ECHINOCEREUS. 
17 
Illustrations: Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 37, 38; Araer. Gard. 11:473, as Cereus chloranthus; 
Cact. Joum. 2: 19; Cycl. Amer. Hort. Bailey 2: f. 747; Engler and Prantl, Pflanzenfam. s 6a : 
f. 57, D;Stand. Cycl. Hort. Bailey 2: f. 1375; Schelle, Handb. Kakteenk. 128. f. 59;Forster, 
Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 815. f. 107. 
Plate 11, figure 3, shows a flowering plant sent by Dr. Rose to the New York Botanical 
Garden in 1913 from the east side of the Franklin Mountains near FI Paso, Texas. 
21. Echinocereus viridiflorus Engelmann in Wislizenus, Mem. Tour North. Mex. 91. 1848. 
Cereus viridiflorus Engelmann in Gray, PI. Fendl. 50. 1849. 
Cereus viridiflorus cylindricus Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 278. 1856. 
Echinocactus viridiflorus Pritzel, Icon. Bot. Index 2: 113. 1866. 
Echinocereus viridiflorus cylindricus Riimpler in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2: S12. 1885. 
Echinocereus strausianus Haage jr. in Quehl, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 10: 70. 1890. 
Cereus viridiflorus tubulosus Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 383. 1896. 
Echinocereus viridiflorus tubulosus Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 
Plants small, nearly globular, but sometimes cylindric and 20 cm. high, simple, or more or less 
cespitose; ribs 14, low; areoles elongated; spines white, dark brown or variegated, usually arranged 
in circular bands of light and dark about the plant; radial spines about 16, appressed; centrals, 
when present, 2 or 3, arranged in a perpendicular row, often elongated and then 2 cm. long; flowers 
greenish, 2 to 2.5 cm. long; perianth-segments obtuse; fruit 10 to 12 mm. long; seeds 1 to 1.2 mm. long. 
Fig. 16. — Echinocereus luteus. Fig. 17. — Echinocereus viridiflorus. 
Type locality: Prairies about Wolf Creek, New Mexico. 
Distribution: Southern Wyoming to eastern New Mexico, western Kansas, western 
Texas, and South Dakota. 
This species is very common on the plains of the West. It is usually deeply seated, 
with the low top hidden in the grass, so that it is not easily seen. It is widely distributed, 
rather variable in its habit and spines, but is easily distinguished from all the other species 
of this genus. It is frequently introduced into our collections, but lasts only a few years. 
It extends farther north than any other species of the genus and was one of the first to 
be collected in the United States, having been found by Dr. Wislizenus in 1846. It is 
known in Wyoming as green-flowered petaya (M. Cary). 
Echinocereus viridiflorus var. gracilispinus (Riimpler in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 
814. 1885) and var. major (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 16: 142. 1906) are simply garden forms. 
Echinocereus labouretii Forster (Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 811. 1885) is given as a synonym 
of this species. Echinocereus labouretianus Femaire (Cactees 57. 1868) is also to be referred 
here. 
