CACTACEJE. 
Opuntia. 
249 
ivory-white seeds.—Nutt, in Torr. & Gray, FI. i. 155. 0. erinacea, Engelm. & 
Big. Cact. 1. c. 47, t. 13, fig. 8 -11. 
From the Mohave region (Bigelow) i 
Nuttall. This plant seems to be Nuttall’s long-lost 0. rutila, and also 0. erinacea of i 
Mohave, the flower of which is unknown. Joints 2 to 4 inches long, 1^ to 3 wide, and often, 
especially in young plants, thick and almost terete, thus approaching to 0. fragilis: seeds 3 
lines wide. 
4- 4- Joints and fruit pubescent, without spines. 
6. O. basilaris, Engelm. & Big. Low, with obovate. often refuse or fan-shaped 
joints/ branching only from the base : areolae very close, densely covered with short 
brown bristles: flowers large, rose-purple : fruit subglobose, with deep umbilicus, 
and rather few large and thick seeds. —- Cact. 1. c. 43, t. 13, fig. 1 - 5. 
From the eastern base of the mountains near San Felipe through the desert and into Arizona, 
Bigelow, Newberry, Palmer, &c. Joints 5 to 8 inches long, and often as wide near the top ; dis¬ 
tinct from all other species of this region in its mode of growth, its pubescence, absence of spines 
proper, and its very large seeds (3^ to 5 lines wide), which have a thicker but less prominent rim 
than any other of this section. 
§2. Joints cylindrical, more or less tuberculated: rhaphe usually not prominent, 
therefore seed not margined: embryo forming less than one circle around the 
more copious albumen ; cotyledons inconstant, contrary, oblique, or parallel to 
the sides of the seed. — Cylindropuntia. 
* Low plants with clavate joints, without a firm ligneous skeleton: larger spines 
angular-compressed, without sheaths: berries dry and very bristly. 
7. O. Emoryi, Engelm. Joints long, clavate-cylindrical, with linear-oblong and 
very prominent tubercles: spines numerous (15 to 30) in the upper bundles, the 
5 to 9 inner ones stouter, angular-compressed : seeds large, irregular, the rhaphe in¬ 
distinct. Cact. Mex. Bound. 53, t. 70, 71. 
Colorado desert from San Felipe {Parry, Bigelow) eastward, and into Arizona {Schott, Palmer) 
and the Peninsula, Gabb. Joints 5 to 9 inches long, 1 to 1^ thick; tubercles 1 to 1^ inches 
long; fruit 2 to 2| inches long; seeds 2^ to 3 lines wide. 
8. O. Parryi, Engelm. Joints short, ovate-clavate with oblong tubercles : spines 
12 to 20, reddish gray, the 3 or 4 inner ones stouter, triangular-compressed: seeds 
smaller, regularly circular, with a broad and distinct rhaphe. —Am. Jour. Sci,. 2 ser. 
xiv. 339 ; Cact. of Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 48, t. 22, fig. 4-7. 
Gravelly plains near the Mohave River {Bigelow),. and through the desert to the base of the 
mountains, Parry. Joints 3 or 4 inches long, 1| thick ; tubercles about £ inch long. 
9. O. pulchella, Engelm. Joints smaller, slender : tubercles small: spines 15 
to 25, of which usually one only is stouter, flattened, deflexed: flowers purple : 
ovary and fruit with long flexuous bristles: seeds small, with a broad rhaphe. — 
Trans. Acad. St. Louis, ii. 201; Rot. King Exp, 119 ; fig. in Simpson Rep. ined. 
Sandy deserts of Southeastern California and. Nevada, and among the sage-bushes of the moun¬ 
tains, H. Engclmann, W. Gabb, Watson. The prettiest and smallest of the clavate Opuntice, 
the only one with purple flowers ; joints rarely longer than 1 or 2 inches ; flowers 1£ to 1| inches 
wide ; seeds 2 lines in diameter. 
* * More or less erect, much branched: joints cylindric: ligneous skeleton solid or 
tubular and reticulated: larger spines terete, coated with a loose sheath. 
-i- Fruit dry and spiny: flowers yellow. 
10. O. tessellata, Engelm. Much branched, bushy, from a stout ligneous 
trunk: joints slender, covered with angular flattened ashy-gray tubercles, bearing 
above long single loosely sheathed spines : flowers small, yellow : small oval fruit 
covered with long brown bristles : seeds with a very broad flat rhaphe. — Cact. of 
Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 52, t. 21. 
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