A Preliminary Revision of the North American Species of Cactus,
Anhalonium, and Lophophora by John M. Coulter.
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Division of Botany
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE U. S. NATIONAL HERBARIUM
Vol. III--No. 2
Issued June 10, 1894
Preliminary Revision of the North American Species of Cactus,
Anhalonium, and Lophophora.
by
John M. Coulter.
Published by Authority of the Secretary of Agriculture
Washington
Government Printing Office
1894
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U. S. Department of Agriculture
Division of Botany
Washington, D. C., March 21, 1894
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for publication as
Vol. III, No. 2, of Contributions from the U. S. National
Herbarium, a Preliminary Revision of the North American species
of Cactus, Anhalonium, and Lophophora, by President John M.
Coulter.
Respectfully,
Frederick V. Coville,
Chief of the Division of Botany.
Hon. J. Sterling Morton,
Secretary of Agriculture.
PRELIMINARY REVISION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES
OF CACTUS, ANHALONIUM, AND LOPHOPHORA.
Prefatory Note.
In the fall of 1890 Dr. George Vasey, then Botanist of the
Department of Agriculture, arranged with me to prepare a revision
of North American Cactaceae. Owing to the peculiar difficulty of
preserving material the family was poorly represented, even in
our leading herbaria. To secure a large amount of additional
material in the way of specimens and field notes the Department
authorized me to visit the region of the Mexican boundary during
the summer of 1891. Preliminary to this exploration it was
necessary to examine the Engelmann collection of Cactaceae, in
the possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden. This
collection, supplemented by the continual additions made at the
garden, is by far the largest collection of skeletons and living
specimens in this country, and also contains the large majority
of our types.
In March, 1891, I visited this collection and made such notes as
seemed necessary for use in the field, and in June, accompanied
by Mr. W. H. Evans and Mr. G. C. Nealley, I began field work in
the neighborhood of El Paso, Tex. After ten days of exploration
it was necessary for me to leave the field work in charge of Mr.
Evans, who, with Mr. Nealley, continued work westward, during
July and a part of August, to southern California, along the
Southern Pacific Railway. As a result a large number of complete
plant bodies was secured, but very few of them were in flower and
the field notes indicated little besides collection stations.
During the following fall and winter preliminary determinations
of this material were made by Mr. Evans.
In the fall of 1892 critical study of this and other collections
was begun in connection with my assistants, Dr. Elmon M. Fisher
and Mr. Edwin B. Uline, who have ever since rendered constant and
most import assistance in the examination of material and
bibliography, which alone has made the work possible in the midst
of other pressing duties.
In the spring of 1893 these two gentlemen spent several weeks at
the Missouri Botanical Garden in the critical study of its rich
material, and during the latter part of their stay I assisted in
the work. Dr. William Trelease, the director of the garden, had
hastened the arrangement of the Engelmann material, and had
mounted in convenient form the large mass of notes left by Dr.
Engelmann. These notes contained not only critical remarks upon
known species, but also the diagnoses of many unpublished species
which had come into his hands, notably those collected by Mr.
William Gabb in 1867 in Lower California. The collections that
have thus far been studied are:
(1) Those of the Missouri Botanical Garden; and thanks are
especially due to Dr. Trelease for his generous cooperation in
the use of this material, without which the work would have been
impossible.
(2) Those of the Department of Agriculture, including the results
of several recent explorations, for the use of which I am
indebted to Mr. Frederick V. Coville.
(3) Those of the Gray Herbarium at Harvard University, which Dr.
B. L. Robinson kindly placed at my disposal.
(4) Those of the California Academy of Sciences, notably rich in
forms from Lower California and the adjacent islands, kindly
loaned by Mr. T. S. Brandegee.
(5) Those of Dr. Louis Eschanzier, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico,
who send a large series of Mexican forms collected in 1891.
(6) Numerous small sets from different correspondents, who have
given both time and material in aiding the work.
It is needless to say that Dr. George Engelmann, the great
pioneer student of this difficult family, has opened the paths in
which we must follow, and it was exceedingly unfortunate that he
was not able to complete the final revision that he had in mind.
The difficulties which beset the critical study of this group can
not be easily exaggerated. Such scanty material as has been
collected has been for the most part very incomplete, consisting
of plant bodies without flower or fruit, flower or fruit without
plant bodies, and bunches of spines without either. The species
are displayed also in the most inaccessible regions, and their
culmination is found in the still poorly known regions of Mexico.
On account of their singular forms and often brilliant flowers
they have long been extensively cultivated, especially in Europe.
These cultivated forms have formed the basis of original
descriptions in almost all of the European publications, and in
very rare cases have any types been preserved. As a result, the
bibliography of Cactaceae is appalling, and it is questionable
whether satisfactory conclusions can be reached in the case of
hundreds of published names. The earlier descriptions were not
only meager, but were based upon what are now regarded very
insufficient characters, and in the absence of types it is not
only unsafe, but impossible to venture an opinion concerning
their identity. In view of these facts, I have thought it
advisable to present a preliminary revision of the order, which
shall contain the results of the study of material confessedly
insufficient. With such knowledge as we possess brought
together, it is hoped that the study of this very interesting and
much neglected group will be stimulated, and that more critical
exploration of our southwestern territory and adjacent Mexico
will make a more satisfactory presentation possible. It would be
useless to notice the vast number of reputed species that are not
represented by actual specimens in our possession.
In the proposed preliminary account of the family, of which the
present paper is the first part, only those genera are considered
which form a part of the flora of the United States, and those
species which I have been able to examine and to identify with
reasonable certainty. All forms credited to the United States
have been studied, and the account of these species may be
considered fairly complete, but the far more numerous Mexican
species are but scantily represented. The Mexican boundary is so
unnatural a dividing line in the distribution of Cactaceae that
it has been disregarded, and all the species studied have been
arranged in a lineal series of uniform prominence. So far as
known the subject of geographical distribution is considered, but
it will be seen how meager is our knowledge of this subject. It
is to be hoped that this preliminary presentation will provoke
exploration and study, and that species will not only be
collected, but all the facts of their distribution noted. It is
more than probable that our present notion of species in this
group must be much modified, and doubtless many forms are at
present kept specifically distinct which will prove to be but
different phases of a single species.
In the matter of generic delimitation we are in still greater
uncertainty, and several generic lines at present recognized must
be regarded as purely arbitrary, a fact which must become still
more evident with additional material. The whole group is to be
regarded as made up of poorly differentiated forms and only long
observation under cultivation can determine the possibilities of
specific variation under the influence of environment, of age, of
inherent tendencies. For instance, that these plants change in
form and in spine characters with increasing age and after they
have begun to flower can not be doubted, but what described forms
have thus been separated in descriptions can only be guessed at.
John M. Coulter.
Lake Forest University,
Lake Forest, Ill., January, 1891.