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The North American Species of Cactus, Anhalonium, and Lophophora
by John M. Coulter
June, 1998 [Etext #1221]
The Project Gutenberg Etext of North American Species of Cactus
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A Preliminary Revision of the North American Species of Cactus,
Anhalonium, and Lophophora by John M. Coulter.
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Division of Botany
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE U. S. NATIONAL HERBARIUM
Vol. III—No. 2
Issued June 10, 1894
Preliminary Revision of the North American Species of Cactus,
Anhalonium, and Lophophora.
by
John M. Coulter.
Published by Authority of the Secretary of Agriculture
Washington
Government Printing Office
1894
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Division of Botany
Washington, D. C., March 21, 1894
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for publication as
Vol. III, No. 2, of Contributions from the U. S. National
Herbarium, a Preliminary Revision of the North American species
of Cactus, Anhalonium, and Lophophora, by President John M.
Coulter.
Respectfully,
Frederick V. Coville,
Chief of the Division of Botany.
Hon. J. Sterling Morton,
Secretary of Agriculture.
PRELIMINARY REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF CACTUS, ANHALONIUM, AND LOPHOPHORA. Prefatory Note. In the fall of 1890 Dr. George Vasey, then Botanist of the Department of Agriculture, arranged with me to prepare a revision of North American Cactaceae. Owing to the peculiar difficulty of preserving material the family was poorly represented, even in our leading herbaria. To secure a large amount of additional material in the way of specimens and field notes the Department authorized me to visit the region of the Mexican boundary during the summer of 1891. Preliminary to this exploration it was necessary to examine the Engelmann collection of Cactaceae, in the possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden. This collection, supplemented by the continual additions made at the garden, is by far the largest collection of skeletons and living specimens in this country, and also contains the large majority of our types.
In March, 1891, I visited this collection and made such notes as seemed necessary for use in the field, and in June, accompanied by Mr. W. H. Evans and Mr. G. C. Nealley, I began field work in the neighborhood of El Paso, Tex. After ten days of exploration it was necessary for me to leave the field work in charge of Mr. Evans, who, with Mr. Nealley, continued work westward, during July and a part of August, to southern California, along the Southern Pacific Railway. As a result a large number of complete plant bodies was secured, but very few of them were in flower and the field notes indicated little besides collection stations. During the following fall and winter preliminary determinations of this material were made by Mr. Evans. In the fall of 1892 critical study of this and other collections was begun in connection with my assistants, Dr. Elmon M. Fisher and Mr. Edwin B. Uline, who have ever since rendered constant and most import assistance in the examination of material and bibliography, which alone has made the work possible in the midst of other pressing duties.
In the spring of 1893 these two gentlemen spent several weeks at the Missouri Botanical Garden in the critical study of its rich material, and during the latter part of their stay I assisted in the work. Dr. William Trelease, the director of the garden, had hastened the arrangement of the Engelmann material, and had mounted in convenient form the large mass of notes left by Dr. Engelmann. These notes contained not only critical remarks upon known species, but also the diagnoses of many unpublished species which had come into his hands, notably those collected by Mr. William Gabb in 1867 in Lower California. The collections that have thus far been studied are:
(2) Those of the Department of Agriculture, including the results of several recent explorations, for the use of which I am indebted to Mr. Frederick V. Coville.
(3) Those of the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University, which Dr. B. L. Robinson kindly placed at my disposal.
(4) Those of the California Academy of Sciences, notably rich in forms from Lower California and the adjacent islands, kindly loaned by Mr. T. S. Brandegee.
(5) Those of Dr. Louis Eschanzier, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, who send a large series of Mexican forms collected in 1891.
(6) Numerous small sets from different correspondents, who have given both time and material in aiding the work.
It is needless to say that Dr. George Engelmann, the great pioneer student of this difficult family, has opened the paths in which we must follow, and it was exceedingly unfortunate that he was not able to complete the final revision that he had in mind.
The difficulties which beset the critical study of this group can not be easily exaggerated. Such scanty material as has been collected has been for the most part very incomplete, consisting of plant bodies without flower or fruit, flower or fruit without plant bodies, and bunches of spines without either. The species are displayed also in the most inaccessible regions, and their culmination is found in the still poorly known regions of Mexico.
On account of their singular forms and often brilliant flowers they have long been extensively cultivated, especially in Europe. These cultivated forms have formed the basis of original descriptions in almost all of the European publications, and in very rare cases have any types been preserved. As a result, the bibliography of Cactaceae is appalling, and it is questionable whether satisfactory conclusions can be reached in the case of hundreds of published names. The earlier descriptions were not only meager, but were based upon what are now regarded very insufficient characters, and in the absence of types it is not only unsafe, but impossible to venture an opinion concerning their identity. In view of these facts, I have thought it advisable to present a preliminary revision of the order, which shall contain the results of the study of material confessedly insufficient. With such knowledge as we possess brought together, it is hoped that the study of this very interesting and much neglected group will be stimulated, and that more critical exploration of our southwestern territory and adjacent Mexico will make a more satisfactory presentation possible. It would be useless to notice the vast number of reputed species that are not represented by actual specimens in our possession.
In the proposed preliminary account of the family, of which the present paper is the first part, only those genera are considered which form a part of the flora of the United States, and those species which I have been able to examine and to identify with reasonable certainty. All forms credited to the United States have been studied, and the account of these species may be considered fairly complete, but the far more numerous Mexican species are but scantily represented. The Mexican boundary is so unnatural a dividing line in the distribution of Cactaceae that it has been disregarded, and all the species studied have been arranged in a lineal series of uniform prominence. So far as known the subject of geographical distribution is considered, but it will be seen how meager is our knowledge of this subject. It is to be hoped that this preliminary presentation will provoke exploration and study, and that species will not only be collected, but all the facts of their distribution noted. It is more than probable that our present notion of species in this group must be much modified, and doubtless many forms are at present kept specifically distinct which will prove to be but different phases of a single species.
