Copiapoa megarhiza

Copiapoa megarhiza
	Copiapoa megarhiza
Systematics
Order :	Clove-like (Caryophyllales)
Family :	Cactus family (Cactaceae)
Subfamily :	Cactoideae
Tribe :	Notocacteae
Genre :	Copiapoa
Type :	Copiapoa megarhiza
Scientific name
	Copiapoa megarhiza
	Britton & Rose

Copiapoa megarhiza is a species of plant from the genus Copiapoa in the cactus family(Cactaceae). The specific epithet megarhiza comes from Latin and means 'with big roots'.

description

Copiapoa megarhiza usually grows individually, often branching with large tuberous tap roots. The depressed spherical to spherical shoots are gray-green. They are heavily thorny and measure five to ten centimeters in diameter. The 10 to 21 ribs are suggestively humped. The areoles are separated from each other. The awl or needle-like thorns are straight or slightly curved. They are yellow to black and turn gray with age. There are one to six central spines 1.5 to 4 centimeters in length and eight to 10 radial spines 0.5 to 2.5 centimeters in length.

The yellow flowers are 2.5 to 4 inches long. The fruits are green with few scales and measure one centimeter in diameter.

Distribution, systematics and endangerment

Copiapoa megarhiza is common in Chile in the Región de Atacama in the area of Copiapó .

The first description was in 1922 by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose . Synonyms are Copiapoa brunnescens Backeb. (1959, nom. Inval. ICBN -Article 36.1) and Copiapoa megarhiza var. Microrhiza F. Ritter (1980).

In the Red List of Threatened Species of IUCN is the species as " Vulnerable (VU) ", d. H. listed as endangered.

literature

Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . 2nd Edition. Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-8001-5964-2 , pp. 142 .
Friedrich Ritter : Cacti in South America. Results of my 20 years of field research . tape 3 : Chile . Friedrich Ritter Selbstverlag, Spangenberg 1980, OCLC 475383419 , p. 1081 ff .

Individual evidence

↑ Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. Birkhäuser 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 150.
^ NL Britton , JN Rose : The Cactaceae . Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family . tape III . The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington 1922, p. 89 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).
↑ Copiapoa megarhiza in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Faundez, L., Guerrero, P., Saldivia, P. & Walter, HE, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Copiapoa megarhiza - collection of images, videos and audio files

Location photos

[1] Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names. Birkhäuser 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 150.

[2] NL Britton , JN Rose : The Cactaceae . Descriptions and Illustrations of Plants of the Cactus Family . tape III . The Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington 1922, p. 89 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

[3] Copiapoa megarhiza in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Faundez, L., Guerrero, P., Saldivia, P. & Walter, HE, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2014.