BOTANICAL EEPOKT. Ill 



Opuntia sph^rocarpa, Engehn. and Bigeloto, Pac /.'. Rep. IV, ('ad. p. 17, /. 13, 

 fs. 6-7 ; Syn. Cact. p. 44 Var.? Utahensis: diffusa, la-te-vhvns, artieulis orbiculaio- 

 obovatis, crassis, junioribus saepe globoso-obovatis ; areolis subapproximatis : foliis min- 

 utis subulatis divaricatis; sotis brevissimis pnucis stramineis; aculois nullis sen parvnlis 

 nunc singulo longiore recto robusto albido; floribus sulphureis, ovario obovato areolis 

 fusco-tomentosis sub-25 instructo, sepalis exterioribus transversis obcordatis euspida- 

 tis ; petalis 8 late-obovatis emarginatis ; stylo vix supra stamina exserto; stigmatibns 

 8 brevibus erectis ; bacca obovata areolis plurimis tomentosis stipata: seminihus nu- 

 merosis irregulariter compressis anguste marginatis. 



Pass west of Steptoe Valley, in the western mountains of the Basin, found 

 July 19 in flower and fruit. Joints 2-3 inches long and of almost the same diameter; 

 often over J inch in thickness, sometimes almost terete or rather egg-shaped; areola' 

 6 or 8 lines apart; leaves very slender and acute, scarcely 1 line long, smaller than 

 in any other of our species except 0. basilaris, also a western form from tin* Lower 

 Colorado. Bristles few, and even in old joints scarcely more than \ line long; spines 

 none, or on the upper areolae a few short ones, with here and there a stouter one -[-1 

 inch in length. Flowers nearly 3 inches in diameter, pale or sulphur-yellow, when 

 fading, reddish; fruit about 1 inch long and half as wide, with a deep umbilicus, 

 and with 20-25 areolae, which sometimes show a few bristles or a minute spine; seeds 

 very irregular, 2, or, in the largest diameter, sometimes 2.] lines wide. 



Unwilling' to increase the number of illy-defined species in this most ditlicult 

 genus, I attach this plant to the only species known to me to which it possibly can be 

 compared, 0. splwrocarpa from New Mexico, though its fruit is not spherical, has not 

 a shallow umbilicus, and is, at least in the specimen before me, not dry ; the latter 

 would be an insuperable distinction, if we might not suspect, what in fact is often 

 the case, that the fruit later in the season would become dry and brittle. The leaves, 

 which heretofore have been entirely too much neglected as a diagnostic character in 

 this genus, and the flowers of the original 0. splwrocarpa, are unknown thus far. 



Opuntia tortispina, Engelm. & Bigeloiv, I. c. p. 41, t 8. fs. 2-3 ; Syn. Cact p. 37. 



Forks of the Platte ; in flower in July. The 'specimens being very incomplete, I 

 am not quite sure that this is the same species as that of Captain Whipple's Expedi- 

 tion; the joints appear to be somewhat smaller, the areolae closer together, and the 

 spines shorter (1-1J inches) and rather weaker; it may possibly prove to be an 

 extreme form of 0. Itqfincsquii, the area of which extends to the Rocky Mountains. 

 Leaves subulate, 2 lines long; flowers 2J-3 inches in diameter, sulphur-yellow; ovary 

 long (1-1 J inches), with 20-30 areolae, with light-brown wool and short bright-brown 

 bristles; exterior sepals obovate, lance-cuspidate; petals 6-8, broadly obovate, obtuse, 

 crenulate; stigmas 6-8, short, erect, as long as the stamens. 



Opuntia hystricina, Engelm. £ Bigeloiv, I c. p. 44, t. 15, fs. 5-7; Syn. Cad. p. 43. 



A flowering specimen, collected in June between Walker and Carson Rivers, is 



exactly like one found by Dr. Bigelow on the Colorado Chiquito; it has slenderer and 



straighter spines than the one figured in Whipple's Report, and approaches somewhat 



to 0. erinacea, E. & B., of the Mohave region, in which I now recognize the long-los: 



56 B V 



