NEOBESSEYA. 5 1 



"The radial spines when young are white with brownish (burnt) tips, later amber-colored 

 above and below, grayish in the middle. The plant described is 3" high and a little more than an 

 inch in diameter; radials 3, centrals 5 or 6 lines long. The plant in my possession did indeed bloom 

 last summer but I was hindered unfortunately in describing the flowers in detail. They are smaller 

 than those of M. raphidacantha, very similar in form, but the petals are yellow with saffron-yellow 

 central stripes on the outer side." 



Although Jacobi states definitely that the tubercles are not grooved on the upper 

 surface, yet the presence of glands would indicate that the plant is not a Mammillaria but, 

 more likely, a Coryphantha of the Series Recurvatae and perhaps one of the species already 

 described. We have never seen glands in the axils of tubercles, except in genera having 

 grooved tubercles. In cultivated specimens growing under abnormal conditions tubercles 

 are sometimes produced without a groove and with glands in their axils. 



Mammillaria ramosissima Quehl, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 18: 127. 1908. 



Globose to short-cylindric, dull grayish green; radial spines about 12, about i cm. long; central 

 spines usually i, sometimes 2 or 3; flowers and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Not cited. 



Illustration: Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 18: 127. 



Mammillaria rbcurvispina De Vriese, Tijdschr. Nat. Geschr. 6: 53. 1839. 

 Cactus recurvispinus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i: 261. 1891. 

 Solitary, somewhat depressed, about 16 cm. in diameter, glaucous; tubercles few, large, some- 

 what compressed, obtuse; areoles and axils of tubercles described as naked; spines all radial, 8, 

 subulate, more or less incurved; flowers and fruit unknown. 



Type locality: Mexico. 



This plant was referred by Labouret to Mammillaria sulcolanata but was discussed by 

 Schumann under M. scheeri; judging from the illustration, it is not close to either of these 

 species but it is much nearer Coryphantha bumamma. 



Illustration: Tijdschr. Nat. Geschr. 6: pi. i. f. i. 



Figure 48 is a reproduction of the illustration cited above. 



Mammillaria speciosa De Vriese (Tijdschr. Nat. Geschr. 6: 52. 1839. Not Don, 

 1830) is listed by Schumann among the species not known to him. It probably belongs to 

 some species of Coryphantha. 



The following names are without descriptions and can not be referred to any known 

 species : Coryphantha conspicua Lemaire, Cactees 34. 1 868 ; Coryphantha engelmannii Lemaire, 

 Cactees 34. 1S68 ; Coryphantha hookeri Lemaire, Cactees 34. 1868; Coryphantha sublanata 

 Lemaire, Cactees 35. 1868. 



7. NEOBESSEYA gen. nov. 



Simple or tufted cacti, globose or somewhat depressed ; tubercles irregular or somewhat spiraled, 

 most of them grooved on upper side ; flowers borne near top of plant, large, yellow or pink, probably 

 always day-blooming; fruit globose, bright red, indehiscent; seeds black, globose, pitted, with a 

 prominent white aril. 



Type species : Mammillaria missouriensis Sweet. 



Four species are recognized, all from the Great Plains of the United States. 

 The generic name commemorates Dr. Charles Edwin Bessey (1845-19 15), professor in 

 the University of Nebraska and for many years one of our eminent botanical teachers. 

 The genus is nearest Coryphantha, but it has very different fruit and seeds. 



Key to Species. 



Flowers yellow. 



Outer perianth-segments naked i . N. wissmannii 



Outer perianth-segments ciliate. 



Inner perianth-segments long-acuminate 2. N. similis 



Inner perianth-segments at most acute 3. N. missouriensis 



Flowers grayish pink 4. A'', notesleinii 



