. Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. 86 THE CACTACEAE. Series 2. FLOCCOSAE. Low plants, forming dense clumps or mounds; joints short, thick, and fleshy, usually covered with long, white, silky hairs. The two species are common in the high valleys of the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. KEY TO SPECIES. Spines yellow, stout 56. O. fluccosa Spines white, acicular 57. 0. lagopus 56. Opuntia floccosa Salm-Dyck, Allg. Gartenz. 13: 388. 1845. Opuntia senilis Roezl in Morren, Belg. Hort. 24: 39. 1874. Opuntia floccosa denudata Weber, Diet. Hort. Bois 897. 1898. Opuntia hempeliana Schumann, Gesa
. Carnegie Institution of Washington publication. 86 THE CACTACEAE. Series 2. FLOCCOSAE. Low plants, forming dense clumps or mounds; joints short, thick, and fleshy, usually covered with long, white, silky hairs. The two species are common in the high valleys of the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. KEY TO SPECIES. Spines yellow, stout 56. O. fluccosa Spines white, acicular 57. 0. lagopus 56. Opuntia floccosa Salm-Dyck, Allg. Gartenz. 13: 388. 1845. Opuntia senilis Roezl in Morren, Belg. Hort. 24: 39. 1874. Opuntia floccosa denudata Weber, Diet. Hort. Bois 897. 1898. Opuntia hempeliana Schumann, Gesamtb. Kakteen 690. 1898. Plant growing in clumps or low mounds sometimes i to 2 meters in diameter, with hundreds of short, erect branches; joints oblong, 5 to 10 cm. long, usually hidden under a mass of long white hairs coming from the areoles; spines usually one from an areole, sometimes as many as three, yellow, i to 3 cm. long; leaves minute, green or pinkish; tubercles somewhat elevated, elongated; flowers, small, 3 cm. long, yellow; fruit globular, 3 cm. in diameter: seeds 4 mm. in diameter, with very nar- row >i.—Opuntia floccosa. Type locality: Said to be from vicinity of Lima, Peru, but doubtless only from the high mountains east of Lima. Distribution: High mountain valleys and hills of the Andes from central Peru to central Bolivia. 0. floccosa is one of the most unusual and striking species of all the opuntias. One who is familiar only with the opuntias of North America would not suspect that it belongs to the genus. It does not grow on the hot mesas in the low country, as one would expect, but in the high, cold valleys and hills near the top of the Andes. The following paragraph, taken from John Ball's notes, is interesting in this connection: Reserving some remarks on the botany of this excursion, there is yet to be mentioned here one plant of the upper region so singular that it must attract the notice of every traveler. As we ascended from Casapalta
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