ON THE SPINELESS CACTUS 



it was thought that the little cactus that was smooth 

 skinned might furnish the element of spinelessness 

 in all the future races of spineless cactus, however 

 varied the other elements of their heritage. 



The most curious feature about the crossing of 

 the giant Opuntias with the small species, in par- 

 ticular with the little cactus of the Eastern United 

 States known as Opuntia vulgaris was that the 

 hybrid was intermediate between the parents as to 

 every characteristic but one. In size, stem, and 

 manner of growth and form of pads, it made a 

 complete blend of the traits of the t,wo totally 

 dissimilar parents. 



But its blossom was a relatively enormous 

 flower, very much larger than that of either parent. 



As to the blend of traits of this hybrid of giant 

 and dwarf forms of cactus, the phenomena 

 observed were obviously comparable to those that 

 we have seen in sundry other connections. The 

 Primus Berry, the Sunberry, and the Plumcot, will 

 be recalled as illustrating the production of new 

 forms, unlike either parent yet breeding true to the 

 new type in a single generation. 



The hybrid between the giant and dwarf 

 Opuntias furnishes another illustration of the same 

 thing. This intermediate type, strikingly dissimi- 

 lar to either parent yet obviously blending the 

 characteristics of both, bred true to form, showing 



[179] .. 