In the matter of generic delimitation we are in still greater uncertainty, and several generic lines at present recognized must be regarded as purely arbitrary, a fact which must become still more evident with additional material. The whole group is to be regarded as made up of poorly differentiated forms and only long observation under cultivation can determine the possibilities of specific variation under the influence of environment, of age, of inherent tendencies. For instance, that these plants change in form and in spine characters with increasing age and after they have begun to flower can not be doubted, but what described forms have thus been separated in descriptions can only be guessed at.
John M. Coulter.
Lake Forest University,
Lake Forest, Ill., January, 1891.
CACTUS, ANHALONIUM, AND LOPHOPHORA.
1. CACTUS Linn. Sp. Pl. 466 (1753), restricted.
MAMILLARIA Haw. Synop. 177 (1812), not Stackh. (1809).
Usually globose to oblong plants (simple, branching or cespitose), but sometimes slender-cylindrical, covered with spine-bearing tubercles: flower-bearing areola axillary (with reference to tubercles), entirely separate from the terminal spine-bearing areola, although sometimes (Coryphantha) connected with it by a woolly groove along the upper face of the tubercle: ovary naked: seeds smooth or pitted: embryo usually straight, with short cotyledons. Originally defined by Linnaeus in his Systema, ed. l (1735).
The Linnaean genus Cactus of 1753 included 22 species and was coextensive with the present order. In 1812 the species were separated by Haworth into five genera, the original generic name Cactus being discarded. Among these species C. mamillaris seems to have stood as the type, not only of the Linnaean genus Cactus, but also of Haworth's Mamillaria, and as such should retain the original generic name. Besides, Mamillaria was used as the generic name of an alga in 1809. Cactus mamillaris L. is the West Indian Mamillaria simplex Haw.
From one point of view the two sections of the genus (Eumamillaria and Coryphantha) deserve generic separation, for the character of grooveless and grooved tubercles seems to hold without exception, and the sections are separated with more certainty than are certain species of Coryphantha and Echinocactus. If genera are simply groups of convenience the separation should be made.
I. EUMAMILLARIA. Flowers from the axils of the older or full-grown tubercles (hence usually appearing lateral), mostly small, and generally from whitish to pink or red: tubercles never grooved: fruit almost always clavate and scarlet.
A. Tubercles more or less quadrangular.
* Central spines not hooked.
+ More than one central spine.
1. Cactus alternatus, sp. nov.
Subglobose, 10 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles long (15 to 20 mm.) and spreading, with woolly axils: radial spines 3, rigid and recurved, 5 mm. long; central spines 3, very stout and much recurved, 20 to 30 mm. long, alternating with the radials; all ashy colored and often twisted: flower and fruit unknown.—Type in Herb. Coulter.
The few spines, with the very short radials alternating with the very long and stout centrals, furnish a striking character. Occasionally one of the centrals is wanting.
2.Cactus acanthophlegmus (Lehm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria acanthophlegma Lehm. Delect. Sem. Hamb. (1833)
Subglobose with a deeply depressed vertex, or becoming cylindrical, 3 to
From Coahuila and San Luis Potosi to Oaxaca. Fl. May.
Specimens examined: Coahuila (Poselger of 1856; Pringle 3116 of 1890): San Luis Potosi (Eschanzier of 1891).
The central spines are quite variable in number and arrangement. In case there are two they are vertically placed and are either erect and parallel or widely divergent. Even three centrals may occur in the same vertical plane; but more usually the three or four centrals are arranged about a center and are widely divergent. The tubercles are apt to persist and to become naked and corky with age. The axillary wool and the capillary radials are also apt to be more or less persistent, thus giving the whole plant a woolly appearance.
3.Cactus brandegei, sp. nov.
Cylindrical: tubercles sharply quadrangular-conical, 6 to 8 mm. long, with densely woolly axils: radial spines about 10, slender and rigid, whitish with dusky tips, spreading but not radiant, 7 to 10 mm. long; central spines 3 or 4, stouter and slightly longer, erect-spreading (sometimes slightly curved), reddish-brown below, becoming blackish above: flowers small (scarcely longer than the tubercle?): fruit unknown. Type in Herb. Calif. Acad.
San Jorge, Lower California. Fl. April.
Specimens examined: Lower California (Brandegee of 1889, at San
Jorge).
The species has somewhat the spine characters of C. palmeri, but the sharply quadrangular and longer tubercles with axillary wool free from bristles suggest a very different affinity.
4.Cactus densispinus, sp. nov.
Globose, 7.5 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles short, with woolly axils: radial spines about 25, erect-spreading, slender but rigid, yellow (brownish to black with age), unequal, 8 to 10 mm. long; central spines 6, a little longer (10 to 12 mm.) and straight, more rigid and darker, black-tipped: seeds obovate, reddish-brown, 1 mm. long. Type in Herb. Coulter.
Very easily distinguished by its dense, erect spines, which so completely cover the plant as to give it the appearance of a large chestnut bur. Another much smaller form, which seems to be a variety, has stouter and longer ashy-white spines, the centrals darker-tipped, and the lower centrals slightly curved.
++ One short central spine (rarely two or none): ovaries immersed: seeds small, yellow and rugulose: simple.
5.Cactus heyderi (Muhlenpf.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria heyderi Muhlenpf. Allg. Gart. Zeit. xvi. 20(1848).
Mamillaria declivis Dietr. Allg. Gart. Zeit. xviii. 235
(1850).
Mamillaria applanata Engelm. Pl. Lindh 198 (1850).
Mamillaria texensis Labouret, Monogr. Cact. 89 (1858).
Depressed, globose, usually with depressed vertex, 8 to 12 cm. broad, 2.5 to 5 cm. high: tubercles elongated: radial spines 10 to 22, whitish, 5 to 12 mm. long, the lower usually the longer, stouter, and often darker; central spine 4 to 8 mm. long, light yellowish-brown, stout, straight, and porrect: flowers 2 to 2.5 cm. long, reddish-white: fruit incurved, 1.5 to 3 cm. long. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 9. figs. 4-14). Type unknown.
From the Guadalupe River, Texas, to the mouth of the Rio Grande, and westward to Arizona and Sonora. Fl. April, May.
