224 



THE CACTACEAE. 



served as Dr. Rose did not find it either at Berlin or Paris in 191 2. Schumann mentions 

 it only in a note under 0. quitensis following Weber who associates the two. Dr. Rose, 

 while in Ecuador in 191 8, spent about a week at Cuenca collecting plants in all direc- 

 tions from the town. The only Opuntia in this whole region is the one above described 

 which grows in hedges and along the roadsides. It may be an introduced species which 

 has escaped from gardens but we know nothing in cultivation just like it. It resembles 



Fig. 300. — Opuntia bonplandii. X0.5. 



somewhat the Nopal de Castilla, so common in ISIexico and the southwestern states 

 Humboldt compared it with the tuna de Espana which may be the same. Bonpland 

 seems to have called his plant Cactus coccinellifer which it very much resembles in the 

 shape of the joints and in being spineless in age. If we are right in our interpretation 

 of this species it has no close alHance with 0. quitensis which Dr. Rose collected also; 

 it has very small flowers with erect petals which are not readily affected by the sun as 

 are those of 0. bonplandii and most of the other species. 



Fig. 301. — Opuntia dobbieana. 



