~ Prince Salm- March 29. 1855 



which at first hart been described as Mamillarlae due to their out- 

 side similarity» Also in the shape of the berries several Echinoc . 

 approach the Mamill j ; the entire genu s Malacocarpus is in that ca- 

 tegory; the berry has only a very tY)\ n skin, which after ripeningr 

 looks like gold-leaff. Bat, also true Echinoc* have juicy, soft, . and 

 almost smooth berries* here, however, sufficient observations are still 

 missing^ which can be made only in the horaeland; which are extremely 

 important to be made, and which I recommend to you urgently*. 



I 1 well understand, how the genus Opuntla giveö you problems.. 

 You specially labor with the Cylandraceae suf f rute scent i s and arbo- 

 rescentls^ of which we posess only a few species,and of which none 

 ever bloomedr ! Does your 0, clavata belong into thisr ^ ? I do not 

 want to contest this; but, as you do not know my ^ platyacantha 

 and g glomerata, it may rest undecided, where it belongs really.. 

 Further, the 0. clavata grows poorly for rae, and won f t progress; 

 In conf irming your view, I must still say, that in germinating^ of 

 the seeds the cotyledons are not sessilis , but stnd on an inch long 

 little stem (äs with the Op » suf f rutescentes) . . The green Stigmata do 

 not have the same significance for the Opuntiae as for the Eching- 

 cerel ; also, the petala lutea basi are quite frequently cum tinc - 

 tura rubra« » Op« nigricans » decumana and others have dirty-red flo- 

 wers, and the 3 species o f Nopalea have scarlet-red flowers.. 



I r do believe to have answered ycbur letter. Shorter letters 

 may be better in the future; one easlly overlooks several points 

 within much too manyv the answer for which was the most desiredv 



In the 4th issue of the Allg. Gart .Zeitung, which I sent to you,, 

 and which (as I believe) you had not received on Feb. 25t you will 

 find my views r about species, varieties and bastards^ in a wide-ran- 

 gin<g , thorough way. And you too do not know of an example of a 

 wild- growing Hybrid l 



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