82 



THE CACTACEAE. 



18. Neomammillaxia sartorii (J. A. Purpus). 



Mammillaria sartorii J. A. Purpus, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 21: 50. 191 1. 



Globose to short-cylindric, 5 to 13 cm. in diameter, cespitose, very milky, bluish green; tubercles 

 strongly 4-angled, pointed, 8 to 12 mm. long, their axils without bristles and in time without wool; 

 spine-areoles circular when young, densel}' white-wooU}^ but in age glabrate; spines 4 to 6, verj^ 

 unequal, 5 to 8 mm. long, whitish or sometimes brownish, the central spine solitary ; flowers i .5 to 

 about 2 cm. long, deep carmine; perianth-segments oblong, apiculate, the tip dry, the outer ciliate, 

 the inner serrulate; stamens and stjde purplish above; stigma-lobes 4, purple, short; fruit carmine; 

 seeds brown. 



Type locality: Barranca de Panoaya, Vera Cruz, Mexico. 

 Distribution: Mountains of Vera Cruz, 300 to 600 meters altitude. 

 Our description of this interesting and variable little plant is drawn from specimens 

 sent to us by Dr. C. A. Purpus in 1920, collected at the type locality. There the plant 



— Xeomammillaria melanocentra. 



-Neomammillaria seitziana. 



grows among rocks in rich humus of the deca}'ing leaves in half shade or in the sun. It 

 is ver}^ different from any other Neomammillaria which we have seen; the tubercles are 

 copiously milky and the slightest bruise causes the white milk to ooze out. It flowered 

 in Washington in April 1923. 



Dr. C. A. Purpus ■writes that this species is common in many of the barrancas of Vera 

 Cruz and that it is ver\^ variable. When first described two forms {hreinspina and longi- 

 spina) were characterized. 



The species was named for Florantino Sartorius (183 7-1 908) who assisted Dr. Purpus 

 for many A^ears in his botanical expeditions. He was a son of Carlos Sartorius (1795- 

 1872), a distinguished scientist who went to Mexico about 1825, where he made large 

 collections of plants. Mr. W. Botting Hemsley (Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 4: 123) states that 

 his herbarium was left to the Smithsonian Institution, but no record of this gift can now be 

 found nor can any of his plants be found in the U. S. National Herbarium. 



Here may or may not belong Mammillaria rebsamiana (Cact. Joum. 2 : 176), advertised 

 as a new discover}- by Louis ISIurillo, who lived at Jalapa, Mexico. 



Illustration: Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 21: 51, as Mammillaria sartorii. 



Figure 75 is from a photograph showing two plants sent from the type locality of 

 Mammillaria sartorii by Dr. Purpus in 1920. 



