48 
CACTACEjE. 
nearly the same in thickness) one growing on the top of the other so as to resemble, somewhat, 
a jointed finger. In the absence of ripe fruit we are unable, with certainty, to class this species; 
the shape of the joints and the somewhat spinulose fruit seem to bring it very near to 0 . fragilis, 
and it may possibly he a small and compact form of this species, though the appearance is very 
different; on the other hand the subglobose joints seem to refer it to the section Glomeratce, 
Salm. 
Pulvilli 2-4 lines apart, large, white or when old grayish tomentose with very few short 
yellowish bristles, even in the old joints ; spines 9-12 lines long, rather stout, terete, often 
with 1 or 2 short ones not more than 1-2 lines long. No ripe fruit was found (Novr.) which is 
also often the case with 0 . fragilis, but many remains of flowers with globose-ovate fleshy sterile 
red ovaries, 3-4 lines long, some of them becoming larger and probably proliferous, generally 
only some of the upper pulvilli hear a few short spines. The flower seems to have been about 
1 inch in diameter, with about 5 sepals, 8 or 9 petals, and style with 5 stigmata. 
0. fragilis, Haw., the seed of which we give a figure of, (pi. XXIV, fig. 5,) grows on the 
upper Missouri and Yellowstone and probably down to Santa Fe. The joints are small, ovate, 
compressed or turned, or even terete, 4 larger spines on the upper fully developed pulvilli 
cruciate, the upper one suberect, stouter and longer than the others, mostly yellowish-brown ; 
on the lower margin 4-6 small white radiating spines; bristles few. Fruit apparently some¬ 
what fleshy, getting dry much later with 20-28 pulvilli, almost naked, only the upper ones 
with a few short spines ; seeds few, large, regular. 
Subgen. 2. Cylindropuntia, Engelm. 
§ 1. Clavatce. 
17. 0. clavata, E. in Wisl. Rep. (Plate XXII, fig. 1-3.) Found from Santa Fe to Albu¬ 
querque, where Wislizenus and Fendler had already collected it, and no where else. A 
remarkable and well characterized species, the type of this section. We add to the characters 
previously published, (Wislizenus’ Report note 12, and Plantae Fendlerianae in Mem. Amt 
Acad. vol. IV, page 49,) that the leaves are long and subulate, 2-2| lines long; the broades- 
spines were 1± lines wide; fruit 1^-lf inch long, lemon-yellow, almost covered with 30-50 
hemispherical pulvilli, which bear innumerable white slender bristles, spreading ray-like in 
every direction. Seeds large for this section, and, as in all the allied species, transverse or 
broader than high ; 2-^—3 lines in the longest diameters, rostrate, somewhat angular ; commis¬ 
sure (which in the cylindric and clavate opuntiie replaces the rim of the flat-jointed ones), 
impressed, linear or a little wider ; cotyledons in several seeds examined by me oblique. 
18. 0. Parryi, E. in Sillim. Journ., Nov., 1852: Articulis ovatis hasi clavatis, tuberculis 
oblongo-elongatis, pulvillis albo-tomentosis setas paucas rigidas gerentibus ; aculeis angulatis 
scabris rubello-cinereis, interioribus validioribus sub-4 triangulato-compressis, exterioribus 5-8 
angulatis supra infraque divergentibus, extimis 6-10 gracilibus rigidis radiantibus ; bacca ovato 
basi clavata pulvillis sub-40 setosissimis stipata; seminibus regularibus latius commissuratis. 
(Plate XXII, fig. 4-7.) 
On the gravelly plains 30 miles west of the Colorado, near the Mojave river ; southward to 
the eastern slope of the California mountains near San Felipe, Dr. Parry. Joints 2|-3 or 4 
inches long, 1|- inch in diameter, attenuated not only below but also somewhat above in the 
specimen before us. Tubercles about 9 lines long, pulvilli small, bristles few, coarse and long. 
Spines very numerous in 3 series ; the 4 inner ones 12-16 lines long, lines broad, the lower 
one somewhat flattened, the others triangular ; the next series consists usually of 2-3 upper 
ones and 3-5 lower ones, angular, more slender and shorter than the first, 4-8 lines long ; the 
third or external circle consists of 6-10 bristly slender spines, 3-4 lines long, some above, but 
