June i6, 1877.] 
THE GARDENERS’ Cl. 
// / X y'/ 
The Eagle’s Claw Cactus. — In a late numoer 
of your paper (June 16, p. 749) a doubt is expressed 
whether the figure of the Eagle’s Claw Cactus (the 
Mexicans call all these fish-hook Cacti, and the 
Indians actually make fish-hooks of those spines) 
truly represents E. Wislizeni, on account of the length 
and number of the spines. Botanists are only now 
learning, and amateurs will by-and-by also learn, 
that the length as well as the number of spines vary 
greatly in the same species of Cactus, and that age 
brings about great changes, not only in the shape of 
the plants and the number of their ribs, but par- 
ticularly in the arrangement, number, and size of 
their spines. Young plants are more globose, with 
fewer libs, smaller and fewer spines, in simpler order. 
In Echinocactus Wislizeni, of which I have seen a 
great many specimens of all sizes, this is most 
strikingly the case. As an instance I send you a 
bunch of spines just received from Arizona, taken from 
a large flowering plant, which exhibits a new variation 
of the same species— viz , with curved but never 
hooked spines. G. Ejtgelmann, St. Louis, Missouri, 
THE EAGLE’S CLAW 
ECHINOCACTUS. 
The handsome Echinocactus of which we give an 
illustration (fig. 1 19) from a plant in Mr. Peacock’s col- 
lection is probably, as we learn from Dr. Engelmann, 
to whom we submitted the drawing, closely allied to 
E. Wisifzeni, a species characterised by the central 
spine of each tuft being stout, flattened, ribbed, and 
hooked at the point ; others of the spines are weaker 
and straight, the outermost setaceous, often twisted. 
^ Mr. Croucher, who has the two plants side by side, 
tells us that the present species differs from E. Wis- 
lizeni in the larger number of spines, the central 
hooked one being channelled, and much longer than 
\ in the species just named, reaching to 3I inches. The 
!i'' ribs of the stem are, also, less prominent. The flower 
is of a pale yellow colour. In any case it is a very 
striking plant, sure to be appreciated by Cactus 
lovers. Its botanical position must rest for the time 
undetermined, though the probability is that it is an 
undescribed species. Meanwhile, to distinguish it 
temporarily, we may call it the Eagle’s Claw Echino- 
1533 
Fig. 1 19.— the eagle’s claw echinocactus. 
7 8 9 10 Missouri 
, , Botanical 
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