4 Poselger Sept. 2,.l86l 



Of the Opuntias, which I found on my trip, I collected only the 

 most outstanding forms and sent then to Berlin. All, however, arri- 

 ved d^diand, unf ortunately, the sfe^eletons were not preserved", so 

 that all references for comparisons are missing for rie. But I 

 recognize agäin from your descriptions several Speeles, whereas 

 others are totally unknown to me« I remeraber very well the stränge 

 0. stenopetala , with its sraall; dark-om^ge colored flowers and the 

 stränge, often backward curved spines. Colonel Jacob! posesses an 

 Opuntia under another name, which I believe to be stenopetala , - 



One similar to 0. . .^^\ is in great quantities the 



other side of Saltillo. It is of special beauty, with much loni?er t , 

 denser spines than J*moryi ( ?? E.D, ) , so that at first viewing of 

 the plant, nothing of the plant can be seen but the pale-yellow 

 woolly, sometimes shiny spines. This Lustre is caused by a ten - 

 de^soft, straw-like encasimg, with which every spine is clothed. 

 At the least touch, the very sharp and strong spines penetrate deep 

 into the flesh, and anchor in it + through small counter-hooks, , with 

 which the tip is coveredi, so strongly, that a fairly strong nen- 

 ber of the plant 1 will tear, rather than the spine let go. Such a 

 straw-like encasing of the sharp spines I also observed on several 

 other Opuntias. So, for instance, on the variety O. f rutescens . - 

 In studyi ng your magnificent opus the wish always arises,to po - 

 esess as large a number as possible of these beautiful plant s f which 

 you describe. In several places of your text it seems to appear,, 

 that plants, brought home by expeditions, are being cultivated irr 

 the Congressional Garden in Washington, 



( here, one line is missing fron the deterioratetf oril&al page) 

 Without doubt, they will flo^ish in the mild climate of Washing- 

 ton, produce seed.s, and nultiply, so that there are certainlyi du - 

 plicates of many species on hand. It would be most agreeable for 



