70 



THE cactaceae;. 



1. Neomammillaria maminillaris (Linnaeus). 



Cactus mammiUaris Linnaeus, Sp. PI. i: 466. 1753. 



Cactus mammiUaris glaber De Candolle, PI. Succ. 137. 1799- 



Mammillaria simplex Haworth, Syn. PI. Succ. 177. 1812. 

 ? Mammillaria conica * Haworth, Suppl. PI. Succ. 71. 1819. 



Mammillaria parvimamma Haworth, Suppl. PI. Succ. 72. 1819. 



Cactus microthele Sprengel, Syst. 2: 494. 1825. 



Mammillaria simplex parvimamma Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 98. 1839. 



Mammillaria caracassaymj Otto in Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849. 107. 1850. 



Mammillaria maminillaris Karsten, Deutsche Fl. 888. 1882. 

 ? Cactus conicits Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i: 259. 1891. 



Cactus parviinammus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. i: 259. 1891. 



Globose to short-cylindric, 4 to 6 cm. high; tubercles short, 5 to 7 mm. long, conic, nearly terete, 

 pale green, only slightly woolly in their axils; spine-areoles bearing a dense mass of white wool when 

 young; spines reddish brown, acicular; radial spines 10 to 12, spreading, 5 to 7 mm. long; central 

 spines 3 or 4, stouter and a little longer than the radials; flowers 8 to 10 mm. long, cream-colored; 

 outer perianth-segments narrow, bearing long mucronate tips; fruit 15 to 20 mm. long, red; seeds 

 minute, brown. 



Fig. 64. — Neomammillaria mammiUaris. 



Fig. 65. — Neomammillaria macdougalii. 



Type locality: Tropical America. 



Distrihiition : Northern Venezuela and neighboring Dutch Islands. 



This plant was the first-known species of the genus and the only one known to Lin- 

 naeus; it was described and illustrated by Commelin in 1697 and by Hermann in 1698. 

 It was one of the first cacti discovered ; Alton states that it was cultivated by Bishop Comp- 

 ton before 1688. The cited distribution of the species has usually been inexact or errone- 

 ous; Linnaeus gave no definite locality but restricted it to the warm parts of America. 



Nuttall assigns it also to the hills of the Missouri River, and De Candolle's range 

 covers that of both Linnaeus and of Nuttall. Nuttall's plant was subsequently found 

 to be different from the one of the Caribbean region. Schumann gives the range as the 

 West Indies but his description covers two or three species. A number of his references are 

 erroneous, for neither Wright's plant (No. 2619, as Mammillaria pusilla) from Cuba nor 

 Haworth's plant (Syn. PI. Succ. 177, as Mammillaria prolifera) from the West Indies belongs 



* Tubercles large, conic; spines less than 10, all radial, red, but paler at base; flowers and fruit unknown. Neither 

 PfeifFer nor Schumann knew this species or its origin. The Index Kewensis refers it to South America. If from that 

 region it might be a species of Discocactns, near D. placentiformis, but it may belong here. 



fThis is the original spelling, but Schumann wrote it M. caracasana. 



