Sclerocactus mesae-verde
Sclerocactus mesae - verdae Young plant with flowers in New Mexico.
Sclerocactus mesae - verdae is a plant of the genus Sclerocactus in the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). An English common name is " Mesa Verde Cactus". The species is critically endangered and has been included in Appendix I of CITES.
Description
The gray to gray-green, 10 to 18 - rippige plant body is depressed - globose to ovoid, reaching heights of growth 4-8 cm (rarely 18 cm) in diameter and 4-8 cm. The woolly areoles are circular to elliptical. The central spine mostly missing. Very rarely are available up to 4 gray to straw -colored, 1 to 1.4 cm long central spines, one of which is hooked. The plants usually grow individually. Your taproot is branched.
The funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, sweetly scented flowers are 2 to 2.5 cm long and have a diameter of 1.5 to 3 cm on. The bloom is usually bright yellow, rarely pale pink and have a beige, brown or purple markings. The flowering period begins in late April.
The cylindrical, 6-12 mm long, fruits are brownish to brown and contain 10 to 20 black, shiny, feinwarzige seeds that mature within 4 to 6 weeks.
Dissemination
Sclerocactus mesae - verdae is widespread endemic to the Colorado Plateau in the Indian reserves of desert areas in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. He settled flat barren, dry, low hills at altitudes 1200-1800 meters and grows associated with Sclerocactus parviflorus, Echinocereus fendleri, Opuntia polyacantha, Altriplex confertifolia, Frankenia jamesii and Hilaria jamesii.
System
The epithet of the species refers to the Mesa Verde area, their main distribution area.
Charles Boissevain Hercules discovered the species in 1940, near Cortez in the U.S. state of Colorado and co-authored with Carol Davidson in the same year, the first description under the name Coloradoa mesae - verdae. The American botanist Lyman David Benson she put 1951 as Echinocactus mesae - verdae in the genus Echinocactus. The assignment to the genus Sclerocactus was made in 1966 by Benson. The 1972 classification was made by Gerald Kench Arp as Pediocactus mesae - verdae is now regarded as a synonym.
Sclerocactus mesae - verdae is closely related to Sclerocactus wetlandicus and belongs to section mesae - Verdae the genus Sclerocactus.
Endangering
In the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN, the type is known as " Least Concern ( LC) ," ie, than not led at risk.
Pictures
Sclerocactus mesae - verdae:
Closed flowers in the early morning (New Mexico).
Cream-colored flowers ( New Mexico).