After a Workshop on Nuclear Physics held in La Havana in the last week of October 1999, I visited some areas of the South East of Cuba with a view to see the melocacti described by Meszaros in a paper appeared (as a translation) in Succulentes in 1979.
I visited both the East and the West parts around Santiago de Cuba until Cajobabo on the East, and between Ocujal and La Plata on the West. In all places I found the melocacti harlowii species and its ssp (acunai, nagyii) as described in the Meszaros's paper . The only place that I could not visit was Caimanera, on the Guantanamo bay , because the access is considered as strategic by the Cuban authorities, due to the presence of the US naval base. I regretted this prohibition which prevented me to observe the Melocactus evae described by Meszaros.
*A very similar species was labelled Cylindropuntia hystrix at the Botanical Garden of La Havana ( see below), but I never found a description in the literature.
Cacti and succulents at the Jardin Botanico Nacional (La Havana)
