Globose or depressed-globose, 7.5 to 20 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles ovate, deeply grooved, crowded, somewhat imbricate, 10 to 12 mm. long: radial spines 12 to 20, bulbous at base, compressed, rigid, recurved or flexuous, 8 to 18 mm. long, whitish or horny, interwoven with adjacent clusters; central spine solitary (sometimes an additional upper one), stouter and longer (12 to 20 mm.), dark, mostly strongly recurved and appressed (rarely straightish): flowers about 3.5 cm. long, yellow (brownish-tinged outside): fruit unknown.Type, Schott specimens in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
From Sonora to southern Mexico.Fl. June-August. Specimens examined: Sonora (Schott of 1855).
43.Cactus salm-dyckianus(Scheer) Kuntze. Rev. Gen. Pl. 261(1891).
Mamillaria salm-dyckianaScheer in Salm, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 134 (1850).
Subglobose: tubercles very broad and retuse, almost 2-parted by the tomentose groove, with axillary floccose wool: radial spines 7 or 8, very rigid, widely radiant, somewhat curved, 3 to 3.5 cm. long, in older tubercles 3 to 6 additional slender and straight or twisted spines; the solitary central spine very stout, erect, almost 5 cm. long: flowers and fruit unknown.Type: Scheer says that this plant, brought from Chihuahua by Potts, "unfortunately perished," and the description was drawn from fragments, which in those days were not apt to be preserved.
Chihuahua.
Specimens examined: Chihuahua ("Salm of 1857 ").
The specimen referred to is in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard., and reveals no additional characters; nor can the label be interpreted, except that it indicates that the specimen is from plants cultivated successfully in the gardens of Prince Salm-Dyck.
Flower and fruit remaining central in the very woolly vertexof theplant.Central spine solitary or wanting.
44.Cactus compactus (Engelm.) Kuntze Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria compactaEngelm. Wisliz. Rep. 21 (1848).
Depressed-globose, 5 to 10 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles short- conical, crowded, 8 mm. long: radial spines 13 to 16, rigid, recurved and appressed, interwoven with adjacent clusters, whitish or horny, 10 to 20 mm. long; the erect central spine often wanting: flowers 3 to 3.5 cm. long and broad, yellow (brownish without): fruit oval, green: seeds 1.4 mm. long, smooth and yellow. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 74. fig. 2, seeds)Type, Wislizenus of 1846 in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Mountains of Chihuahua.Fl. June-July.
Specimens examined: Chihuahua (Wislizenus of 1846): also specimens cultivated in St. Louis in 1848, 1850, 1854.
45.Cactus radians. (DC.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 261 (1891).
Mamillaria radiansDC. Rev. Cact. 111 (1829).Mamillaria pectinataEngelm Syn. Cact. 266 (1856).
Globose, 3.5 to 7.5 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles conical, from a 4-angled base, lower ones short (4 to 6 mm.), upper flower-bearing ones longer (10 to 12 mm.), terete and grooved: radial spines 16 to 24, somewhat recurved from a bulbous compressed base, stiff and pectinate, horny or whitish (at length ashy), interwoven with adjacent clusters, those on lower tubercles about equal (6 to 10 mm.), on flower-bearing tubercles elongated, mixed with a few stouter ones and fasciculated (lower ones 10 to 12 mm. long, upper ones 12 to 18 mm. long and forming an apical tuft); centrals none: flowers over 5 cm. long and about 6 to 7.5 cm. in diameter when expanded, bright sulphur-yellow: fruit ovate and green, about 12 mm. long: seeds compressed, brownish smooth and shining, 1.8 mm. long. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 11)Type unknown; that of M. pectinata Engelm. is the Wright material in Herb. Mo. Bot. Gard.
Extending from the hills along the Lower Pecos to El Paso, southwestern Texas, southward through Coahuila and San Luis Potosi to southern Mexico.
Specimens examined: Texas (Wright 226 of 1849, also of 1852; Evans of 1891): Coahuila (Palmer of 1880; Mrs. Nickels): San Luis Potosi (Parry& Palmer 265; Eschanzier of 1891): also specimens cultivated in St. Louis in 1853; in Mo. Bot. Gard. in 1892; and in Harv. Bot Gard.
Even in the absence of the type I have ventured to refer Mamillaria pectinata Engelm. to this species.Dr. Engelmann had concluded that the two were "not sufficiently distinct," and the examination of Mexican forms which pass as C. radians abundantly confirms this conclusion.Besides, every character in the original description of C. radians applies exactly to these Mexican plants and to our Texan specimens as well.Aside from the fact that the Mexican specimens are apt to be more robust, I can discover no difference whatever. For discussion of relationships see under C. scolymoides.
46.Cactus radians pectenoides, var. nov.
Differs in its cespitose habit, fewer (16 or 17) and stouter spines (8 to 9 mm. long), and its larger and longer (10 mm.) less deeply grooved tubercles.Type in Herb. Coulter.
San Luis Potosi.
Specimens examined: San Luis Potosi (Eschanzier of 1891).
47.Cactus corniferus(DC.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen Pl. 260 (1891).
Mamillaria corniferaDC. Rev. Cact. 111 (1829). Mamillaria impexicomaLem. Hort. Monov. Cult. 5 (1839). Mamillaria cornifera impexicomaSalm. Cact. Hort. Dyck.20 (1850).
Globose, 7.5 cm. in diameter, simple: tubercles oblong-ovate, 2 cm long, crowded, the younger axils woolly: radial spines 15 to 26, rigid and horny, curved or sometimes straight, reflexed, bulbous at base, yellowish (whiter with age) and with dark tips, very sharp, 10 to 12 mm, long; the central one much stouter, darker, slightly deflexed, 12 to 16 mm long, sometimes wanting: flower unknown: fruit obovate, red, 2 cm long: seeds reddish, angular, smooth, 2 mm. long.Type unknown.
From San Luis Potosi to southern Mexico.
