Loyal Valley, Ma~on Co, , Texas 

 Feh. 10, 1880 



Dear DoctorJ 



In answering your esteemed letter of Feb. 3 I wish first of all to thank you 



very much for sending the seed of Catalpa apejd&sa. I have grown only Gatalpa 



Kempferl- and C. Syringifolia , both grow very poorly and slow, probably be cause of 



the dryness. Y esterday I sent you a small package with 2 plants of 



Vitis monticola , which I have just received with fresh, beautiful roots, and which 



hopefully will grow better for you than the older woody stalk with few roots, which 



was sent earlier. Today I sent to you a small paper box with Cactus and Ribes aurea 



or nov.sp. with roots, Hopefully they will arrive in good condition. 



In your earlier letter of July 2*f, l8?8 you call attention to Opuntia Davisii . 



This Cylinderopuntia , most feared by animals and people because of its thorns, 



grows here in the granite reßrion in larere masses, blooms greenish yellow about 



in May and, in the upper land are said to make high shrubs, just like 0, a rborescens 



- here only 3-3 1/2 feet high, I have enclosed a. specimen with roots and fruit 



of it, all of which however (even though I have tried many hundreds of them) appear 



to be sterile. When they bloom I will send dried flowers. An old Mexican told me 



that however they have seeds in wet years. Perhaps this is the reason that, after 



the last unusually dry year, not a Single seed was to be found in the fruit. More- 



over I observed that with 0. arborescens , 0. Davisii and 0. Wrightii (if the thinner 



form of cactus limbs (internodes) which I sent to you previously, which are said to 



belong to 0. Wrightii , which I doubt) - the fruits, not as with other cactus varieties 



differ considerably in color and form from the leaf or stem internodes, but first 



appeared as a green leaf or stalk-end, then gradually become wiltet or yellowish 



or dry and fall off. Since the fruit does not appear conspicuously, then often the 



collectors overlook it. On my 0. arborescens and 0. Wrightii , which were completely 



covered with flowers, I could not find a Single fruit with seed. In box 2 I also 



placed 2 very small specimens of what is called 0. Wrightii with roots. In Cactacga 



Mex. B.S. p. 58 you say: 



M arborescens flore purpureo magno" 



In Im 



J=L- J U U 





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Missouri 

 Botan ical 

 Garden 



