94 
THE CACTACEAE. 
8. NEOPORTERIA gen. nov. 
Plants globose to cylindric, sometimes much elongated and then sprawling or pendent over cliffs; 
more or less hairy at the crown; ribs usually straight, more or less tubercled; flowers from the center 
of the plant, short-funnelform, usually pinkish or reddish; stigma-lobes cream-colored to reddish; 
scales on the flower-tube bearing wool and long bristles in their axils; fruit as far as known small, more 
or less globular, dehiscing by a basal pore; seeds brown, somewhat wrinkled, tuberculate with a some¬ 
what depressed hilum. 
There are several species along the coast and mountains of Chile of which Echino- 
cactus subgibbosus Haworth is selected as the type. In Schumann’s keys one would look 
for these species in his subgenus Notocactus of Echinocactus but, as a matter of fact, most 
of them have been assigned to the subgenus Hybocactus. The group as treated here is a 
natural one and deserves separation as a genus. Doubtless, still other species will be 
assigned here when better known. From Malacocarpus, to which we have referred most of 
Schumann’s species grouped by him in Notocactus, it differs in its fruit, seeds, and in the 
shape and color of the flowers. 
The genus is named for Carlos Porter of Chile, a well-known entomologist. Seven 
species are described. 
Key to Species. 
Spines all weak, often thread-like..i. N. nidus 
Spines stouter, the central, at least, subulate. 
Spines black. 
Spines puberulent; outer perianth-segments reddish..2. N. occulta 
Spines glabrous; outer perianth-segments greenish.3. N. nigricans 
Spines not black (or black when young in No. 7). 
Flowers pink. 
Plants bluish green; style and stigma-lobes reddish.4. N. jussieui 
Plants bright green; style and stigma-lobes white to greenish. 
Perianth-segments entire.5. N. subgibbosa 
Perianth-segments toothed.6. N. chilensis 
Flowers not pink.7. N. fusca. 
1. Neoporteria nidus (Sohrens). f 
Echinocactus senilis Philippi, Gartenflora 35: 4S5. 18S6. Not Beaton, 1S39. 
Echinocactus nidus Sohrens in Schumann, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 10: 122. 1900. 
Simple, sometvhat glaucous, short-cylindric, S cm. long, 5 to 6 cm. in diameter, the top covered 
by the slender ascending connivent spines; ribs 16 to 18, obtuse, strongly tubercled; areoles large, 
circular; spines weak, numerous, sometimes 30 in a cluster, unequal, white, the longest 3 cm. long, 
bulbose at base; flowers rather slender, 4 cm. long, perhaps pinkish, but sometimes described as yel¬ 
low ; inner perianth-segments narrow, acute; scales on the flower-tube woolly and setose; fruit not 
known. 
Type locality: East of Ovalle, Chile. 
Distribution: Northern Chile. 
Dr. Rose examined the type of E. senilis in the Philippi Herbarium in 1914 and it 
agrees with the first illustration cited below. He also saw a part of Mr. Sohrens’s type 
of Echinocactus nidus at Santiago, Chile, in 1914. Its flowers were still unknown. 
We have united Echinocactus senilis and E. nidus, using the later specific name since 
E. senilis, the older name, is a homonym. We have not seen living specimens, but we 
have two photographs sent us by Harvey Frank in 1905, labeled E. senilis and E. nidus, 
respectively, which are very much ahke and led us to unite the two species. If two species 
are here involved, our description would apply to E. senilis. 
Illustrations: Gartenflora 35: pi. 1230, f. A, as Echinocactus senilis; Monatsschr. 
Kakteenk. 10: 123, as E. nidus. 
Figure 103 is copied from the first illustration above cited. 
