22 
THE CACTACEAE. 
Cereus procumbens Engelmann in Gray, PI. Fendl. 50. 1849. 
Cereus pentalophus leptacanthus Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 42. 1850. 
Echinocereus procumbens Riimpler in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 781. 1885. 
Echinocereus leptacanthus Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 260. 1898. 
Procumbent, with ascending branches, deep green; ribs 4 to 6, somewhat undulate, bearing low 
tubercles; radial spines 4 or 5, very short, white with brown tips; central spine 1, rarely wanting; 
flowers reddish violet, large, 7 to 12 cm. long; perianth-segments broad, rounded at apex; stamens 
borne on the lower half of throat for a distance of about 12 mm.; tube proper not much broader 
than the style, purple within, 8 mm. long; filaments short; style a little longer than the filaments; 
scales on the ovary and flower-tube bearing long cobwebby hairs and brownish spines; style stiff, 
3.5 cm. long. 
Type locality: Mexico. 
Distribution: Eastern Mexico and southern Texas. 
This is an attractive species and does fairly well in greenhouse cultivation, usually 
producing its beautiful flowers very early in the spring; its growth is much modified by 
indoor treatment, where the spines, especially, are changed. 
Echinocereus procumbens longispinus (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 12: 135. 1902) is only a 
form with very long spines. The wild plants in this and the following species have longer 
spines than the cultivated ones. 
Echinocereus procumbens has usually been recognized as a distinct species but we 
believe we are justified in referring it as above. 
In 1837 when Pfeiffer redescribed the varieties of this species he added Cereus pro- 
pinquus De Candolle ( Echinocereus propinquus Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 5: 124. 1895), as a 
synonym of variety simplex, and C. leptacanthus De Candolle, as a synonym of variety 
subarticulatus , but we do not find that De Candolle himself ever published these names. 
This species was figured in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine in 1839, about 10 years after 
its introduction from Mexico by Thomas Coulter. Although we have no definite informa¬ 
tion on this point, it is not unlikely that it was made from a part of the original stock. As 
the type of the species is lost, we have assumed that this illustration is typical. The 
species was taken up by Schumann, and by all writers since, under the much later name, 
Echinocereus leptacanthus Schumann; this is the name used by Pfeiffer, but as a synonym 
as mentioned above. 
Illustrations: Diet. Hort. Bois 280. f. 198; Deutsches Mag. Gart. Blumen. 1868: pi. 
opp. 8, as Cereus pentalophus; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 4: 512. f. 9; Suppl. 218. f. 232; Rev. 
Hort. 36: opp. 171, as Cereus leptacanthus; Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 65: pi. 3651, as Cereus penta¬ 
lophus subarticulatus; Bliihende Kakteen x: pi. 15; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 785. f. 100; 
Schelle,Handb. Kakteenk. 125. f. 57, as Echinocereus leptacanthus; Curtis’s Bot. Mag. 117: 
pi. 7205; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 4: 513. f. 12; Suppl. f. 234; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 59, f. 1 
to 11, as Cereus procumbens; Cact. Joum. 1 : 109, 136, 164; 2: 173; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 
2. 782. f. 99; Riimpler, Sukkulenten 136. f. 72; Schelle, Handb. Kakteenk. 124. f. 56, as 
Echinocereus procumbens. 
Plate hi , figure 1, shows a flowering joint of a plant sent by Dr. Rose to the New 
York Botanical Garden in 1913. Figure 20 a is copied from the first illustration above cited. 
28 . Echinocereus sciurus (K. Brandegee). 
Cereus sciurus K. Brandegee, Zoe 5: 192. 1904. 
Densely cespitose, with many individuals forming clumps sometimes 60 cm. broad; stems slen¬ 
der, often 20 cm. long, often nearly hidden by the many spines; ribs 12 to 17, low, divided into 
numerous tubercles 5 to 6 mm. apart; areoles small, approximate, circular, at first woolly, becoming 
naked; radial spines 15 to 18, sometimes 15 mm. long, slender, pale except the brownish tips; centrals 
usually several, shorter than the radials; flower-buds covered with numerous slender brown-tipped 
spines; flowers described as 7 cm. long, about 9 cm. broad when fully open; inner perianth-segments in 
2 to 4 rows, bright magenta; stamens numerous, with greenish filaments; pistil green with obtuse 
stigma-lobes; seeds 1 mm. long, tuberculate. 