Specimens examined: Texas (Lindheimer of 1845, 1847, 1853; Wright 226, also collections of 1849, 1852, 1853, 1855, 1856; Bigelow of 1853; Trelease of 1892; Nealley of 1892): New Mexico (Wright 311; Bigelow of 1853, Evans of 1891): Arizona (Pringle of 1881): also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893; and in the World's Fair collection of Mrs. Nickels.
The radial spines are somewhat variable in relative length, often becoming almost equal, while sometimes the upper radials are very much reduced. The figure referred to in Cact. Mex. Bound. is not satisfactory as to the general habit of the plant, which is flat-topped rather than hemispherical.
6.Cactus heyderi hemisphaericus (Engelm.).
Mamillaria hemisphaerica Engelm. Pl. Lindh. 198 (1850).
Differs in being hemispherical instead of flat-topped, in its fewer (9 to 12) and shorter (4 to 8 mm.) radial spines, and much smaller less rough and lighter-colored seeds. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 9. figs. 15-17) Type, the "Goebel's Garden" plants in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Throughout southern Texas and southern New Mexico, and southward; not extending so far north or west as the species, and apparently not so abundant within the United States. Fl. May.
Specimens examined: Texas(Schott 322, 614): New Mexico (Evans of 1891): also specimens cultivated in the Goebel Garden, St. Louis, in 1847, brought from "below Matamoras on the Rio Grande" by the St. Louis Volunteers, in 1816.
On account of its convex top the variety becomes somewhat higher than the species (5 to 7.5 cm.), and the flowers are sometimes slightly longer (2 to 3 cm.).
7.Cactus meiacanthus (Engelm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria meiacantha Engelm. Syn. Cact. 263 (1856)
Hemispherical or with depressed vertex, 7.5 to 12.5 cm. in diameter, with a broad top-shaped base: tubercles compressed, 14 to 18 mm. long: radial spines 5 to 9 (usually about 6), stout and strongly subulate, 6 to 10 mm. long, straight or somewhat curved, whitish or yellowish, the lower mostly a little longer, the upper one sometimes wanting; central spine shorter and stout, darker, straight, and porrect, turned upwards among the radials, or rarely wanting: flowers 2.5 to 3 cm. long, reddish-white: fruit incurved, 2 to 3 cm. long. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 9, figs. 1-3). Type specimens are those of the collections of 1847, 1851, 1852, and 1853, from which the original description was drawn and all of which are in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
From the Guadalupe River, Texas, to the "Great Bend" of the Rio Grande, westward through western Texas and New Mexico; also northern Mexico (Hemsley); Fl. May, June.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright of 1851, 1852; Bigelow of 1853): New Mexico ("Missouri Volunteers" of 1847; unknown collector in 1880); also specimens cultivated in St. Louis in 1853, and others growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
Dr. Engelmann regarded this species as possibly only a variety of C. heyderi, to which it is certainly very closely allied through var. hemisphaerica, but the different tubercles and fewer stouter spines serve so well to distinguish it that it seems best to retain its specific rank.
In reference to the citation of the original description an explanation seems necessary, which will apply to numerous similar cases. The Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 27 (1856), Syn. Cact. 263 (1858), and Cact. Mex. Bound. 9 (1859), have each been cited as the original publication. The confusion has arisen from the fact that in both the publications of 1856 the description in the Rep. Mex. Bound. is referred to, and in that report the plant is fully described as "sp. nov." However, the publication of the Boundary Report was long delayed on account of the preparation of the plates, and in the meantime both the publications of 1856 had appeared, in each one of which the species is distinctly characterized and reference made to the
8.Cactus gummiferus (Engelm.) Kuntze. Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria gummifera Engelm. Wisliz. Rep. 21 (1848).
Hemispherical, 7.5 to 12.5 cm. broad and 6 to 10 cm. high: tubercles 12 to 15 mm. long: radial spines 10 to 12, the lower stout, with dusky apex, 12 to 15 mm. long, twice or thrice as long as the whitish setaceous upper ones; central spine (sometimes two) shorter (about 4 mm.), stout, dusky and porrect: flowers 3 cm. long, reddish-white, brownish-red outside: fruit unknown. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 9. figs. 18-20) Type probably lost, as no specimens could be found in the Engelmann Herbarium.
Chihuahua, near Cosihuiriachi.
So far as can be discovered, this species has not been collected since the original Wislizenus collection of 1846-47. The plants were cultivated by Dr. Engelmann and made to bloom, showing the flowers to be larger and darker colored than in the rest of the group, from which the species also differs in its more robust habit, its very unequal radial spines, and the occasional occurrence of two centrals.
** Central spine hooked.
9.Cactus uncinatus (Zucc) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1591).
Mamillaria uncinata Zucc. in Pfeiff. Enum. 34 (1837).
Mamillaria bihamata Pfeiff. in Otto and Deitr. Gart. vi. 274 (1840)
Mamillaria adunca Scheidw. (1845-1849?).
Mamillaria depressa Scheidw. (1845-1849?).
Usually globose (occasionally depressed or even subcolumnar), 5 to 6 cm. in diameter (doubtless becoming larger): tubercles 8 to 10 mm. long, woolly in the upper axils: radial spines 4 to 6, rigid, 4 to 6 mm. long, the upper one stouter than the rest and sometimes shorter, reddish-brown and horny, straight or slightly curved, the remainder straight and white with dusky tips; central spine stout and horny, reddish-brown, 7 to 10 mm. long: flowers greenish-white or tinged with red: fruit unknown Type unknown.
Entirely Mexican, reported from Chihuahua to Saint Luis Potosi.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Gregg of 1848; Parry 268;
Eschanzier of 1891): Chihuahua (Wislizenus of 1846-47; also
Chihuahua specimens cultivated in the Jacoby Garden in 1856 and
1857).
The variations observed in this species do not seem sufficient for the establishment of varieties. The type form seems to have been globose, with 4 radial spines and a stout central one. The depressed forms with 6 radials and a more slender central represent var. spinosior Lem. (M. depressa Scheidw.); and the subcolumnar forms with 6 radials (the upper one of which is somewhat curved) and a stout strongly hooked central represent var biuncinata Lem. (M. bihamata Pfeiff.) Such combinations of characters, however, do not hold, as any one of the plant body forms may display any one of the spine characters referred to.
