442 
EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 
0. rutila , Nutt, in Torr. & Gray, Flor. .1, p. 555. Joints 5 inches long, half as wide, 
obovate; leaves 1J lines long; areolso closely set with long straw-colored bristles; 
lower ojies with few and short white spines, upper ones with numerous grayish-red 
spines, 1^-2 inches in length. Flowers pale straw-colored, 2^-3 in diameter; ovary 
I inch long, with 20-30 white woolly aculeolate areolse; exterior sepals oblanceolate, 
squarrose, or recurved at the elongated tip; petals obovate, obtuse, crenulate; style 
with 8 or 10 short erect stigmas, longer than the stamens. The squarrose tips of the 
sepals are particularly conspicuous on the bud. 
Opuntia Missou£iensis, De Cand. Prod. 3, p. 472; Torr. dc Gray , FI. 1, p. 555 (in 
part); Cactus ferox, Nutt. Gen. 1, p. 296. 
From the deserts of Salt Lake Valley to Rush Valley; specimens without flower 
or fruit. Joints small (2-3 inches long), broadly obovate or circular; areolae closely 
set; spines numerous, stiff, stout, angular, white, mostly deflexed. 
Opuntia Missouriensis, var. albispina, Fngelm. & Bigelow , l. c. p. 46; t. 14, fs. 
8-10; Syn. Cact. p. 44. 
Smith Creek, Lookout Mountains, in Western Utah ; flowering in July. By their 
slender flexuous spines, the specimens approach to var. trichophora. Flowers 3-3 J 
inches in diameter, bright golden-yellow; ovary 1 inch long, with 20 or 25 areolae, 
scarcely spiny; exterior sepals obovate, cuspidate; petals about 8, obtuse, crenulate; 
style shorter than the stamens; stigmas about 5, very short, erect. Scu^e flowers have 
elongated and very spiny ovaries, evidently abortive. 
Opuntia fragilis, Haworth , Suppl. p. 82; Torr. & Gray , FI. 1, p. 555; Synops. Cact. 
p. 45; Cactus fragilis, Nutt. Gen. 1, p. 296. 
Fort Kearny to the North Platte country; in flower in June and July. This is, 
I believe, the first time that the flowers of this species were collected since NuttalPs 
discovery of it in 1813. Travelers report that the plant is very frequently seen in the 
sterile prairies east of the Rocky Mountains, but that it is rare to find them in flower 
and rarer still in fruit. Since many years I have the plant in cultivation from speci¬ 
mens brought down by Dr. Hayden, but have not been able to get it to flower. 
Nuttall only informs us that the flowers are solitary and small. Tn the specimen 
before me, they are yellow, scarcely 2 inches in diameter; ovary 8-9 lines long; the 
1^~45 areolm are densely covered with thick white wool; the upper ones bear a few 
white spines; lower sepals broadly oval, with a short cusp; petals 5, obovate, rounded, 
crenulate; style longer than the stamens; stigmas 5, short, erect, cuspidate.* 
* Through the kindness of Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Apalachicola, Fla., I have received living specimens and fruit 
of O. Pes Corvi , so that I can now complete the description of this very distinct southern species. 
Opuntia Pes Corvi, Le Conte in herb. Engelm .; Append, to Synops. Cact. in Proceed. Am. Acad. Arts Sc. 3,j>! 346; Chap¬ 
man, hi. South. U. S. p. 145: diffusa, laete viridis; articulis parvis ovatis sen. obovatis tumidis saepius teretiusculis con¬ 
catenates fragilibus; pulvillis subdistantibus pulvinatis; foliis teretiusculis ovatis cuspidatis incurvis ; areolis junioribus 
* albo-tomentosis setas parcas brevissimas pallidas et plerisque aculeos 1-3 rectos rigidos saepe basi compressos tortosve 
obscuros gerentibus, infimis inermibus; floribus flavis miuoribus; ovario obovato pulvillos perpaucos fusco-villosos ge- 
rente; sepalis exterioribus ovato-lanceolatis, interioribus obovatis cuspidatis; petalis sub-5 obovatis spatulatis obtusis; 
stylo stamina aequante, stigmatibus 4-5 erectis; seminibus paucissimis anguste obtuseque marginatis in pulpa viscosa 
baccae parvae rubrae saepe floris rudimentis coronatae nidulantibus. 
Barren sandy places along the coast of Georgia and Florida. Joints 1-3 inches long, obovate tumid, or narrower 
