3 



- Poselzer 10 18. 1875 



country could. be a source of wealth for new cacti. In Chile 



Mannilarias seen to be quite rare in South Arierica. Fron there 

 are only Man , sinplex and. M. carascasana knowr with certainty. . 

 But Ce^ei there are nany. C. nultangularis i s a pretty Cereus 

 with dense, bri stle-shaped , bro^. spin.es, and Cer . mult angularis 

 Llnonensis 1s very pretty with tender, white spines; but it is 

 very weak; both grow slowly and do not flower in Europe.- 



Another question, which is still in the dark,are the Melq/ajftus . 

 

 Unf ortunately, these plants are so sensitive, that as a rule they 

 do not live long with us.. I possess f ortunately now a magnifi - 

 cent specinen, of Hei . connu.nl s , which has kept for 2 years already 

 very well and flowers richly... I send you enclosed a little seed 

 of it. My plant is l6| inches high above ground with a diameter of 

 9 fl . The tuft is 2" high. At that, the plant is so fresh andshiny 

 green fron top to botton, that one could think, it had groTvn in 

 one year, . With us here, the plants do not grow that fast. We have 

 had seedlinfes of 2§ - 3 but these dld not have any tufts. There 

 is the question, just how does the tuft forn ?^And can the plant 

 contlnue to grow after the tuft has formed, or is it the tuft on- 

 ly, w^ich grows ? We had in earlier years frequently original ■ plants 



of ML« c 9n«°f rauch lesser heighth with tufts, in fact, I have sone 



in my corpse collection, which are quite small. Could such plants 

 not get any langer ?These and similar questions I have subnitted 

 to a spanlsh botanist, Mr. Dr. Bello y Ropinosa.who stays in Puerto 

 Rico, studylng the flora there, and asked hin to study this problen 

 there in situ 1 and to en.lig.hten it, but have not received an answer 

 as yet.~ It is horrible, that the shipment fron San Diegokas also 



perished. Have the kindness and have an other shipraent in Spri: 



it costs noney, I shall gladly my in the hope to re- 