B. Tubercles terete.
* Central spines none: mostly simple globose plants, with very
numerous straight whitish setaceous radials.
10. Cactus lasiacanthus (Engelm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 259 (1891).
Mamillaria lasiacantha Engelm. Syn. Cact. 261 (1856).
Globose or ovate globose, 2 to 2.5 cm. high and 1 to 2 cm. broad: tubercles 4 mm. long, about 2 mm. in diameter, with naked axils: spines 40 to 60, in many series, very unequal, 2 to 4 mm, long, white and pilose, the upper exterior usually longer than the rest, the innermost usually much shorter: flowers 12 mm. long, whitish or pinkish (petals with red median band): fruit 1 to 2 cm. long: seeds about 1 mm. long, blackish and conspicuously pitted. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 3). Type, the specimens of Wright in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
From western Texas ("west of time Pecos, on low limestone hills, among herbage") to Arizona and Chihuahua. Fl. April, May.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright 121, also of 1852; Parry of 1852): Arizona (Miller of 1881): Chihuahua (Pringle 213, 250,258): also specimens cultivated in St. Louis in 1852 and 1855.
11. Cactus lasiacanthus denudatus (Engelm.).
Mamillaria lasiacantha denudata Engelm. Cact. Mex. Bound. 5 (1859).
Larger, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. in diameter, with longer tubercles (5 to 6 mm.), and more numerous (50 to 80) longer (3 to 5 mum.) spines which are naked or nearly so. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 4) Type, Wright specimen in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
From western Texas (with the species) to Coahuila.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright of 1852): Coahuila (Palmer of 1880).
In the Syn. Cact. Dr. Engelmann merges this variety with the species, and has been followed in this by subsequent writers, but the characters seem so (distinctive that its varietal rank has been restored.
12. Cactus micromeris (Engelm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria micromeris Engelm. Syn. Cact. 260 (1856).
With depressed top and very rarely branching, 1 to 3.5 cm. in diameter: tubercles very small (about 1 mm. long) and wart-like, crowded, shedding the spines with age and giving the base of the plant a tuberculated appearance: spines from white to ashy-gray, 1 to 3 mm. long; in young plants and on lower tubercles of adult plants about 20, equal and radiant; on flower-bearing tubercles 30 to 40, stellate-porrect in every direction, the 6 to 8 upper ones two to four times longer than the rest (4 to 8 mm.), clavate toward the apex and acute (the clavate top at length deciduous), intermixed with loose wool of about the same length and forming a small tuft on the top of the plant which includes and partly hides flowers and fruit: flowers whitish to light pink, almost central, very small (6 mm. in diameter), much reduced (3 to 5 sepals, 5 petals, 10 to 15 stamens, 3 stigmas): fruit 8 to 12 mm. long: seeds 1.5 mm. long, black and shining. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 1 and 2. figs. 1-4) Type, the specimens of Wright in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
On naked mountain tops and sides, extreme southwestern Texas (Val
Verde County to El Paso) and southward into Coahuila and
Chihuahua.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright 227 of 1849, also of 1852; Nealley of 1892): Coahuila (Bigelow of 1853): Chihuahua (Pringle 212): also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
The plants densely covered above with delicate ashy-gray spines and with naked tuberculate base are readily recognized. It still remains an open question whether the flowers are developed from the axils of tubercles of the same season or the last ones of the preceding season. Dr. Engelmann inclined to the latter view, as all the other characters of the plant associate it with the "lateral-flowered" species; and in the absence of definite observation we have retained it there. If the nearly central flowers indicate that they are produced from growth of the same season the species would seem to be allied to Coryphantha, in which group its small flowers and small tubercles would be anomalous.
13. Cactus micromeris greggii (Engelm.).
Mamillaria micromeris greggii Engelm. Syn. Cact. 261 (1856).
Larger (2.5 to 5 cm. in diameter) and becoming oblong, with larger globose-ovate tubercles (2 to 2.5 mm. long), fewer rigid spines all radiant (interior 5 to 7 shorter and stouter, 1 to 2 mm. long; the outer 15 to 18, 3 to 4 mm. long), and fruit 1.5 to 2 mm. long. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 2. figs. 5-8) Type, Gregg 508 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Specimens examined: Coahuila (Gregg 508; Palmer of 1880).
It is a question whether this variety does not merely represent an older and better developed plant than those upon which the species is based. Mr. Harry I. Budd, who has made extensive collections of Texan and Mexican Cacti for the market, reports that it is impossible to separate sharply the variety from the species in the field, and regards the difference merely as one of age. Unfortunately, only living material of the species could be examined, but its characters seem well sustained even in the most vigorous plants, some of which reach the size of the variety. Through this variety the species is brought very near the following:
14. Cactus bispinus.
Mamillaria microthele Muhlenpf. Allg. Gart. Zeit. p. 11
(1848),
not Lem. (1838).
Differs from the last form (var. greggii) chiefly in its cespitose habit, much larger tubercles, and two unusually stout and short central spines (fide Engelmann, who examined specimens in Coll. Salm-Dyck).
Credited to Mexico in general, but said by Budd to occur within the southern border of Pecos County, Tex.
** Central spines present and one or more hooked.
+ Mostly globose and simple plants (occasionally somewhat
cylindrical).
15. Cactus wrightii (Engelm.) Kuntze. Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria wrightii Engelm. Syn. Cact. 262 (1856).
Globose or depressed globose (top-shaped below), 3 to 7.5 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles 10 to 12 mm. long, with naked axils: radial spines 8 to 12, white (the upper dusky-tipped), pubescent, 8 to 12 mm. long central spines mostly 2 (usually side by side and divergent), rarely 1 or 3, scarcely longer, hooked and reddish-black: flowers 2.5 cm. long, bright purple: fruit about 2.5 cm. long, somewhat subglobose, purple: seeds 1.4 mm long, black and pitted. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t.8. figs. 1-8) Type, Wright of 1851 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
High plains and rocky places, from the Upper Pecos, east of Santa
Fe, N. Mex., southward through extreme southwestern Texas
(between the Pecos and El Paso), and into Chihuahua (near Lake
Santa Maria).
