BOTANICAL REPORT. 
443 
0 
^ ; 6 <v ^ y 
Opuntia pul^ella (spec, nov.) :* *■ parvula caespitosa ^diffusa; articulis parvis ob- 
ovato-clavatis; foliisN^aimitis e basi ovata subulatis; areolfe coufertis, superioribus acu- 
leos albidos rectos, siWulum longiorem complanatum porrectum seu deflexum alios 
brevissimos radiantes getentibus; floris purpurei ovario' areolis 13-15 convexis albo 
villosissimis et longe set(ws dense stipato; sepalis inferforibus lineari-oblongis breviter 
cuspidatis, superioribus spariilatis; petalis sub-8 obovatis obtusis, stylo cylindrico ex- 
serto, stigmatibus 5 linearibus suberectis; bacca sicca setosissima, seminibus crassis 
rhaphe lata plana notatis. / 
Sandy deserts on Walker Iriver;t fl. in June. / 
This is one of the smallest, \ it is one of the prettiest, species of this genus. It 
belongs to the Small section of Oiavatce (Synops./Cact. p. 46) of the cylindric Opun- 
tice, but is distinct from all those knbwn to me by/its small joints and purple flowers; 
all the others have, so far as I knowk yellow flowers. Joints 1-1J inches long, 4-6 
lines thick, very slightly tuberculated-Meaves scarcely one line long; areolae crowded, 
white woolly; larger central spine on to@ upper/areolae 4—6 lines long, flat, and some¬ 
what rough above, convex below; smallf^* ones 4—6 or 10, radiating, 1J lines long; 
flowers crowded, of a beautiful bright ^urpnsh-red or deep rose-red color, 1J—1J 
inches in diameter; ovary 4—5 lines long, bes^t with white capillary spines, 3—5 lines 
long, 15-20 on each areola; style not ventri^bse, as is usual in the genus, but cylin 
dric; stigmas slender, pale yellow; berry clavate, at last dry, about 1 inch long, well 
marked by the conspicuous white-woolly areolae and their numerous purplish-brown, 
flexible, hair-like bristles, 4^6 or 7 lines long. j These bristles are entirely destitute of the 
minute barbs which otherwise invariably clpractefize spines and bristles of Opuntiw, 
The, thick round seeds, 2 lines in diameter,/are well\distinguished by a broad rha phe, 
much wider than. I have seen it in any other clavate 4 , ^ ^ 
^ Pj ^ — ^ 
Plate 3, Fig. 1. Part of a plant of Opuntijt pulchella , snowing a flower-bud and two 
l | flowers, natural size. 
i Figs. 2-4. Bunches of spines, 4 time! the natural sizd 
| Fig. ; 5. / Section of a larger spine, mcpe magnified. 
Fig. 6. A leaf from an^ ovary with me axillary woolly and bristly areola, 4 times 
natural size. \ 
Fig. 7. A fruit. 
Figs. 8-9. Seed, 4 times magnified!; fig. 9 showing the brdfd rhaphe. 
anl cylindric, fresli or dark green, usually growing one on top of the other, forming chain^ of 1 or 2 feet long, at la* 
prostrate; joints fragile, separating as readily as in O.jfragilis ; tumid pulvilli 4-6 or even 8 Ipies apart; leaves 2£-3£ j 
•»-4-lines long, incurved; spines 1-1^ inches long, Very straight, when in threes divergent like the V crowsfoot ” used again! 
cavpiry, whence the name given by the military gejntlemen who discovered this species, flowers TJ—l'i- inches fin 
diameter ; sepals and petals less numerous and narrower than in any allied species; ovary aboiit i inch long, with oily 
2 of 3 areolae on the surface and 3-5 on the upper margin. Fruit obovate, 6-7 lines long, rose^purple, with a shall!) ~ 
, umliilicus, often ed crowned with the blackened remains of the flower; areolae almost obliterate^; red pulp very gli| 
. noils, including 1-3 or at most 5 seeds, which are^regularly shaped, lenticular, with a narrow but thick and a 
1 obttise rim. By its pulpy fruit, this species is widely re moved from O.fragilis, to which its tumid a^d fragile join ts s 
\ ^lly itj m^nnn it . iw .. ~a^dtoO.~vulaaris and O. Rafin&squii 
* An account of this species was given in the Transactions of the St. Louis Acad. 2, p. 201 (1863). 
t This pretty species was afterward collected, 1867, “ among the sage brushes” of Nevada, by Mr. William Gabb 
and in the following year by Mr. S. Watson u frequent in the valleys of Western Nevada from the Trinity Mountains 
| to Monitor Valley, 4-5,000 feet alt.” ^ S'T\ J 
