Plante Lindheimeriane. 197 
rudimento coronata ; seminibus fulvis ovatis scrobiculato- 
punctatis. — Sterile, sandy soil on the Pierdenales: flowers 
(in St. Louis) about the middle of June. The flowers open for 
three days, in direct sunshine only, and later than most other 
Cactacez, viz., from 12 or 1 till 3 or 4 o'clock. Stems 2—4 
inches high, about 2 inches in diameter, dark green; tubercles 
in 13 oblique rows ;! radiant spines 3 — 4; central spines from 
4—6 lines long: flowers 1;,—2; inches long, and about the 
same diameter when fully open, of a lighter violet color or 
of a splendid dark purple: stigmas deep velvety purple. — 
Very near M. vivipara, Haw., which has been found from the 
Upper Missouri to Santa Fe: this, however, is distinguished 
by its low, mostly cæspitose growth, by the smaller number of 
radiant spines (14 — 18), the absence of the deflexed central 
spine, the smaller central flowers, the apiculate stigmata, 
and smaller seeds: it also flowers earlier (in St. Louis about 
the middle of May), but, like M. radiosa, opens the flowers 
only after 12 o'clock. In M. vivipara the youngest tubercles 
produce in their axils the flowers which appear central, and 
remain so till after fructification, whereupon new tubercles 
are developed in the centre, and the young fruit is pushed 
aside and becomes more and more lateral. In M. radiosa 
the flower buds are also formed in the axils of the first young 
tubercles of the season, but are immediately pushed aside by 
a continuous growth of more tubercules; the. buds as well as . 
the flowers and fruits are therefore lateral. M. vivipara has 
not yet been found in Texas, though it may be expected in 
the mountainous regions bordering New Mexico. 
& 2. Fructu coccineo ; corolla decidua. 
* Fructu clavato elongato; seminum testa pergamentacea, 
1 Jt will hardly be necessary to mention that there are several different sets ad 
rows of tubercles observable, but one set is usually more distinct than the others 
they depend on the size of the plant, and the number, size, and 
tubercles. It is well known that in different specimens of the same species they 
turn to either side, right or le 
JOURNAL B. S. N. H. 26 JAN. 1850. 