Specimens examined: New Mexico (Wright of 1851; Rusby of 1880): also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
Dr. Engelmann calls attention to the fact that this species is closely allied to the Mexican C. zephranthoides (Scheidw.), but in the absence of material representing the latter species no comparison can be made. In descriptions of the Mexican species the differently colored flowers and the much longer spines suggest differences that an examination of fruit and seed characters may still further emphasize.
16. Cactus goodrichii (Scheer) Kuntze. Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria goodrichii Scheer in Salm Cact. Hort. Dyck. 91 (1850).
Globose or ovate, 5 to 7.5 cm. high, subsimple: tubercles ovate, short (3 to 5 mm.), somewhat corky and persistent, with dense wool in the young axils containing 5 to 8 stiff bristles: radial spines 11 to 15 (the uppermost one sometimes wanting), white and rigid, 5 to 7 mm. long, entangled with adjoining clusters; central spines 3 or 4 (often solitary in young plants), brownish-black,the upper ones divergent and straight (rarely showing a tendency to hook), the lower longer (9 to 10 mm.), stouter and hooked (usually upwards): flowers 12 to 18 mm, long, the petals yellowish-white with red midribs: fruit clavate and scarlet. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 8. figs. 9-14) Type: Scheer says that the plant was brought from the Island of "Corros" (Cedros?) by Dr. Goodrich, and "unfortunately perished in the gardens," which generally means that there is not a fragment of the type in existence.
In dry ravines, from San Diego County, California, southward throughout Lower California and the neighboring islands (including Guadalupe Island). "Llavina."
Specimens examined: California (Parry of 1850, 1875; Agassiz of 1872; Parish 450 of 1882 at Vallecito): Lower California (Gabb 18 of 1867; Brandegee of 1889 on Magdalena Island, and 240 of 1890 from San Jose del Cabo): also specimens cultivated in Gard. Salm-Dyck.
By a misprint in Cact. Mex. Bound, the specific name appeared as "Goodridgii," and this error appears in almost every subsequent mention of the species, even in Watson's Bibliographical Index, although in Syn. Cact. and other references by Dr. Engelmann the correct form appears.
17. Cactus pondii (Greene).
Mamillaria pondii Greene, Pittonia, i, 268 (1889).
Oval or cylindrical, from low to 30 cm. high, simple or sparingly branched: radial spines 20 to 30, white and slender; centrals 4 or 5, the longest over 25 mm, long, rigid and strongly hooked, dark brown above the middle: flowers nearly 5 cm. long, bright, scarlet: fruit unknown. Type, Pond specimens in Herb. Greene.
Cedros Island, off the west coast of Lower California. Fl.
February.
Unfortunately, the type specimen has been mislaid, so that no examination of it could be made. Evidently related to C. goodrichii, but differing in its much more robust habit, more numerous radials, much longer spines, and larger scarlet flowers.
18. Cactus barbatus (Engelm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria barbata Engelm. Wisliz. Rep. 22 (1848).
Depressed-globose, about 4 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles 8 mm. long, with naked axils: radial spines very numerous (50 to 60), in two series, 6 to 8 mm. long, the outer (about 40) slender but rigid and white, the inner (10 to 15) a little stouter and yellow; usually one central spine, stout and erect, hooked downwards, brownish: flowers 18 to 20 mm. long, rose-red: fruit oblong, 10 to 12 mm. long, green (when mature?): seeds minute, dark brown and lightly pitted. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound t. 6. figs. 9-12) Type, Wislizenus of 1846 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Central Chihuahua. Fl. May, in cultivation.
Specimens examined: Chihuahua (Wislizenus of 1846, 1850): also specimens cultivated in Baumann's Garden in 1857, 1858; also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
Dr. Engelmann observed a curious intermediate character in the origin of the flowers of this species, the first ones of the season appearing in the axils of the last tubercles of the preceding year, while the later ones develop from the axils of the first tubercles of the same season. The specimen growing in Mo. Bot. Gard, in 1893 had 3 central spines, one or two being hooked.
19. Cactus grahami (Engelm.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria grahami Engelm. Syn. Cact. 262 (1856).
Globose or at length ovate, 2.5 to 7.5 cm. high, simple or branched from the base and even cespitose: tubercles ovate, 6 mm. long, dilated at base (corky and persistent when old), with naked axils: radial spines 15 to 30 in a single series, white, often dusky-tipped, slender but rigid, naked or puberulent, 6 to 12 mm. long, the shorter ones uppermost, the longer ones lateral; central spines 1 to 3, blackish from a paler base, the lower (often the only) one stouter and longer (6 to 18 mm.), hooked upward, the one or two upper ones (when present) shorter and slenderer, divergent: flowers 2 to 2.5 cm. long, rose-colored: fruit 2 to 2.5 cm. long: seeds 0.8 to 1 mm. long, black and pitted. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 6. figs. 1-8) Type, Wright of 1852 and Bigelow of 1852
In rocky places, from the mountains of extreme southwestern Texas (west of the Pecos) to southern Utah, southern California (common along the Colorado), and Sonora. Fl. June-August.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright of 1852; Newberry of 1858; G. R. Vasey of 1881; Miller of 1881; Briggs of 1892): New Mexico (Evans of 1891): Arizona (Bigelow of 1852; Schott of 1858; Cous of 1865; Palmer of 1869, 1870; Engelmann of 1880; Pringle of 1884): Utah (Parry of 1874): Sonora (Schott of 1853): also specimens cultivated in the Mo. Bot. Gard. in 1881.
In all references to the fruit of this species it is described as "oval and green," except in Ives Report, where Dr. Engelmann describes its real character as the ordinary fruit of Eumamillaria. The immature fruit is "oval and green," but with maturity it becomes clavate and scarlet. The Utah specimens of Parry show an exceptional character in their 30 to 33 scabrous radial spines, but otherwise they are quite normal. M. microcarpa Engelm., Emory's Rep. 156. f. 3, should be dropped as a synonym of this species, at least as to figure and description. In all probability C.grahami is one of the forms of the Mexican C. schelhasii (Pfeiff.). Except that in C. grahami the radial spines are apt to be more numerous and longer, and the centrals much darker; and in C. schelhasii the 3 centrals seem to be always present and sometimes all hooked, the descriptions suggest no difference. In the absence of authentic specimens of the latter species, however, and with its fruit and seed entirely unknown, such a reference of C. grahami must be deferred.
