153 



in . the figure of the manuscript of Plumier bearing the name 

 "Opuntia minima flagelliformis." Haworth mentions also this 

 drawing bu' says: "figura vero Plumeri valde dissimilis," and 

 he has very good reason. The species of Pkimier is not Rhipsalis 

 fasciculata, and could very well be the lost species, described by 

 Pfeiffer, by the name of undulata. 



The existence on the American continent of Rhipsalis fascicu- 

 lata Haw. is not proven, and it is remarkably curious that it has 

 not been found except on the Islands of America and Africa, 

 near the sea in the latter part of the world. 



Rhipsalis suareziana Web. which the author has denominated 

 suarensis in the " Dictionnaire de Bois," is a very characteristic 

 plant, belonging to a group having lateral inflorescence, with 

 exserted ovary and branches of two forms. At the extremity of 

 the branching, elongated cylindrical stems, which have spacious 

 areoles and altnost naked , there grow in a spiral series a large num- 

 ber of very short branchlets 4 or 5 together, with areoles crow^ded 

 and setiferous, which are not floriferous, and do not produce 

 buds for further ramifications. Weber has not described the 

 flower except briefly in the Dictionnaire, and one very important 

 character escaped him. The stigma is bifid, or in very rare 

 exceptions 3-4-fid and this number of divisions cannot be 

 frequent in the genus, for I have not observed it in other 

 species. 



At the same time that he described this African plant, Weber 

 described (Rev. hort. 1892) a Rhipsalis of which he did not know 

 the origin, but which we have since received from Brazil, under 

 the name of Rhipsalis tetragona. In the Diet, de Bois. p. 1046 

 he indicates its resemblance to R. suareziana and described the 

 flower as small and lateral with obovate recurved petals. 



I should remark here that the plant described and figured in 

 flower at Berlin by Giirke (Monat. fiir Kakteenkunde, 1908, p. 

 74) under the name of Rhipsalis tetragona Web. has not the least 

 analogy with this species. The German plant belongs without 

 doubt to the group of Rhipsalis cribrata, R. Saglionis, etc., with 

 terminal, subcampanulate flowers, whereas Weber's species bears 

 very small lateral flowers similar in all respects to those of 



