Poselger 7,16.1855 



instigate exaninations of the Speeles, which you nentxon» ny 



earlier oplnions about them have rather been conf irmed; You used 



a Single seed grain of C , I ongi hanatu s and C, setispinus for your 



never certain proof for the difference of species, and you had the 



kindness, to send ne seeds of both. In conparing them I too found 



a difference, as I would not have expected otherwise, but that 



at least not to be 

 difference does w&5 appear to ne ' | larger than betweerr two 



rrr^nles of two varieties of JP^armais or between the berber, spa- 



nish or italian Tfe*«4g.la ( var, of Anygdalus c onmuni s ) , But when I 



co^.uared the seeds of those of C, fetisp .. si- ^riff^as 



nuatus and C. f egfcip. robustus, I was in fact not a little sur - *?" A s .Vi 



prised about the striking similarity of these 3 seeds, They resenble 

 with 



each other as one egg fcaf another, This too would speak for ny view», 



that they are varieties of each other, I nust renark, that I know 



the true P.lon,Pcihanatus very k well, but did not meet it in its na - 



Engeln, 



tive land, - As to C, enneacarthus l you nay be entirely right; this 

 species is one of those, which I unf ortunately exanined nuch toer 

 lightly.- Different however is it with C. caespi tosus and, pe^tinatus 

 Engelm, In general it is probably correct, that caestd tosus has no, 

 and pectinatus always soft spin.es, and, though I wou\d not put nuch 

 weight upon this difference, I did observe the undoul^table, that 

 pe^inatus at times has absolut^ely no, caesnita tus, by contra st,, 

 sometines on. some areoles central spines. I still have today spe - 

 eimens, on which this can be seen distinctly in ny posession, That 

 the flowers could be very variable, I did not observe (with us in 

 Berlin they do not bloora) ; f or , that the one has a nore wooolly , 

 the other a nore spiny floral tube, is hardly a large difference.. 

 If however the flowers varied sonewhat, I believe to have pro^ed in 

 my "Beitragen* ( contributions) , that the flowers can vary beyond 

 doubt, Of Ech . pectinata arnata Posg. I send you a dried specinen,, 



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