General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1896 Original Publisher: Gov't Print. Off. Subjects: Plants Cactus Botany Cactaceae Nature / Plants Science / Life Sciences / Botany Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. DIVISION OF BOTANY. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE U. S. NATIONAL HERBARIUM. Vol. Ill, No. 7. ISSUED APRIL 1, 1896. PRELIMINARY REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF ECHINOCACTUS, CEREUS, AND OPUNTIA. BY JOHN M. COULTER. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1896. 32, 343 LETTER OE TRANSMITTAL U. 8. Department Of Agriculture, Division Of Botany, Washington, D. C., December 30, 1895. Sir: I have the honor to transmit, herewith for publication Volume III, No. 7, Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, consisting of the final part of a preliminary revision of the North American species of Cactacese. Bespectfiilly, Frederick V. Coville, Botanist. Hon. J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture, 'in PRELIMINARY REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF ECHINOCACTUS, CEREUS, AND OPUNTIA. PREFATORY NOTE. This is the completion of the work on our North American Cactacese, which was begun by the preliminary revision of Cactus, Anhaloninm, and Lophophora, published as Contributions from the U. S. National Herbarium, Vol. Ill, No. 2 (issued June 10, 1804). The occasion for such an undertaking and the opportunities for carrying it out were explained in the prefatory note to that paper. As the work progressed, however, it became more and more evident that the revision could consist only of the systematic collection of our present knowledge, based upon the study of the very inadequate material acce...