pac. R. Rep. 4: pi. 15, f. 5 to 7; pi. 23, f. 15. 



FigiU'e 245 is copied from the first illustration above cited. 



222. Opuntia rhodantha Schumann, La Semaine Hort. 1897. 



Opuntia xanthoslemma Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 735. 1898. 

 Opuntia utaliensisj. A. Purpus, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 19: 133. 1909. 



Joints obovate to oblong, 5 to 12 cm. long; areoles distant, 10 mm. apart or more; spines rather 

 stout, 3 or 4, 2 to 3 cm. long, brownish, with 2 or 3 short accessory ones; lower areoles usually naked; 

 glochids brown ; flowers, including ovaries, 5 to 6 cm. long, 8 cm. broad ; petals red or pink to salmon- 

 colored, obovate, apiculate; stamens red or yellow; fruit spiny; seeds small, 5 mm. in diameter. 



Type locality: Colorado, at 2,000 to 2,300 meters altitude. 



Distribution: Western Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah. 



After a careful examination of living plants of both 0. rhodantha and 0. xanthostemma, 

 we feel convinced that the latter is only a form of the other. The color of the stamens in 

 the opuntias does not furnish a constant character. It is hardy in cultivation at New York 

 and highly ornamental when in bloom. 



Haage and Schmidt, in their 191 5 cata- 

 logue, list several varieties of this species: 

 brevispina, flavispina, pisciformis, and schu- 

 manniana; and under Opuntia xanthostemma 

 in the same place they Hst the following 

 varieties ; clegans, fulgens, gracilis, orbicularis, 

 and rosea. 



Illustrations: Meehan's jNIonthly 7: 133; 

 Gartenwelt i: 83, this last as Opuntia xantho- 

 stemma; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 19: 135, this 

 last as Opuntia utahensis. 



Plate XXXV, figure 2, represents a flower- 

 ing plant received by the Ne\v York Botanical 

 Garden from Haage and Schmidt, of Erfurt, 

 Germany, in 19 13. 



Fig. 246. — Opuntia sphaerocarpa. X0.66. 



223. Opuntia sphaerocarpa Engelmann and Bigelow, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 300. 1856. 



Small, spreading plants; joints orbicular, 6 to 7 cm. broad, thickish, strongly tuberculate, 

 wrinkled in drying, light green or becoming more or less purple; areoles 8 to 10 mm. apart, mostly 

 spineless or the upper and marginal ones bearing short acicular spines, the longest ones about 

 2 cm. long; glochids yellow; flowers not known; fruit naked, 18 mm. in diameter, with a truncate 

 umbilicus; seeds 5 mm. broad, very irregular. 



Type locality: IMountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

 Distribution: Known only from type locality. 



We have not, with certainty, identified an)^ recently collected plants with this species, 

 although some New Mexican specimens appear to be referable to it. 

 Illustrations: Pac. R. Rep. 4: pi. 13, f. 6, 7; pi. 24, f. 3. 

 Figure 246 is copied from the first illustration above cited. 



