132 
THE CACTACEAE. 
Mr. Ivan M. Johnston, botanist of the California Academy of Sciences’ Expedition 
to the Gulf of California, who explored all the islands in the Gulf in 1921, writes of the 
distribution of this species, as follows: “I found the distribution of Echinocactus diguetii 
to be peculiar; I saw it at the following disconnected points: Angel de la Guardia, Carmen, 
Coronado, Dansante, and San Diego Islands. It seems to skip hither and thither over 
the Gulf Islands without rhyme or reason.” 
Illustrations: Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 4: 99. f. 1; Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16: pi. 
123 B; Joum. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 12: f. 47; Bull. Soc. Acclim. 52: 53. f. 12, as Echinocactus 
diguetii. 
Plate xi, figure 2, is from a photograph taken by Dr. Rose on Carmen Island, Gulf of 
California; plate xii, figure 3, shows the flower of a plant collected by Dr. Rose on Carmen 
Island in 1911. 
12 . Ferocactus covillei sp. nov. 
Plant simple, globular to short-cylindric, often 1.5 meters high; ribs 22 to 32, 2 to 4 cm. high, 
rather thin, when young more or less tubercled, but when old hardly undulate; areoles on small 
plants distant, often 3 to 4 cm. apart, but on old and flowering plants approximate or contiguous, 
densely brown-felted when young, naked in age, the spine-bearing areoles large and circular; the 
flowering areoles more elongated and complex, divided into three parts, the lower part bearing 
spines, the central part spinescent glands, and the upper part the flower; spines variable as to color, 
sometimes red to white; radial spines 5 to 8, somewhat spreading, subulate, straight or more or less 
curved backward, 3 to 6 cm. long, annulate; central spine always solitary, very variable, straight 
or with the tip bent or even strongly hooked, annulate, terete to strongly flattened or 3-angled, 
3 to 8 cm. long; upper areoles of old plants bearing 5 to 7 glands, becoming spinescent, 5 to 6 mm. 
long; flowers described as red, tipped with yellow, sometimes reported as yellow throughout, 6 to 7 
cm. long; inner perianth-segments linear-oblong, acuminate, often serrate; throat broad, covered 
with stamens; tube-proper short, 2 to 3 mm. long; fruit oblong, 5 cm. long, bearing a few broad 
scales; seeds black, dull or shining, nearly smooth or slightly pitted, 2 mm. long. 
Collected on hills and mesas near Altar, Sonora, Mexico, by C. G. Pringle, August 11, 
1884 (type), by Rose, Standley, and Russell on plain near Empalme, Sonora, March n, 
1910 (No. 12642), and by F. V. Coville, 10 miles west of Torres, Sonora, February 10, 
1903 (No. 1657). 
This species ranges from southern Arizona to Guaymas, Sonora. It has heretofore 
passed as Echinocactus emoryi; the type of that species, however, came from south¬ 
western New Mexico and has been referred by us as a synonym of Ferocactus wislizeni. 
Dr. Engelmann in his synopsis of the Cactaceae and in his later references transferred the 
name emoryi to the plant here described. This species needs further study; the color of the 
flowers is not definitely known and there is considerable variation in the markings of the 
seeds. The species as here considered has a wide range altitudinally and may include more 
than one species. We have reluctantly referred here two specimens (Nos. 4154 and 4155), 
collected by J. C. Blumer from the Comobabi Mountains, Arizona. 
From this and related species water is often obtained by travelers in the great deserts 
of western Mexico and the southwestern United States. This has been described and 
illustrated by Dr. F. V. Coville in an article “Desert Plants as a Source of Drinking Water.” 
He tells how by slicing off the top of a large plant and mashing the pulp three quarts of 
drinkable water were obtained (Ann. Rep. Smiths. Inst. 1903: 499 to 505. 1904). 
In Mexico a candy is made from the flesh of this and other large species. The spines 
and epidermis are all cut off; the flesh is cut into slices of various shapes and sizes and then 
cooked in sugar. This candied product is sold in all the towns and markets of Mexico. 
Illustrations: Journ. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 3: 95. f. 14, as Cereus sp.; Carnegie Inst. Wash. 6: 
pi. 18; MacDougal, Bot. N. Amer. Des. pi. 8, 62; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 25: 93; Nat. 
Geogr. Mag. 21: 712; Amer. Gard. 11: 459; Mollers Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 25: 474. f. 6, 
No. 25; Schelle, Handb. Kakteenk. 161. f. 90; Diet. Gard. Nicholson 4: 539. f. 20; Suppl. 
