62 



THE CACTACEAE. 



Low and depressed, often growing in large cespitose masses 2 dm. in diameter, with a large 

 thickened root; tubercles soft and turgid, resembling those of the following species {D. longimamma) 

 but shorter, 12 to 16 mm. long; areoles small, circular, at first short-lanate ; spines 12 to 15, glabrous, 

 generally pale yellow, a little darker at base at first, in age darker, often reddish, 7 to 9 mm. long, 

 spreading or a little curved backward; central spine i, straight; flowers appearing toward top of 

 plant but not from axils of younger tubercles, with a rotate limb 6 to 7 cm. broad ; inner perianth- 

 segments widely spreading, oblanceolate, acute to apiculate, tapering at base into a slender claw; 

 stigma-lobes 8, yellow, narrow; fruit greenish white to purplish, short-oblong, 10 to 15 mm. long, 

 juicy, very fragrant; seeds black, flattened, with a straight ventral face, rounded on the back, pitted; 

 hilum subventral. 



Type locality: Near Corpus Christi, Texas. 



Distribution: Southern Texas and northern Mexico, especially along the Rio Grande 

 from Eagle Pass to the sea. 



Mr. R. D. Camp and Mr. Robert Runyon have recently found this species in abund- 

 ance about Brownsville. With the aid of their material and the excellent photograph 

 made by Mr. Runyon we have been able to present a detailed description of this plant. 



Fig. 60. — Dolichothele sphaerica. 



Fig. 61. — Dolichothele longimamma. 



According to Mr. Runyon, the flowers are very large and handsome. The fruit does 

 not ripen until about the middle of October, and in one plant a single fruit continued to 

 grow until the 27th of March and had a pronounced pleasing odor. This is the first case 

 which has come under our notice in which any of the Coryphanthanae develop any odor in 

 the fruits. 



Illustration: Haage and Schmidt, Haupt-Verz. 1912: 36, as Mammillaria sphaerica. 



Plate I, figure 2, is from a photograph sent us by Robert Runyon from Brownsville, 

 Texas; plate vii, figure 2, shows a fruit and figure 2a shows a seed from a plant collected by 

 Mr. Runyon at Brownsville in 192 1. Figure 60 is from a photograph of a flowering plant 

 made by Mr. Runyon at Brownsville in 192 1. 



2. Dolichothele longimamma (De CandoUe). 



Mammillaria longimamma De Candolle, Mem. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 17: 113. 1828. 

 Mammillaria longimamma hexacentra Berg, Allg. Gartenz. 8: 130. 1840. 

 Mammillaria longimamma gigantolheh Berg in Forster, Handb. Cact. 183. 1846. 

 Mammillaria longimamma congesta Hortus in Forster, Handb. Cact. 183. 1846. 

 Mammillaria uberiforrnis hexacentra Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 6. 1850. 



