Copiapoa atacamensis

Copiapoa atacamensis
Systematics
Order :	Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family :	Cactus family (Cactaceae)
Subfamily :	Cactoideae
Tribe :	Notocacteae
Genre :	Copiapoa
Type :	Copiapoa atacamensis
Scientific name
	Copiapoa atacamensis
	Middled.

Copiapoa atacamensis is a species of plant in the genus Copiapoa in the cactus family(Cactaceae). The specific epithet atacamensis comes from Latin and indicates the site in the region of the Chilean Atacama Desert .

description

Copiapoa atacamensis grows singly or sprouting abundantly and forms larger pads. The spherical to elongated spherical shoots are gray-green with a grayish white wax layer. They measure up to twelve centimeters in diameter. The 12 to 16 ribs are sharp to blunt, slightly rounded on top and hardly broken up into cusps. Sometimes they are also arranged in a spiral. The areoles are often confluent. They are initially orange-brown, later blackish and almost naked. The thorns are brownish, later grayish black to completely gray. A straight, protruding central spine with a length of three to four centimeters and five to seven slender, slightly backward-curved radial spines with a length of one centimeter are distinguished.

The wide open yellow flowers are fragrant. They are 3 to 3.5 inches long. The fruits are greenish to pink in color and have few scales.

Distribution and systematics

Copiapoa atacamensis is distributed in Chile in the Antofagasta region between Cerro Moreno and Paposo .

The first description was in 1980 by Harry Middleditch . A synonym is Copiapoa calderana subsp. atacamensis (Middled.) DRHunt (2002).

proof

literature

Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8001-5964-2 , pp. 135-136 .

Individual evidence

↑ Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names . Birkhäuser 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 17.
↑ H. Middleditch: Copiapoa atacamensis H. Middleditch spec. nov. In: Chileans , The Hetton le Hole, Bristol, Guildford, etc. Volume 11, Issue 37, 1979, pp. 20-21.

[1] Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names . Birkhäuser 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 17.

[2] H. Middleditch: Copiapoa atacamensis H. Middleditch spec. nov. In: Chileans , The Hetton le Hole, Bristol, Guildford, etc. Volume 11, Issue 37, 1979, pp. 20-21.