Discocactus
Discocactus horstii
Discocactus is a genus in the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The botanical name derives from the Greek noun " δίσκος " ( discos ) for discus in the sense of flat and refers to the flattened, disc- like shape of the plant.
Description
The species of the genus Discocactus are depressed - spherical to spherical and usually individually growing plants, usually with numerous, slightly widened at the base of fins and well-trained warts. The areolae are covered in the rule of the most powerful thorns. The terminal, up to 4 inches high cephalium is slightly compressed. It consists of white, yellowish to grayish white wool, and may have bristly spines.
The fragrant, white, funnel-shaped or salver -shaped flowers emerge at the edge of Cephaliums and open at night. Your bald at the base Perikarpell is above covered with scales. Wool or hair, are not present. The slender flower tube is also covered with scales.
The spherical to club-shaped to oblong, white to pink to bright red fruits are bare and slightly fleshy. They open to a vertical gap and have a perennial flower rest. The fruits contain broadly oval to almost spherical, shiny black seeds that are 2 to 2.5 millimeters long.
Systematics and distribution
Discocactus is in Brazil, distributed in eastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay.
The first description of the genus was made in 1837 by Ludwig Georg Karl Pfeiffer. The type species of the genus is Discocactus insignis. Belong to the genus of the following types:
- Discocactus bahiensis Discocactus bahiensis subsp. bahiensis
- Discocactus bahiensis subsp. subviridigriseus
- Discocactus heptacanthus subsp. heptacanthus
- Discocactus heptacanthus subsp. catingicola
- Discocactus heptacanthus subsp. magnimammus
- Discocactus zehntneri subsp. zehntneri
- Discocactus zehntneri subsp. boomianus
A synonym of the genus is Neodiscocactus Y.Itô.