99 



excusing his omission with the statement that it 

 was difficult to preserve specimens, if there, and 

 that he dealt in his work oiiy with those plants 

 that were before him. 



The species enumerated by A. F. Sauvalle 

 (1868, p. 59) are Opuntia tun-a, Mill.; 0. triacan- 

 tha, Haw. ; 0. macracmitha, Griseb. ; and 0. hys- 

 trix, Griseb. The list of J. T. Roig y Mesa (1912, 

 p. 38-43) comprises the following: — Opuntia 

 macracantM, Griseb., 0. microcarpa, Schumann, 

 0. dillcnii, Haw., 0. hma, Mill., and Nopalea 

 dejecta, Salm-Dyck; but although his memoir 

 nominally embraces Cuba in its entirety, the 

 localities given as habitats for the several species 

 described are West Cuban only. 



Dr. Gomez de la Maza (1897, pp. 270-271) 

 mentions only two species of Opuntia growing iu 

 the district of Havana, i.e., 0. ivna. Mill., in the 

 grandispinosa3 group of Haworth, and 0. vul- 

 garis, Mill., in the parvispinosse division of the 

 same author.* Schumann, 1899, p. 752) gives 

 Cuba as the habitat of Nopalea auheri, S.D. 



Dr. N. L. Britton kindly furnished us with a 

 list of Cuban species known to him—Opuntia dil- 

 lenii, Haw., 0. inermis, DC, and 0. cuhensis, 

 Brit, (all belonging to the dillenim group), 0. 

 . macracantha, Griseb. {spinosissimcB group), 0. 

 militaris, Brif. and Rose {curassavica group), 

 and Nopalea dejecta, S-D. 



The following observations relate to the 

 species of Opuntia which came under notice: — 



0. dillenii. Haw. This plant was found 

 growing in the precincts both of Havana and 

 Santiago de Cuba. It occurred commonly in the 

 country between Guantanamo City and Guanta- 

 namo Bay (South-east Cuba) from Novali Junc- 

 tion onwards. Here it grew in the open and 

 light-brush country, often in dense masses of 

 considerable extent, but the individual plants 

 were more or less isolated where the scrub was 

 composed of larger growth. Much of it had, how- 

 ever, already received a considerable check in its 

 growth owing to the attacks of certain natural 

 enemies. The same species was also found grow- 

 ing through the lightly timbered country on 

 Monte Tinaja near Quebra Hacha, on the north 

 coast to the west of Havana. Here again it was 

 being subjected to the ill-effects due to disease. 



0. cuhensis, Britton. — A few plants of an 



Opuntia resembling both 0. dillenii and 0. tuna, 



as defined by Dr. Britton, were seen a few miles 



: inland from Santiago de Cuba. The thorns were 



I straight and rather long. The species was doubt- 



I less 0. cuhensis, Brit. The name "tuna brava" 



is applied locally to 0. ddllenii as well as to this 



i prickly-pear. 



* O. hystrix, Gris., according to Schumann (1899, 

 p. 784), is identical with 0. iunicata, Lk. and Ot., which 

 is a Mexican and not a Cuban species. Nopalea dejecta, 

 Salm-Dyck, is not known to be a native of Cuba, although 

 that is the type locality, but is a species in cultivation 

 there. triacantha of SauvaUe may be Messrs. Britton 

 and Rose's O. militaris. 0. tuna, Sauvalle, and 0. tuna, 

 Roig, offer some difficulties. Dr. Gomez's 0. tuna is pro- 

 bably O. dillenii, Haw., and Dr. Roig's 0. tuna, which he 

 distinguished from O. dillenii, is apparently 0. cuhensis, 

 Brit, and Rose. Finally, O. vulgaris, Gomez, may be 

 0. inermis, DC. 



0. cuhensis, Brit, (ined.), is an Opuntia belonging to 

 the Dillenim group, whose author distinguishesjit fronx his 

 0. tuna of South Central Jamaica by its longer spines, and 

 from 0. dillenii. Haw., by the character of its fruit and 

 by its terete or acicular (not basally compressed) spmes. 

 This species, he informs us, grows in South-east Cuba. 



0. macracantha, Griseb. — A prickly-pear, 

 probably referable to this species, was found 

 growing at the back of Guantanamo Bay on the 

 drier scrub-clad ground, where it attained the 

 dimensions of a small tree, having a thick trunk 

 and stout main branches. The bark was com- 

 posed of large, brown, flaky scales, one super- 

 imposed on another. It is armed with rosettes 

 of numerous long, pale spines that spring from 

 a whitish tomentum. The elongate, parallel-sided 

 stem-joints hang downwards. They are dull and 

 gTeyish, but never possess inter-areolar tessela- 

 tion, even in very old plants, the young spines 

 on emerging having_ their lower halves purplish- 

 pink, those on the " older growth being white, 

 straight, acicular, and very long, sometimes 

 attaining 9 em. in length. 



0. militaris, Brit, and Rose. — This low-grow- 

 ing brittle plant, we were informed, grew at 

 Guantanamo Bay in a locality which it was not 

 convenient to visit. Living examples of the 

 species in the New York Botanic Gardens had 

 narrow elongate, rather glossy green stem-joints 

 with 3-4 areoles in each oblique series, and the 

 spines on these, white with translucent tips. 



0. inerinis, DC. — This species was originally 

 named by P. de Candolle when figuring it in his 

 Plantes Grasses (1799, tab. 138), and character- 

 ised in the volume of his Prodromus Regni Vege- 

 tabilis dealing with the Caetaceaj (1831, III., 

 473). Since it is the commoner of the natural- 

 ised prickly-pears of Queensland, it is of interest 

 to learn that 0. inermis also is a plant to which 

 Cuba, along with Haiti and Florida Keys, has 

 been assigned as a habitat. With the exception 

 of de Tussac's statement (p. 34) that it grew 

 between Artibonite and Gonaives, in Haiti, and 

 Schumann's (1899, p. 718) that he had seen two 

 dried specimens from the West Indies, there has 

 been until lately no suggestion as to its native 

 home. 



Descriptions having been based on examples 

 of this plant which had become naturalised and 

 had ' ' run out ' ' in other countries, or had been 

 cultivated in gardens (cf. Weber, 1893-1899, p. 

 894; Griffiths and Hare, 1906, p. 49; Maiden, 

 ]912, p. 713),* Dr. N. L. Britton, in the course of 

 our inquiry, tendered the definite information 

 that it grew on one of the Florida Keys and also 

 in Western Cuba, and he, moreover, pointed out 

 three plants in the New Tork Botanic Gardens 

 labelled as having been derived from these two 

 localities ; but it does not appear that any descrip- 

 tion of the West Indian 0. inermis has been pub- 

 lished, based on specimens derived either from 

 Florida or Cuba. On visiting Western Cuba, a 

 journey was made to Pinar del Rio, Dr. Britton 

 having' stated that it was to be met with between 

 that city and the hills to the north. Dr. Emilio 

 Cuesta, the well-known Cuban botanist of Pinar 

 del Rio. indicated localities within a few miles of 

 the city where he had collected 0. inerinis. The 

 few plants seen by us, on visiting some of the 

 places indicated, appeared to be garden escapees. 



* That Opuntia inermis was very early disseminated 

 we may infer from the fact that, according to Dr. 

 Schumann (1899, p. 715), it is now growing wild m the 

 South of France, in Catalonia, and the Balearic Islands. 

 The plants now occurring in the insular region last men- 

 tioned Dr. Weber named Opuntia vuljaris balearica (Bois, 

 Diet., 894). 



