Copiapoa
Copiapoa is a genus of flowering plants of the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The botanical name of the genus is derived from the located in the Atacama desert Chilean city of Copiapo.
Description
The genus Copiapoa is known for dense cushions of hundreds of large individual plants. There are also species that form only isolated plants. The shoots are spherical or elongated - cylindrical. At the apex of the species are mostly densely hairy woolly. The ribs are formed clearly. Most existing spines are variable in shape.
The yellow flowers appear at the apex. They are bell - to funnel-shaped and open during the day. The short, top-shaped Perikarpell is bald. The corolla tube is short and broad.
The small, smooth fruits contain large, shiny black seeds with a large hilum.
Systematics and distribution
The genus Copiapoa is common in the coastal deserts of northern Chile.
The plants now called the Copiapoa were first performed under Echinocactus. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose used the name Copiapoa first published in 1922 the third volume of their work Overview The Cactaceae. They differed in six Copiapoa species. Later, many new types of Friedrich Ritter were first described. The 1961 established species Pilocopiapoa F.Ritter was made in 1990 as a synonym of Copiapoa.
The type species of the genus Echinocactus is marginatus. After Edward F. Anderson following species belong to the genus Copiapoa:
- Copiapoa ahremephiana
- Copiapoa atacamensis
- Copiapoa bridgesii
- Copiapoa calderana
- Copiapoa cinerascens
- Copiapoa cinerea
- Copiapoa conglomerata
- Copiapoa coquimbana
- Copiapoa dealbata
- Copiapoa decorticans
- Copiapoa echinoides
- Copiapoa esmeraldana
- Copiapoa fiedleriana
- Copiapoa gigantea
- Copiapoa grandiflora
- Copiapoa humilis Copiapoa humilis subsp. humilis
- Copiapoa humilis subsp. australis
- Copiapoa humilis subsp. longispina
- Copiapoa humilis subsp. tenuissima
- Copiapoa humilis subsp. tocopillana
- Copiapoa humilis subsp. varispinata