2 



Prince Salm May 1, 18^8 



subgenera; that is basicaTlly the sarae,only expressed with. other wordsr,, 

 and, in my opiniorr, less servicable for the correct structure of the 

 family.. The "tribus" (tribes, E.D. ) enclose , in general outline, 

 d.istant and close similarities, and I would have liked the inner 

 structure and the shape of the seeds in the d.etemination of their 

 characters; this is however hardly nossxble for me, and the cotyle- 

 dons alone could provide usefull examination characteristics. I put 

 all that was to be said about seeds into the charactor o rdinis 

 and said: 



"Semina plurima nidulantia, globosa, conpressa out ampulacco - 

 digitalif ormia, teste subossea, nitida, sco biculata, soepe nigra» ■ 

 hilo na^no,ci.rculari,pallido - Albumen nullum vel parci ssimum- - 

 Embryon rectum, abclavatum vel subglobosunr, out curvatum, ooty ledo- 

 nibusjtiberis foliaceis out in cor pus ovideum emarginatim connatis,, 

 t ra^icula hilum spectans " 



Here all is said concisely , what can be said about the form 

 and structure of the seeds of cacti; if, however, one eonsider® 

 every tribus and every srenus separately, all this p-ets stransrely 

 mixed up. . Sometim.es the seeds are round, flat, or even thimble - 

 shaped ( the latter form is specific for the Melocacti ) , sometimes 

 bald-snootit, more or less dark colored ( the Opuntiae do not have 

 all white seeds ), the albumen of them does not provide a constant 

 character, , and, thus, renain last solely and uniquely the cotyledons,, 

 which are connate in the tribus Kelocacteae and Echinocacteae ( 

 sometimes globulosae and sometimes acutae) in the tribus Cereas - 



treae connatae vel liberae, , as well as in the tribus 



and. Stripatldeae (? E.D. ) , and, finally, def initely foliaceae in 

 the l^st two tribes. F^om the examination o^ the seed-corn the genws 

 can rarely be d.etermined; However it can. and rather def initively 

 from the cotyledon*, , and, thus , ? your wellborn , will your judge, 



