Malacocarpus
(from malakos, soft, and karpos, a fruit; alluding to the juicy fruits). ORD. Cacteae. This genus, now included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Echinocactus, is composed of the smooth-fruited species of that genus (which see for culture).
M. erinaceus (prickly). fl. straw-coloured, when in bud clothed with long silky brown hairs. Summer. Plant nearly bullet-shaped, very slightly depressed at top, with eighteen more or less spirally-curved ribs. Spines on young individuals, yellow; on older ones horn-like, brownish; eight or ten (seldom more) outer ones, and a single central erect one. Brazil. See Fig. 504, for which we are indebted to Herr Fr. Ad. Haage, jun., of Erfurt, Germany.