FEROCACTUS. 
129 
8. Ferocactus lecontei* (Engelmanrp. 
Echinocactus lecontei Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 274. 1856. 
Echinocactus icislizeni lecontei Engelmann in Rothrock, Rep. U. S. Geogr. Sure. 6: 128. 1878. 
Becoming cylindric, 2 meters high or more, rather slender; ribs numerous, 20 to 30, somewhat 
undulate; areoles longer than broad; some of the radial spines thread-like or bristly; the other 
radials and the central spines flattened and flexible, usually appressed against the plant, most of 
them ascending, rarely if ever hooked, white to red; flowers originally described as yellow, also 
reported as red, 5 to 6 cm. long; fruit oblong, yellow; seeds minute, less than 2 mm. long, black, 
shiny, reticulated, slightly compressed. 
Type locality: Lower parts of the Gila in western Arizona. 
Distribution: Southern California along the Colorado, northern Lower California, 
Sonora, and east into 1 tah and Arizona. The geographic limits of the plant are ill-defined. 
It seems to overlap or at least to interlock with the western range of F. wislizeni, while the 
dividing line of the west between it and the following species is unknown to us. 
I he species always has been confused with Ferocactus wisltzeni, some writers consider¬ 
ing it a distinct species, others only a variety or form, while Engelmann treated it at one 
tune as a species and at another as a variety. We believe that it will eventually be 
proven to be a distinct species. I his is the concensus of opinion of good field observers 
who have visited the western deserts. 
'1 he following differences have been reported and, while they may not all hold, some of 
them certainly do: I-. lecontei is said to be taller and slenderer; the spines more flexible and 
flattened, perhaps never hooked; the flowers smaller, perhaps red instead of yellow; the 
seeds smaller and more reticulated. 
R. lecontei albispinus ( Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 17: 32. 1907) and var. hagei (Monatsschr. 
Kakteenk. 4: 144. 1904) are only names. E. wislizeni phoeniceus Kunze (Monatsschr. 
Kakteenk. 23: 8. 1913) and var. albus (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 17: 118. 1907) may 
belong here. 
This species was named for Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte (1825-1883) who first noticed 
the plant on the Lower Gila in Arizona. 
Illustrations: Bull. Geol. Surv. 613; pi. 38, B; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 9: 67; Schelle, 
Handb. Kakteenk. 168. f. 98, as Echinocactus u'islizeni lecontei; Watson, Cact. Cult. 
io 7 - f- 38; ed. 2. 249. f. 93; Gartenflora 32: 148; Deutsche Gart. Zeit. 7: 53; Garten- 
Zeitung 4: 243. f. 56; Pac. R. Rep. 4: pi. 2, f. 3 to 5; Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 4: 43; 20: 71; 
22: 5; Cact. Journ. 2: 102; Cact. Mex. Bound, pi. 27; Riimpler, Sukkulenten 117. f. 64; 
Diet. Gard. Nicholson 1: 500. f. 691; Forster, Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 211. f. 18; 511. f. 62, as 
Echinocactus lecontei. 
9 . Ferocactus acanthodes (Lemaire). 
Echinocactus acanthodes Lemaire, Cact. Gen. Nov. Sp. 106. 1839. 
Echinocactus viridescens cylindraceus Engelmann, Amer. Journ. Sci. II 14: 338. 1852. 
Echinocactus cylindraceus Engelmann, Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 275. 1856. 
At first globular but in age cylindric, sometimes nearly 3 meters high, very' spiny; ribs numerous, 
often as many as 27, acute, 1 to 2 cm. high; areoles large, 1 cm. in diameter or more, denselv brown- 
felted when young, closely set, often nearly contiguous; spines often white or pinkish or sometimes 
bright red; radial spines weak, setiform or aeicular, usually pungent, often spreading; central spines 
subulate, slender, spreading, more or less flattened, annulate, tortuous and more or less curved, but 
never hooked at the tip, the longest 10 to 12 cm. long; flowers campanulate, yellow to orange, 4 to 
6 cm. long, usually broader than long; scales on the ovary and flower-tube imbricate, ovate, with a 
large purple blotch on their back, gradually passing upward into the perianth-segments; inner 
perianth-segments glossy', narrowly oblong to spatulate, obtusish, often toothed; filaments numerous, 
yellow, papillose; style greenish yellow, swollen below; stigma-lobes 14, yellow, about one-third the 
length of the style; fruit oblong, 3 cm. long, crowned by the scaly perianth, drv, dehiscing by a basal 
pore; seeds black, 3.5 mm. long, pitted. 
*The specific name is sometimes incorrectly written E. lecontii or E. lecomtei. 
