OPUNTIA. 
319 
spines and pale-red fl. It is with, more probability asserted by 
Sir W. J. Hooker in BM. tt. 2741, 2742, as before by Haworth 
(Syn. 188), to be the Cactus Tuna L. (not DC. PL Gr.) ; but I 
am extremely doubtful of its precise identity with that sp. as 
here restricted and defined, on account of the very numerous 
spines in each fascicle and the purple or madder-red fr. ; though 
it may just possibly have been some unusually spinose cult, 
form of it with the fr. unnaturally coloured as it occurs some- 
times out of season in the Mad. pi. 
Cactus Opuntia C. (inscribed on the plate C. Opuntia tuna ) 
DC. PI. Gr. 138 has the spines on the whole too long and nu- 
merous for the common Mad. and Can. pi., with moreover pale 
lemon-y. fl. stained or streaked outside with reddish, and the 
fr. described as “ rouge.” The joints agree in shape with those 
of the true O. Tuna L., but their glaucous tint cannot be relied 
upon, being the common col. in the work resulting from gr. 
colour-printing. It is remarkable that in his Prodr. DC. does 
not refer at all, not even under his Opuntia Tuna, to this figure. 
And on the whole, notwithstanding its reference in BM. t. 3911 
to the present sp. 0. Tuna (L.) and by Haworth (Syn. 189) to 
his O. nigricans, I must rather consider it to belong to O. Dil- 
lenii (Ker). 
Other sp. of Opuntia occasionally seen in gardens in or about 
Funchal are — 1. 0. cylindrica (Lam.) DC. iii. 471 ; BM. 3301 ; 
habit of a Cereus, st. cylindric suberect only here and there 
branched, areolato-tuberculose not jointed, spines setiform 
feeble 2- or 3-5- or O-fascicled, fl. red rather small. — 2. 0. bra- 
siliensis (Willd.) Haw. Suppl. 79 ; DC. iii. 474 ; BM. 3293 ; st. 
erect virgate terete, spines strong long numerous subsolitary 
on the somewhat thin and sinuated joints, fl. y., fr. y. — 3. 0 . 
monacantha (Willd.) Ilaw. Suppl. 81 ; Ker in Bot. Reg. 
20. t. 1726; DC. Prodr. iii. 472. no. 15 (excl. syn. “DC. PI. 
Gr. n. 137 cum tab. 2,” quoted as “Cactus Opuntia Tuna,” 
but called in PI. Gr. 1. c. Cactus coccinillifer or on the plate 
cochenillifer ) ; with large thin waved or flaccid full grass-gr. 
almost stalked oblong-lanceolate or elliptic joints 2-4 times as 
long as broad armed with very long strong slender spines l a— 3 
in. long, solitary or in pairs, naked at their base, rather small 
golden-y. fl., the outer pet. red or streaked with red outside, and 
copious longish pear-shaped fr. dull ruddy red or purplish on 
the upper side till ripe, and then pale apple-gr. or yellowish 
tinged with reddish. — 4. 0. vulgaris Mill. Haw. Syn. 190; 
DC. iii. 474; BM. 2393; st. low diffuse, spines 0, fl. y., fr. 
purple. — 5. 0. microdasys Lehm., with rather small stiff ob- 
q 5 
