Toothpick cactus
Stetsonia coryne at the Desert Botanical Garden Phoenix
Stetsonia coryne is the only species of the monotypic genus Stetsonia in the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The botanical name of the genus honors the U.S. attorney Francis Lynde Stetson and garden lovers ( 1846-1920 ). The epithet of the species derives from the Greek noun " κορύνη " ( coryne ) for leg and refers to the shape of the seedlings.
Description
The huge, tree-like Stetsonia coryne reaches a height of from 5 to 8 meters. From a strain numerous upright or slightly curved branches form. The blue- green shoots are not usually organized and have a diameter of 9 to 10 inches. There are 8-9 blunt-edged, slightly notched ribs present, which are 1 to 1.5 inches high. The yellow, later becoming black spines are straight and stiff. The central spine is up to 5 centimeters, the 7-9 spread spines to 3 inches long.
The funnel-shaped flowers are white and grow up to 15 centimeters in diameter. They open at night and often stay open until the next day. The Perikarpell has numerous, imbricated, the long corolla tube with scattered scales occupied.
The egg-shaped, trimmed with scales, edible fruits are green to reddish and have a sloping residual flowers. The broadly oval, shiny black-brown seeds are 1.7 mm long and 1 mm wide. You are humped with a finely wrinkled pattern.
Distribution, systematics and hazard
Stetsonia coryne is common in the high-altitude arid regions of northwestern Argentina and in Bolivia and Paraguay. The first description as Cereus coryne was made in 1850 by Joseph Salm- Dyck Reifferscheidt. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose they put 1920 in its newly established monotypic genus Stetsonia.
In the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN, the type is known as " Least Concern ( LC) ," ie, than not led at risk.