20. Cactus bocasanus (Poselger).
Mamillaria bocasana Poselger, Gart. Zeit. 94 (1853).
Depressed-globose, 2 to 3 cm. high: tubercles 8 mm. long, with long axillary wool: radial spines 25 to 30, white and capillary, 10 to 25 mm. long; central spines 2 to 4, slender and naked (or slightly puberulent), the most central one hooked (usually upwards), 15 to 25 mm. long, the upper 1 to 3 shorter and straight, all yellow with red tips, the hooked one often brownish-red nearly to the base: flowers unknown: fruit green, about 4 mm. long: seeds cinnamon-brown, oblique, broadly obovate, with narrowly ovate basal hilum. Type unknown.
San Luis Potosi, so far as known. Poselger says, "Texas, auf der Seira de Bocas, among rocks," which station we have been unable to locate.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Eschanzier of 1891): also specimens cultivated in Hort. Pfersdorff in 1869; in Mo. Bot. Gard. in 1891; also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
The capillary radials give the plant a white-woolly appearance. The younger spines at the vertex are erect and tufted. It resembles C. grahami, but the tubercles are much more slender and not thickened at base, all the spines are more slender, the central hooked one is more reddish, and the fruit is much shorter.
21. Cactus eschanzieri, sp. nov.
Depressed-globose, 3 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles broader at base, 6 to 8 mm. long, with naked axils: spines all pubescent; radials 15 to 20, with dusky tips, the lateral 10 to 12 mm. long, the lower weaker, shorter and curved, the upper shorter; solitary central spine reddish, slender, somewhat twisted, usually hooked upwards, 15 to 25 mm. long: flowers red (?): fruit reddish (?), ovate, about 10 mm, long: seeds reddish, oblique-obovate, 1.2 mm. long, pitted, with subventral hilum. Type in Herb. Coulter.
San Luis Potosi.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Eschanzier of 1891).
Resembles C. grahami, but with fewer and more slender pubescent spines, longer and less rigid central, more exserted fruit, and much larger reddish and strongly pitted seeds with subventral hilum.
22. Cactus tetrancistrus (Engelm.).
Mamillaria tetrancistra Engelm. Am. Jour. Sci. II. xiv. 337
(1852), in part.
Mamillaria phellosperma Engelm. Syn. Cact. 262 (1856).
Cactus pellospermus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Ovate or ovate-cylindrical, 5 to 25 cm. high, 3.5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter, simple or rarely branching at base: tubercles ovate-cylindrical, 8 to 14 mm. long, with axillary bristle-bearing wool, at length naked: radial spines 30 to 60, in two series, the exterior bristle-like, shorter and white, the interior stouter, longer and dusky-tipped or purplish; central spines 3 or 4, stouter, longer, brown or blackish from a paler base, the upper 2 or 3 (10 to 14 mm. long) straight, or one or two or even all hooked, the lower stouter and longer (12 to 18 mm.), hooked upwards: flowers about 2.5 cm. long: fruit 1 to 2.5 cm. long: seeds large (1.2 to 1.5 mm. in diameter), globose and wrinkled, partly immersed in a brown spongy or corky cup-shaped 3-lobed appendage. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 7) Type, Parry of 1850, but modified by Le Conte 14 and Bigelow of 1854, all in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Gravelly soil and sandy stream-banks, from the eastern slopes of the mountains of southern California, throughout western Arizona and southern Nevada to southern Utah; referred also to "N. W. Mexico" by Hemsley (Biol. Centr.-Amer.).
Specimens examined: California (Parry of 1850; Newberry of 1858; Parish of 1882): Arizona (Le Conte 14; Bigelow of 1854; Dr. Loew of 1875: also Palmer of 1870, but with no locality.
In the original description this species was confounded with C. grahami, with which it grows and which it much resembles; and this, together with the fact that 4 central hooked spines are seldom found, induced Dr. Engelmann (Syn. Cact. 262) to propose the more appropriate but untenable name M. phellosperma. The resemblance to C. grahami is not so close as general appearance would indicate, as the more oblong or cylindrical form, longer and less crowded tubercles, more numerous spines, often more than one hooked central, large seeds, and remarkable seed appendages serve well to distinguish it.
++ Plants with fasciculate slender cylindrical stems (30 to 45 cm. high, and 2.5 to 6 cm. in diameter): Lower Californian.
23. Cactus roseanus (Brandegee).
Mamillaria longihamata Engelm. Mss.
Mamillaria roseana Brandegee, Zoe, ii. 19 (1891).
Fasciculately branched at base, the stems 30 to 45 cm. long (sometimes pendent from rocks and as much as 200 cm. long) and 2.5 to 5 cm. in diameter, the whole plant glaucous: tubercles elongated-conical, ascending, 10 to 12 mm. long, with woolly axils: radial spines 7 to 10, straight, rigid and sharp, 9 to 15 mm. long, dark reddish when young, becoming ashy, the upper ones the longer; the solitary central much longer (20 to 30 mm.), almost black below and with reddish tip, becoming ashy with age, usually hooked downwards: flowers numerous, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. long, bright scarlet: fruit obovate to globose, scarlet, 6 to 9 mm. in diameter, fleshy: seeds black and pitted. Type in Herb. Calif. Acad.
Apparently common at low elevations throughout southern Lower
California, especially the eastern side.
Specimens examined: Lower California (W. M. Gabb 17 of 1867, near Loreto; Brandegee of 1889, at San Gregorio; Palmer 139 of 1890, near La Paz; Palmer 880 of 1890, on Carmen Island; Brandegee 241 of 1890, at Rancho Colorado).
