Prince Salm 



Jüly 13, 1850 



m.e to be nore ^racefuli. The name TOginata 1 s not well choseir, . because 

 other species- deserve it in a mich higher degree, and one nust wait f . 

 how the plant will develop. The seeds of the Echin ocaetjj (near Sol - 

 tillo) have f requently sprouted:, and also a few of the Cereus from San- 

 ta Fe. Of the seeds from the precedim year have geminated this year:: 

 th e Opuntia phoracantha; which I' am very glad about.. Also, other, ol- 

 der seeds- have geminated", and one should never throw seed pots away too 

 fast., — In the Valley of Meptitlan, 45 hours north-east of Mbxico City 

 a lot of the nost beautiful Cacti are suppose* to be found. The Pilo- 

 cereus- sinilis, Bchinoc. ornatus, Man. , bicolor aristata grow there orr 

 chalk-like (linestone-like) rocks, and fron there I also reeeived a nag- 

 nificent, dark-brown Echinoc». gnlssbregh'tir ( fron the name of the dis- 

 coverer) »which nust be placed next to Ech. ornatus. . Other Speeles I also 

 reeeived , and expect still new ones. . The gen.us Opuntia is specially close 

 to my heartf, and I reeeomend to you the continuation of your examinations,, 

 in order to make it possible tö (as I say on page 2^7) ) elevate the sec- 

 tion Cylindraceag to a ^enus.. I would have liked to enclose the berries 

 fron the Ummtias flowering here t But they rarely ripen, and even rarer 

 contain seeds«». I sha.ll have them collected never the less; they ripen brr- 

 ly in the second year.. You may antieipate a priori, that all your Opuntias 

 are new species with exception of sone c yl and raceae, ,whi c h have become 

 known to us fron Mexico-, and a few northern species, which have been des- 

 cribed by Nuttal.. All other species cane fron southerrr areas • fron the 

 Islands* the area of Caracas, , and fron Chile, as well as f^on the And es-; 

 where they ascend to considerable altitude.. The genus is reliably the one,, 

 whichr extends the farthest north and south, and is covering nost of the 

 entire America. - The Cer. Depp ei fron your garden may be C*_cinerus- 

 cans ? is until now however graertior than cineruscans itself. and 

 distances itself much fron the var. Jl crassior. - Your C er.prostratus 

 belongs beyond doubt to + Pen.talophi ,and is perhaps not different fron- 



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