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bad o^ctus venera, e.g. Zucoarini the rrenus K chinopsis t w ^ 1 c h accor- 

 d.1n*r to my opinion belongs uncondi tionally to Gebens » Ar von re v ^ark 

 correctly.as such natural s^oups Opuntia a^d Peireskia are ar.pa.rert. 

 ( that you did not see ^.one of the latter , surprises ne, heoan.se De 

 Cardolle pictures such beautif nl , nexican Peireskias ) . For the charac- 

 ter of Opuntias, which Is specially in the seeds ,to which I believe 

 to be the first to to attract attention, several striking vegetative 

 variations can be added; sucV as the folia subulata decidua (awl-sha- 

 ped f deciduous leaves.E.D. ) , and then the aculei et setae baetatae 

 ( spines and bristle-like hair 



the latter dif f erentiate innediately the Peireskias with opuntia-like 



leaves.even when the flowers are missirg. This character of the spines 



is strangely constantjl find it also in the family of Lc/saoeae ,where 



all species (at "Lea st as fa^ as I know them) are provided with stiff, 



innumerable Short ( broad ,less sharp f and not really bent backward s) 



little hooks. The seeds of the PeJ 1 reskias J of which I had occasion to 



examine several (frora Cuba and South America) , are entirely different 



from Opuntia seeds; black, similar to the other cacti,with large,leaf- 



like cotyledons, so that as far as seeds are concerned, the Opuntia 



Stands entirely alone. I would rather divi.de the entire family into 



according to the seeds 

 2 larere Croups fwhere the Opuntias would stand opposite all the others. 



If one wanted to separate Nopalea a^d Opuntia one would have also se- 

 parate Xenommtla a>nd also probably Cylindropuntia .But I would rather 

 1 e a ve the pt e nu s un i t e d . 



What Cactus moniliformis is, I f H rather completely defer,until 

 the plant will sone time be found a^ain a^d carefully examined. If the 

 Illustration of Plumier is correct,then I do >^ot doubt in the least, 

 that it is a genuine Cereus.- I would like to stick to the dif ference 

 in the cotyledon, which I was the first to find.though it is not present 

 quite absolutely, as we find the same with the Conif ers» where this cha- 



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