One of the most showy species of Lower California. The plant has the appearance of a Coryphanth, and is remarkable for its tall and slender habit, its large central hooks, and its globose fruit. Since 1867 this species has been in Herb. Engelmann, fully characterized as above under the very appropriate specific name longihamatus.
24. Cactus setispinus, sp.
Mamillaria Setispina Engelm. Mss.
Fasciculate and ascending, simple or branched at base, the stems about 30 cm. high and 3 to 6 cm. in diameter, densely covered with remarkably long stout spines: tubercles short and broadly conical, with axillary wool: spines white. with black tips; radials 10 to 12, widely spreading, very unequal, 10 to 34 mm. long, slender and flexuous; central spines 1 to 4, more rigid and much longer (20 to 50 mm.), the upper ones straight, the lowest one longest and hooked (usually upwards) and often variously curved and twisted: fruit obovate and scarlet 30 mm. long: seeds, black and pitted. Type, Gabb 15 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Rocky or gravelly soil, San Julio Canyon. and in the vicinity of
San Borgia, Lower California.
Specimens examined: Lower California (W. M. Gabb 15 of 1867, at
San Borgia; Brandegee of 1889, from San Borgia and San Julio
Canyon).
In his notes Mr. Gabb describes the flower as "large, 3 to 3.5 inches long, bell-shaped, of a beautiful purplish red color," concerning which Dr. Engelmann remarks "this would indicate a Coryphanth, but the tubercles show no trace of a groove, and, moreover, a withered remnant of a flower laterally attached (say 18 to 20 mm. long), so that I have no doubt that Mr. Gabb's statement is founded on some error." It is very probable that the flowers are scarlet and larger than Dr. Engelmann suggests. The species is closely allied to C. roseanus, but differs in its shorter tubercles and much longer spines. About a dozen stems rise in a clump, about a foot high, covering an area of 2 or 3 feet. These two species represent a very distinct Lower Californian group of cylindrical and hooked Eumamillarias. Both probably have showy scarlet flowers and may attain considerable length when growing upon rock ledges so as to become pendent. The specimens of C. setispinus from San Julio Canyon are from younger parts and show but a single long and hooked central. The San Borgia specimens show mostly 3 or 4 centrals, the lowest one hooked and becoming remarkably long and often variously twisted and curved. However, I can discover no difference except such as may be due to age.
++ Central spines present and not hooked.
+ Central spines more than one, longer than the radials, which
are numerous, white and slender (capillary or bristle-like)
(rigid in C. Halei).
25. Cactus halei (Brandegee).
Mamillaria halei Brandegee, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci Scr. 2. ii. 161 (1889).
Stems cylindrical, 8 to 10 in a clump, about 30 cm. high and 5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter: tubercles short, with axillary wool: radial spines 10 to 22, rigid and erect-spreading, unequal, 6 to 15 mm. long; central spines numerous and erect-spreading, 1 to 3 of them very stout and prominent (25 to 35 mm. long); all the spines straight, at first reddish-brown, becoming yellowish and ashy, more or less dark-tipped: flowers 2.5 cm. long, bright scarlet (almost throughout): fruit 12 mm, long, clavate and red: seeds black and pitted. (Ill. l. c. t. 6) Type in Herb. Calif. Acad.
Abundant on Magdalena and Santa Margarita Islands, western coast of Lower California. Fl. January.
Specimens examined: Lower California (Brandegee of 1889, on
Magdalena Island).
The tubercles are so close together that the plant appears thickly covered with the unusually stout and erect-spreading straight spines, a few of the centrals being specially prominent. The plant is more slender than the ordinary "cylindrical" members of the genus, but stouter than the slender hooked forms of the preceding section.
26. Cactus rhodanthus (Link & Otto) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria rhodantha Link & Otto, Icon. t. 26 (1828-31)
Mamillaria lanifera Haw. Phil. Mag. lxiii., 41 (), not
Salm-Dyck (1850).
Oblong or subcylindric, 30 cm. or more high, 7.5 to 10 cm. in diameter, often forking from the middle: tubercles conical, 12 mm. long, 8 mm. in diameter, with woolly axils: radial spines 16 to 20, bristle-like, white, the lower longer (8 to 10 mm.); central spines 6 or 7, rigid, whitish with black tip, 12 mm. long: flowers rose color, 12 mm. in diameter: fruit 2.5 cm. long, cylindrical. (Ill. l. c.) Type unknown.
Referred to Mexico in general, but reported as yet from San Luis
Potosi to southern Mexico. Fl. profusely all summer.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Bourgeau 47; Pringle 3679;
Eschanzier of 1891): also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893.
The specimens of Bourgeau and Pringle have somewhat larger spines than the type, as indicated by the description.
27. Cactus rhodanthus sulphureospinus.
Mamillaria sulphurea Forst. Handb. Cact. (1846), not Cactus
sulphureus Gill, (1830).
Mamillaria rhodantha sulphurea Salm, Hurt. Cact. Dyck. 11
(1850).
Central spines sulphur-yellow; otherwise like the species. Type unknown.
San Luis Potosi.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Pfeiffer, with no number or date; Eschanzier of 1891).
The varietal distinction maintained seems a small one, but it is constant and striking, so far as can be discovered.
28. Cactus capillaris.
Mamillaria lanifera Salm, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 98 (1850), not
Haw.
Cactus laniferus Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 250 (1891).
Cylindrical and erect: tubercles crowded, conical, glaucous, with axillary bristles: radial spines capillary and very numerous, white and crisped, entirely covering the plant; central spines 4 to 6, rigid, straight and spreading, straw-colored, 8 to 12 mm. long: flowers equaling the tubercles, the yellow petals striped with red: fruit unknown. Type unknown.
Referred to Mexico in general, but definitely known only from
Coahuila.
Specimens examined: Coahuila. (Palmer of 1880).
There is a confusion of synonymy between this species and C. rhodanthus, both having been named Mamillaria lanifera. The earlier M. lanifera of Haworth, however, is clearly M. rhodantha of Link & Otto; and although Prince Salm-Dyck revived the name for the present species, the law of homonyms will not permit it to stand. The name proposed refers to the abundant display of capillary radial spines, which is probably the most notable feature.
