CATALOGUE. 129 



a little stouter; deep red flowers, l£-2£' long, half as wide, open equally 

 day and night, spatnlate, rather stiff petals, rounded at tip. — From West, 

 Texas to Southern Colorado and Arizona, as far west as the San Francisco 

 Mountains, Bigelow, and from Fort Whipple, Palmer. 



Cereus (Echinocereus) triglocuidiatus, Engelm. — Few (2-5) 

 globose or oval heads, 2-4' high, 2-2 £ thick, 6-7-ribbed; areolae more 

 distant than in the last; spines fewer, only 3-6, flattened or angular, 

 usually curved, about V long; flowers same as in last. — New Mexico, Santa 

 Fe', 1874, Eothrock (39). C. gonacanthns, Engel. & Bigel., which extends 

 from New Mexico to the Arkansas River and westward to Zufii, and is 

 characterized by its stouter, longer, and more numerous spines, may 

 belong to this species; and perhaps both, with numerous other so-called 

 species, which vary only in the number of the ribs, the number or form of 

 the spines, and the closeness of the spine-bunches, but have all similar 

 flowers, may have to be considered as forms of one polymorphous type 

 (C. phceniceas). 



Opuntia (Platopuntia) basilaris, Engelm. & Bigel. — A low plant, 

 with broadly obovate, often refuse or fan-shaped joints, branching mostly 

 from the base, pubescent, as well as the fruit; areolae very close, without 

 spines, but densely covered with short, yellowish-brown bristles; flowers 

 large, rose-purple; fruit dry, subglobose, with rather few, large and thick 

 seeds. — Southeastern California to Arizona. Distinct from all other species 

 of this region by its mode of growth, its pubescence, the absence of spines 

 proper, and the very large (3£-5" wide) seeds. The large purple flowers, 

 which in the season completely cover the plant, make a beautiful show. 



Opuntia (Platopuntia) Missouriensis, DC. — Santa Fd, N. Mex., 

 1874, Rothrock (6). Common from the plains of the Missouri into the 

 mountains. A low, very spiny (whence Nuttall's name, 0. ferox) species, 

 with }^ellow or sometimes (on the Upper Arkansas plains) purple flowers, 

 and dry spiny pods, which contain large, much compressed, and broadly 

 margined seeds. — Several more, probably half a dozen, flat-jointed Opuntia 

 have been noticed in Arizona, some prostrate and with smaller joints ; 

 others tall, erect, with large joints (to a foot or more in length), many 

 of them very spiny; of them not much is known, as the plants are difficult 

 9 BOT 



