the name of O. vaginata,[1] as the straw-colored loose sheaths of the long remarkable. A new Echinocereus was also collected here, which on account of its dense covering with small spines, I have named E. dasyacanthus.[2] I have in cultivation one of the largest specimens, seen by Dr. Wislizenus, which is one foot high. In this neighborhood Opuntia Tuna, Mill., was seen for the first time, and this is perhaps the most northern limit of that extensively diffused species, as well as of Agave americana, another common Mexican plant. Both were found in greater perfection near Chihuahua, and from there constantly down to Monterey and the mouth of the Rio Grande; the Opuntia appears to extend also high up in Texas.
Together with these a Dasylirion, perhaps the same as the Texan species, was found here, and afterwards again near Saltillo.
From El Paso to Chihuahua, the road lies in part through a dreadfully arid sandhill district where a peculiar Martynia[3] was observed, and fur-
- ↑ Opuntia vaginata, n. sp. caule lignoso, erecto, ramuhs teretibus vix tuberculatis; areolis orbiculatis, albo-tomentosis, margine superiore fasciculum setarum brevium fuscarum, inferiore aculeum elongatum corneum vagina laxa straminea involutum, deflexum gerentibus; floribus parvis, ovario obovato, areolis 13 tomentosis setigeris stipato; sepalis interioribus 8 et petalis 5 obovatis mucronatis; bacca obovata profunde umbilicata, carnosa, aurantiaca, seminibus paucis.
On the mountains near El Paso; in August in flower and fruit. Belongs to Opuntiae cylindraceae graciliores, (Salm-Dyck;) perhaps nearest to O. virgata, H. V., but distinguished by the longer deflexed spines. Apparently 3 or 4 feet high, ultimate branches 212 to 3 lines in diameter; spines single, 112 to 2 inches long, rarely with a second smaller one, straight, more or less deflexed; epidermical sheath yellow or brownish, very loose, at last coming off. Ovary 4 to 5 lines long; flower 6 to 9 lines in diameter, pale yellow, with a greenish tinge; stigma conic, with 5 adpressed segments; fruit 7 to 8 lines long.
- ↑ Echinocereus dasyacanthus, n. sp. ovato-oblongus, s. subcylindricus, 17-18 costatus costis tuberculatis subinterruptis, areolis approximatis, ovato-lanceolatis, junioribus albo-villosis; aculeis albidis, junioribus apice rufidis radialibus sub-18 porrectis, summis brevioribus tenuioribus, later-alibus inferioribusque longioribus; centralibus 4-6 pluribus deflexis.
El Paso del Norte. The specimen before me, one of the largest, is 12 inches high, and 312 inches below, and 2 inches above in diameter; wool on the young areolae unusually long, deciduous; upper spines 3 lines long, lower lateral ones slightly compressed 6 to 7 lines long, lowest 5 lines long; central spines nearly as long as the last, stouter than the others. From E. pectinatus and E. caespitosus, which it resembles, it is distinguished by the longer, not appressed spines, the larger number and size of the central spines, &c.
- ↑ Martynia arenaria, n. sp. annua, glanduloso-pilosa foliis alternis, longe petiolatis, cordatis, 3-5-7 lobatis, lobis rotundatis, repando denticulatis; bracteis lanceolatis calycem obliquum, infra fissum, dimidium aequantibus; staminibus 4; rostro pericarpium aequante. Sandhills below El Paso, flowers August. Leaves 112 to 2 inches wide
See note 45.
