Translation Engelmann Folder 
Eliasson March 11,1996 
Bot. Notebook 14 
Folder 10 
In the Bulletin de la Societe imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou 1859 No 2 
there is on p.585 and the following an eighteen page long article with several 
figures in the text and two tables by Nicolaus Kaufmann: On the history of the 
development of the cactus spines. I do not know how to get a reprint but can 
order you a copy of the whole issue or have the article handcopied. The essence 
is as follows: 
“If we look back at all that has so far been said ,so is the result that in all the cacti 
we have examined the spines are leaforgans and play the role of arched 
scales(fornix). The other organs such as the bristles and the hairs which consist 
of several rows of cells are nothing but different forms of the same and must not 
be regarded as superficial membrane formations. The hairpillows which carry 
spines are axillary buds in which one can everywhere demonstrate an apical 
cone. This one is either active here or also already present when most spines 
are developed or it disappears very quickly after they are formed. In the first 
case new spines and even shoots could be formed from them; in the second 
case new formation of these parts would be impossible. Thus the cacti have 
buds which can and those which cannot develop. In the last case branching if it 
occurs at all takes place via special adventitious buds which form above the 
axillary buds. Leaves are present in the early stages of development of all cacti 
but develop rarely completely; usually they are arrested in their development and 
appear only as rudiments or coalesce completely with leaf cushions (pulvini). By 
the location of the axillary buds one can determine the border between the leaf 
and the leaf cushions; both originate together from a leaf-”anlage”. The leaf 
cushions are always strongly developed in the cacti; they reach their highest 
level in the genus Mammillaria where they appear as large warts.” 
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