Coryphantha (from Greek language, "flowering on the top"), or beehive cactus, is a genus of small to middle-sized, globose or columnar cactus. The genus is native plant to arid parts of Central America, Mexico, through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas and north into southwestern, central, and southeastern Montana. With its two subgenus, 57 species and 20 subspecies, it is one of the largest genera of cactus.[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 1, ]
Description
There are four characteristics that distinguish
Coryphantha from other cacti.
-
Their bodies do not have ribs, just .
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.2 Tubercles" Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, pp. 9–12, ]
-
The flowers form at the top of the plant (the apex or Meristem of the stem).
-
The tip (podarium) of each flowering tubercle has three parts, the spiny areole, the groove and the axil. Without the groove it is not a Coryphantha.
-
The seed coat (or testa) has a net-like pattern ().
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.7 Seeds" Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 17-20, ]
More than many other cacti, the
Coryphantha change in their appearance over their lifespan.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 2, ] The presence or absence of a central spine is not indicative of the genus, even in fully adult plants.
Name
The name
Coryphantha was first applied by
George Engelmann in 1856 as a subgenus,
[Anderson, Edward F. (2001) "Coryphantha" The Cactus Family. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, p. 186, ] the earlier name
Aulacothele of Lemaire having been abandoned.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA. Springer, Berlin, p. 23, ] In 1868 Lemaire promoted the group to genus level.
Before this all
Coryphantha had been classified as
Mammillaria.
Species
|
|
-
Coryphantha clavata subsp. clavata
-
Coryphantha clavata subsp. stipitata
|Mexico
|
| Mexico (to Sonora) |
| Mexico |
| Mexico. |
| Mexico. |
| Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí) |
-
Coryphantha durangensis subsp. cuencamensis
-
Coryphantha durangensis subsp. durangensis
|Mexico (Durango, Coahuila).
|
| Mexico |
| Central Texas to NE. Mexico |
-
Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. bumamma
-
Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. elephantidens
-
Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. greenwoodii
|Mexico.
|
| Mexico (to Veracruz) |
| Mexico. |
| Mexico (to Jalisco). |
| Mexico (Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí). |
| Mexico (Chihuahua). |
-
Coryphantha hintoniorum subsp. geoffreyi
-
Coryphantha hintoniorum subsp. hintoniorum
|Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí)
|
| Mexico (Querétaro to Hidalgo) |
| Mexico (Durango) |
| Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango) |
| Mexico (to Jalisco) |
| Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León). |
| Texas to Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León) |
| Mexico (to Jalisco). |
| Mexico. |
-
Coryphantha pallida subsp. calipensis
-
Coryphantha pallida subsp. pallida
-
Coryphantha pallida subsp. pseudoradians
| Mexico (Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca)
|
| Mexico. |
| Mexico (Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas) |
-
Coryphantha pseudoechinus subsp. laui
-
Coryphantha pseudoechinus subsp. pseudoechinus
|Mexico.
|
| Mexico (Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila) |
| Mexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí) |
| Mexico. |
-
Coryphantha ramillosa subsp. ramillosa
-
Coryphantha ramillosa subsp. santarosa
|SW. Texas to NE. Mexico
|
-
Coryphantha recurvata subsp. canatlanensis
-
Coryphantha recurvata subsp. recurvata
| Arizona to Mexico (Sonora)
|
| Mexico (Puebla, Oaxaca) |
-
Coryphantha robustispina subsp. robustispina
-
Coryphantha robustispina subsp. scheeri
|Arizona to SW. New Mexico and Mexico (Sonora)
|
| . Mexico |
| Texas to Mexico (Coahuila, Tamualipas, Nuevo León) |
| Mexico (Zacatecas, Jalisco) |
| Mexico (Tamaulipas, Durango, Zacatecas) |
| Mexico (Jalisco to San Luis Potosí) |
| Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango) |
| Mexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí) |
|
Synonymy
The genus has two valid synonyms:
-
Cumarinia Buxb.
-
Lepidocoryphantha Backeb.
and three invalid ones:
-
Aulacothele Monv. (nom. inval.)
-
Glandulifera (Salm-Dyck) Fric (nom. inval.)
-
Roseia Fric (nom. inval.)
Related genera
A number of
Coryphantha have previously been classified in other genera, indeed the
type species C. sulcata was originally named
Mammillaria sulcata[Britton, Nathaniel Lord and Brown, Addison (1913) An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British possessions, from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the 102d meridian (2nd edition) Scribner, New York, pp. 1–3, ] Other examples include
Echinocactus salinensis Poselger 1853 now
Coryphantha salinensis (Poselger) Dicht and A.Lüthy 1998
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (1998) "Im Feld wiederaufgefunden: Coryphantha salinensis (Poselger) Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten 49(11): pp. 256ff., in German] and
Neolloydia pulleineana Blackberg 1948 now
Coryphantha pulleineana (Blackberg) Glass 1968.
[Glass, Charles (1968) "Cactaceas Mexicanas Poco conocidas" Cactaceas y Suculentas Mexicanas 2: pp. 34ff., in Spanish]
Similarly, a number of other species have been previously classified as Coryphantha. For example, Escobaria vivipara was called Coryphantha vivipara.[Hunt, David R. and Benson, Lyman (1976) "The lectotype of Coryphantha". Cactus and Succulent Journal (U.S.) 48: pp. 72ff.]
Gallery
External links
