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 sphaerotrichaLem. 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 (frommaterial 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 gabbiiEngelm 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, LowerCalifornia, 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 sphaericaDietr. 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:
36.Cactus longimamma(DC.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 260 (1891).Mamillaria longimammaDC. Rev. Cact. 113 (1829).
Ovate or at length cylindrical, simple or cespitose: tubercles oblong- ovate, large at base, 4 to 5 cm. long: radial spines 7 or 8, radiant and equal, 8 to 10 mm. long or more, more or less pubescent; central spines 1 to 3, somewhat longer and spreading: flower 4 cm. long, becoming 6 cm. broad when fully expanded, yellow.(Ill. DC. Mem. Cact. t. 5.)II.CORYPHANTHA. Flowers from the base of a groove on young or nascent tubercles (hence appearing terminal), mostly large: spines never hooked (except in the doubtful C. brunneus).
Flowers yellow. The originally central flowers pushed aside by thecontinuousdevelopmentofnewtubercles:usuallyasingle prominentcentral spine.
37.Cactus missouriensis (Sweet) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. 259 (1891). CactusmamillarisNutt.Gen.i.295(1818),notLinn.(1753). MamillariamissouriensisSweet,Hort.Brit.171(1827).Mamillaria simplexTorr. & Gray, Fl. N. Am. i. 553 (1840). Mamillaria nuttalliiEngelm. Pl. Fendl. 49 (1849).Mamillaria notesteiniiBritton, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club,xviii,367 (1891).
Globose, 3.5 cm. in diameter, simple or nearly so: tubercles ovate- cylindrical, 12 to 14 mm. long, slightly grooved: radial spines 13 to 17, straight, whitish, setaceous, somewhat unequal, 8 to 10 mm. long; central spine more robust, straight and porrect, puberulent, 10 to 12 mm. long, often wanting: flowers about 2.5 cm. long, yellow or reddish: stigmas 2 to 5: fruit globose, scarlet, 6 to 8 mm. in diameter: seeds globose, black and pitted, 0.8 to 1.1 mm. in diameter. (Ill. Cact. Mex. Bound. t. 74., f. 6, seeds.)Type unknown.
High prairies of the Upper Missouri, from Montana to South Dakota and southward through western Nebraska to western Kansas and the eastern slopes of the mountains of Colorado.Fl. May.
Specimens examined: Montana (Notestein of 1893): National Park (Tweedy 423): South Dakota, (collector unknown, in 1847, 1848, 1853): Nebraska (Hayden of 1855).
38.Cactus missouriensis similis (Engelm.).