29. Cactus palmeri, sp. nov.
Cylindrical: tubercles crowded, glaucous, cylindrical (somewhat broadest above), about 4 mm. long, with dense axillary wool containing bristles: radial spines 25 to 30, very slender and white but rigid, about 5 mm. long, spreading or somewhat radiant, entangled with those of neighboring tubercles, and so covering the whole plant; central spines 3 to 5 (usually 4), more robust, erect or slightly divergent, brownish with darker tip, 7 to 8 mm. long: flowers small: fruit clavate and scarlet: seeds black and strongly pitted, 0.5 to 0.8 mm. in diameter. Type, Palmer 921 in U. S. Nat. Herb.
San Benito Island, off the west coast of lower California.
Specimens examined: Lower California, San Benito Island (Palmer 921 of 1889, reported as Mamillaria Goodrichii).
Very closely allied to C. capillaris of eastern Mexico.
30. Cactus stellatus Willd. Enum. Suppl. 30 (1813).
Cactus pusillus DC. Cat. Hort. Monsp. 184 (1813), not Haw.
(1803).
A very common West Indian species, apparently differing from the variety only in the very much fewer (12 to 20) radial spines, although numerous specimens, both dried and living, were examined for additional characters. This difference, however, is so constant and striking that, taken together with the wide geographical separation, it should stand as varietal.
31. Cactus stellatus texanus (Engelm.).
Mamillaria pusilla texana Engelm. Syn. Cact. 216 (1856).
Mamillaria texana Young, Fl. Texas, 279 (1873).
Ovate-globose, 2.5 to 3 cm. in diameter, 2.5 to 6 cm. high, proliferous and at length cespitose: tubercles 7 to 9 mm. long, the long axillary wool intermixed with several coarse twisted bristles: radial spines very numerous, in many series, the outer ones (30 to 50) capillary, white, elongated and flexuous or crisped (12 to 16 mm, long when straightened), the inner ones (10 to 12) more rigid, shorter (6 to 8 mm.), puberulent, whitish or yellowish, usually dark-tipped; central spines 5 to 8, rigid, straight, pubescent, unequal, white below and reddish or dark above: flowers 1.5 to 2 cm. long, the yellowish-white petals with reddish median band: fruit 1.5 to 2 cm. long: seeds black and shining, conspicuously pitted, 1.2 mm. long. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t 5.) Type, Bigelow specimens in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
From the mouth of the Rio Grande to El Paso, Tex., and southward into Coahuila and Chihuahua. Fl. March-May.
Specimens examined: Texas (Bigelow of 1853; Nealley of 1892): Coahuila (Bigelow of 1853): also growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1892 and 1893.
The exterior capillary spines cover the whole plant as with a coarse wool.
32. Cactus pringlei, sp. nov.
Globose (?), 5 cm. in diameter: tubercles short-conical, about 6 mm. long, with very woolly axils: radial spines 18 to 20, setaceous-bristly and radiant, 5 to 8 m in. long; central spines 5 to 7 (usually 6), stout and horny, more or less recurved, spreading, 20 to 25 mm. long; all straw-colored, but the centrals darker: flowers deep red (darker, even brownish, outside), 8 to 10 mm. long: fruit unknown. Type, Pringle of 1891 in Herb. Gray.
San Luis Potosi.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Pringle of 1891).
Evidently a member of the Chrysacantha group and near C. rhodanthus sulphureospinus, but differs in the much shorter tubercles, straw-colored spines, shorter radials, much longer centrals, and smaller darker flowers.
33. Cactus sphaerotrichus (Lem.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria sphaerotricha Lem. Cact. 33 (1839).
Depressed-globose: tubercles cylindrical, obtuse, with some axillary bristles: radial spines very much crowded, exceedingly numerous, radiant, very slender and bristle-like, white; central spines 6 to 10 and even more, erect and more rigid: flowers pale reddish: fruit unknown. Type unknown.
Referred to Mexico in general, but reported only from San Luis
Potosi.
Specimens examined: Mexican specimens from Hort. Dyck in 1857; from Hort. Pfersdorff in 1869; and growing in Mo. Bot. Gard. 1893 (from material sent by Pringle from San Luis Potosi).
++ The single central spine shorter than the radials (in C.
longimamma centrals often more than one and somewhat
longer).
34. Cactus gabbli, sp. nov.
Mamillaria gabbii Engelm Mss.
Globose, 5 to 10 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles cylindrical, slender, 12 to 14 mm. long, with woolly axils: radial spines about 13, 5 to 8 mm. long, lower ones longer and stouter, especially the lateral ones pectinate; the central shorter, straight, and robust: flowers small, yellowish-red: fruit unknown. Type in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Among rocks, from San Ignacio to Mission San Fernando, Lower
California, and "perhaps farther north in the interior."
Specimens examined: Lower California (W. M. Gabb 19 of 1867).
35. Cactus sphaericus (Dietr.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria sphaerica Dietr. Allg. Gart. Zeit xxi. 94 (1853).
Obovate or clavate, 5 cm. or more high, proliferous and at length densely cespitose: tubercles elongated-ovate, acutish, 12 to 10 mm. long with axillary wool: radial spines 12 to 14, setaceous, 7 to 9 mm. long, bulbous at base, straight or curved, white; central spine straight, subulate, somewhat shorter, but scarcely stouter: flowers yellow, 3.5 to 5 cm. long: fruit unknown. Type unknown.
Sandy ridges in the valley of the Rio Grande (both sides of the river), from the mouth to Eagle Pass. Fl. from March throughout the season.
Specimens examined: Texas (Schott of 1852): also specimens cultivated in St. Louis in 1845 and 1861.
Dietrich's description was taken from plants collected by Poselger at Corpus Christi. The Schott specimens are from Eagle Pass. Dr. Engelmann calls attention to the fact that this species approaches Coryphantha in its exserted ovary and large flower, but the flowers are clearly from the growth of the preceding season. The species is said to be too near the Mexican C. longimamma of central and southern Mexico, but in the absence of type specimens of either the question can not be settled. The usual characterization of C. longimamma is as follows, which seems to make it distinct enough: