S16 
DETERMINATIONS OF THE 
of the PricJcly Pears naturalised in New South Wales^ Department of 
Agriculture_, N. S. W. Misc. Publ. no. 153. 
Species 3 . — The name Cactus nigricans was given by Haworth in his 
Miscellanea Nalnralia, 1803, p. 187, to an Opuntia which he had seen 
growing, but which had not then dowered ; in 1311 it flowered and 
he sent flowers to Sims who had them drawn for the Botanic Magazine. 
In 1812 Haworth {Synopsis Plantarum Succulentarum,^. 189) changed 
the name of his plant to OpiilUia nigricans and sent fruits to Sims. 
Sims published in 1813 the figure 1557 in the Botanic Magazine. 
In 1812 Haworth wrongly put DeCandolVs figure of Opuntia mona- 
cantha in the Plantes Grasses under Opuntia nigricans : but that error 
does not affect thc^ nomenclature. 
Species 4 .' — The history of Opuntia clatior is far longer than that 
of Opuntia nigricans. The name dates from Miller'^s Gardeners^ Die- 
tionaryy 8th edition, (1768), no. 4, where the species is defined 'as 
Opuntia (elatior) articulis ovato-oblongis, spinis longissimis nigrescenti- 
bus. Indian Fig with oblong oval joints and very long black spines. 
Tuna elatior spinis validis nigricantibus, Hort. Elth. tab. 194. Taller 
Indian Fig with strong black spines .... The fourth sort grows 
taller than either of the former [i.e.^ Opuntia vulgaris, Opuntia Ficus- 
indica of Miller and Opuntia Tuna) ; the bmnehes are larger, thicker 
and of a deeper green and are armed with strong black spines which 
come out in clusters like those of the other sorts, but the clusters are 
further asunder. The flowers are produced from the upper edges of 
the branches : they are smaller than those of other sorts, and are of 
a purplish colour as also are the stamina^ the fruit is of the same form 
as those of the first, but do not ripen here.^’’ 
It will have been noticed that Miller refers to a plant which Dillen 
had seen growing betw^een 1721 and 1732. Dilleri said that his plant 
was larger than Tuna vulgaris [i.e., Opuntia vulgaris) and taller, grow- 
ing higher than a tali man^s height in seven years, with long rigid 
spines which pass from fuse to black in all cases, and stand out in the 
star of the five on dice (quincunciali ordine) with at their bases a 
pencil (brush) of hairs, the flowers small for the size of the plant, pass- 
ing from yellow (flavus) to purple, the stamens purple, the fruits with 
clusters of thorns, but not ripening in England. 
Miller obviously meant by Opuntia elatior to 
and indeed seems to have taken more of his information from Dillen 
than from actual observation. Dillen had seen the plant grow up 
