ed to
Kew in 1886. This new plant is remarkable in that it is often found wild
with as many as twenty to thirty stems or heads springing from the same
base, and even young plants show early a disposition to develop several
heads. The largest stems are from 11/2 ft. to 21/2 ft. high, and have a
somewhat forbidding appearance, owing to the size and strength of their
numerous spines. For its cultivation, a warm-house temperature appears
most suitable; it bears a close resemblance to E. texensis.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--RIDGE, WITH SPINES, OF ECHINOCACTUS
POLYCEPHALUS.]

E. Pottsii (Potts').--The stem of this is shown in Fig. 43. Full-sized
plants are 11/2 ft. in diameter, and have about a dozen ridges with acute
sinuses, the ridges being rounded and even. The spines are 1 in. long,
bristle-like, and are arranged in clusters of seven or nine, with a
cushion of white wool at the base of each cluster. Flowers short-tubed,
about 2 in. across, and coloured yellow; they are produced on the top of
the stem in summer, several expanding together. The plant is a native of
California, and was introduced about 1840. Under cultivation this
species proves to be a shy-flowering Cactus, although in a warm house it
grows freely, and remains in good health. It is well adapted for
grafting on to the stem of some kind of Cereus, and in this way may be
made to look very singular, as was shown in Mr. Peacock's collection of
succulents some years ago, when a fine specimen, over 1 ft. across, was
successfully grafted on to three stems of C. tortuosus, and had much the
appearance of a melon elevated on a short tripod.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--ECHINOCACTUS POTTSII.]

E. rhodophthalmus (red-eyed); Bot. Mag. 4486, 4634.--Stem cone-shaped,
4 in. to 1 ft. high, deeply furrowed; ridges about nine, 1 in. high, the
angles bearing closely-set clusters of radiating spines, with a
projecting one in the middle of each cluster, which contains nine spines
1 in. long, purple when young, becoming white when old. The flowers are
produced from the summit of the stem, and have a thick, green, scaly
calyx tube, upon which the spreading, rose-coloured petals are arranged
in a regular series, and form a shallow bell nearly 3 in. across. The
throat of the flower is coloured a deep crimson, against which the
little sheaf of white stamens and the star-shaped yellow stigma form a
pretty contrast. Three or more flowers are expanded together on a plant.
It is a native