ECHINOFOSSULOCACTUS. 
121 
Distribution: Mexico. 
The original spelling of this name was E. acrocanthus, doubtless a typographical error. 
Echinocactus adversispinus Miihlenpfordt, Allg. Gartenz. 16: io. 1848. 
Obovoid; ribs 34, acute; areoles 3 cm. apart, white, lanate when young, naked when old; radial 
spines 7; central spine solitary, the 3 upper radials and central spine elongated and very different 
from the lower radials, 3 cm. long. 
Echinocactus brachycentrus Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 160. 1850. 
Echinocactus brachycentrus olygacanthus Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 160. 1850. 
Echinocactus oligacanthus Salm-Dyck in Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 374. 1898. Not Pfeiffer, 1837. 
Plant simple, short-cylindric, 20 cm. high, 15 cm. in diameter, very stout, yellowish green; 
ribs 30 to 35, strongly compressed, more or less undulate; spines all radial or sometimes one short 
central, the 3 upper spines erect, brownish (yellow, according to Schumann), the 2 lower ones white, 
smaller, and slenderer than the others. 
Dr. Rose collected in San Juan del Rio in August 1905 a plant which answers very well 
this description, at least as far as it goes. It has 3 erect, stout, brown spines, the middle 
one much flattened. The two lower spines are small and reflexed, but brown. Other 
specimens collected by Dr. Rose in this region are somewhat similar, but the lower spines 
are in four’s instead of two’s. 
Echinocactus brachiatus (Eabouret, Alonogr. Cact. 636. 1853) was written by mistake 
for this species. 
Echinocactus cereiformis De Candolle, M£m. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 17: 115. 1828. 
Somewhat cylindric, 10 cm. high, green; ribs 13, flattened, separated by acute intervals, some¬ 
what obtuse; areoles somewhat velvety, 3 to each rib; spines grayish, slender, but rigid; radial 
spines 7; central spine solitary, straight. 
This species was based on a defective plant brought by Coulter from Mexico and the 
type has not been preserved. De Candolle put a question mark after the genus and also 
asked whether it might not be a young plant of some Cereus, but we do not know any 
species of Cereus with so few areoles on the ribs; in this respect it is like Echinofossulocactus, 
perhaps E. coptonogonus. The plant was unknown to Labouret and to Schumann and 
is listed by both among the unknown species. 
Echinocactus debilispinus Berg, Allg. Gartenz. 8: 131. 1840. 
Subglobose to clavate, 16 cm. high, somewhat umbilicate at apex; ribs 34, flattened, wavy, acute; 
areoles few to each rib, white-tomentose when young, naked in age; spines 7 to 9, the 3 upper spines 
flat, yellowish white, brown at tip, the uppermost one longer, thinner, annulate, 4 to 6 lower spines 
subterete, subulate, yellowish white. 
Echinocactus ellemeetii Miquel, Nederl. Kruidk. Arch. 4:337. 1858. 
This species is supposed to be of this relationship, although it has only 13 ribs. 
Echinocactus flexuosus Dietrich, Allg. Gartenz. 19: 347. 1851. 
Subglobose, umbilicate at apex; ribs strongly compressed, undulate, wavy; areoles few on each 
rib, when young tomentose; spines white, spotted; upper spine ensiform; central spines 3-angled, 
a little curved. 
Echinocactus fluctuosus Dietrich, Allg. Gartenz. 19: 154. 1851. 
Subglobose, 5 cm. high; ribs numerous, strongly compressed, undulate; areoles few to each rib, 
tomentose; spines 7, grayish, subulate, unequal, some of them flattened; central spine solitary, 
erect, terete. 
Echinocactus foersteri Stieber, Bot. Zeit. 5: 491. 1847. 
Nearly globular, dark green; ribs 21, sharp on the edge; spines up to 9, the 3 upper longer 
and stronger than the others, 12 to 18 mm. long, dark red, the middle one very thin; the lower 
spines 4 to 6, very small, bristly, 2 to 8 mm. long. 
Known only from the type locality. 
