Grusonia parishii
Grusonia parishii
Grusonia parishii is a flowering plant in the genus Grusonia from the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The specific epithet honors the parishii American botanist Samuel Bonsall Parish ( 1838-1928 ).
Description
Grusonia parishii growing low-growing, is richly branched, forming mats 10 to 20 inches of height. The club-shaped, gehöckerten drive sections are 5-9 inches long and have diameters of 2 to 3 centimeters on. The circular areolae are covered with gray to white wool and yellow glochids that are 5-8 millimeters long. The 14 to 22 white to brown spines have a yellowish tip and are located only at the areoles near the shoot tips or all areoles. The five upper spines are brownish, straddling, something turning round, flattened at its base edged up slightly to 4.2 inches long. The five to six lower spines are whitish to slightly pink to ochraceous, strongly recurved, flattened and 2.5 to 4.5 inches long.
The bright yellow flowers have a reddish median strip and reach lengths from 1.5 to 2.2 centimeters. The yellow fruits are fleshy and filled with thick, yellow glochids. They are 3.5 to 5.5 inches long, and have diameters of 1.5 to 2 centimeters.
Systematics and distribution
Grusonia parishii is distributed in the United States in southeastern California, southern Nevada and northwest and southern Arizona in the vegetation of the Mojave Desert, and Chihuahuan Desert.
The first description was in 1896 as Opuntia parishii by Charles Russell Orcutt. Donald John Pijia put the type in 1999 in the genus Grusonia. A synonym is Corynopuntia parishii ( Orcutt ) FMKnuth (1936).