224 PLANTS, SEEDS, AND CURRENTS 



The Turk's-head Cactus (Melocactus communis) of Turks 



Islands 



This plant, which figures on the farthing stamps issued in recent 

 years for this colony, has a fancied resemblance to a man wearing a 

 fez, and has given its popular name to the islands. It is still abundant 

 on Eastern Cay and Cotton Cay, and, though now infrequent, was 

 originally common on Grand Turk. The Rev. J. H. Pusey, for 

 many years a Baptist minister in these islands, says in his handbook 

 (Jamaica, 1897) that " it lasts a great number of years without the 

 support of any earth whatever." Small specimens brought by me 

 to England proved their capacity of surviving several weeks in a 

 packing-case. At present there is a risk of this interesting plant 

 being exterminated. I met a planter from the Caicos Islands in 

 1911 who was taking several cases of them to the United States to 

 test the market for their sale. This cactus is usually designated in 

 general literature as Melocactus communis, DC, a species found 

 also in Jamaica, Haiti, Antigua, etc. But in Britton's and Mill- 

 spaugh's manuscript of the Bahamian flora it was regarded under 

 the name of Cactus bahamensis as a plant restricted to the southern 

 Bahamas (the Inaguas, Turks Islands, Caicos Islands, etc.). 



The small red juicy fruits, about 16 mm. long, contain minute 

 black seeds rather over a millimetre in length, and well suited for 

 dispersal by frugivorous birds. Another smaller cactus of similar 

 habit of growth, which I take to be Mamillaria simplex, is associated 

 with it on Grand Turk. It possesses seeds of the same size. The 

 seeds of the common Opuntia tuna measure 5 mm. across. 



