252 ■ the; cactaceae. 



On page 29, vol. i, under Pereskiopsis pititache, add to illustrations: Deutsche Gart. 

 Zeit. 8: 33, as Pereskia calandriniaeJoUa. 



On page 30, vol. i, insert the following: 

 11. Pereskiopsis scandens sp. nov. 



Slender, climbing or clambering over walls, up to 10 meters long; branches terete, grayish, 

 smooth; areoles circular, white- woolly when young, gray in age, with a short spine (5 mm. long) 

 and a bunch of brown glochids in the upper edge; leaves ovate, 1.5 to 2 cm. long, glabrous, acute; 

 flowers yellow, from the areoles on old branches, appearing in June ; fruit maturing slowly (perhaps 

 requiring 2 to 3 years to ripen), very narrow, 5 to 7 cm. long, somewhat tubercled, with a deep 

 umbilicus; seeds few. 



Living specimens of P. scandens were sent by Dr. George F. Gaumer from Izamal, 

 Yucatan, Mexico, in July 1921 (type). It was also collected by A. Schott at Merida in 

 1865 (No. 409). 



Withdraw the name Pereskia zehntneri from page 14, vol. i, and substitute the fol- 

 lowing at the end of Pereskiopsis on page 30 : 



la. QUIABENTIA gen. nov. 



A low, leafy, much branched shrub with numerous horizontal branches, usually in whorls ; 

 leaves fleshy but flattened, stiff, borne at right angles to the branches; areoles large, white-felted, 

 often with numerous spines, these acicular and white, the upper part of areole bearing glochids ; flowers 

 terminal, very large, bright red; ovary leafy, very narrow; stamens numerous, a little shorter than 

 the style, much shorter than the petals ; style short and stiff ; stigma-lobes very short, obtuse ; seeds 

 white, a little flattened, covered with a hard bony aril as in Opuntia. 



A monotypic genus, native of the semiarid region of Bahia, Brazil. The generic 

 name is from quiabento, the native name of the plant. 



1. Quiabentia zehntneri Britton and Rose. 



Pereskia zehntneri Britton and Rose, Cactaceae i: 14. 1919. 

 Flowers at ends of branches, large, 7 to 8 cm. broad, 3 to 4 cm. long, bright red, appearing in 

 November; petals broad, retuse; ovary borne in the upper end of the branch, very narrow, 3 to 4 

 cm. long, bearing the usual leaves, areoles, and spines of the branches ; fruit oblong to clavate, 6 to 

 7 cm. long, 1.5 cm. in diameter at the top, slightly angled by the low elongated tubercles running 

 downward from the small scattered areoles, and finally without leaves, spines, or bristles, sterile 

 below, with thick fleshy walls and with a small narrow seed-cavity; umbilicus broad, slightly 

 depressed; seeds thick with flattened sides roimded on the back, 5 mm. in diameter. 



In its large, red, rotate flowers this plant at once suggests a Pereskia. Its red flowers 

 are so similar to those of P. hahiensis of the same region that at first we considered the 

 two species congeneric. Now that we have studied the fruit and seed it is evident that 

 P. zehntneri belongs to a very different genus. Then, too, the old areoles develop deciduous 

 spines or bristles which are doubtless glochids; these occur on the upper part of the 

 areoles but do not form the definite brush of the Opuntiae. These glochids would exclude 

 it from the Pereskieae. It must therefore be referred to the Opuntieae and next to Peres- 

 kiopsis. In its broad, thick leaves it resembles that genus, but its flowers are terminal, 

 very large, and rotate ; its fruit is much elongated and the seeds are glabrous. 



We are indebted to Dr. Leo Zehntner, a very keen observer, for many fine specimens 

 and much information regarding it. He has found it only on a small calcareous mountain 

 near the city of Bom Jesus da Lapa, Brazil, but it has been transplanted to the Horto 

 Florestal of Joazeiro where it is well established and where it flowered three years after 

 being replanted. In 19 15 Dr. Rose brought living specimens to the New York Botanical 

 Garden from this stock (No. 19722). 



On page 32, vol. i, under Pterocactus tuberosus, add the synonym: Opuntia tuberosa 

 albispina Salm-Dyck in Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 911. 1885. 



Also add to illustrations: Haage and Schmidt, Cat. Gen. 230. 1908; De Laet, Cat. 

 Gen. f. 74, as Pterocactus kuntzei. 



