Grusonia kunzei
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Grusonia kunzei |
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| ( Rose ) Pinkava |
Grusonia kunzei is a species of plant in the genus Grusonia fromthe cactus family (Cactaceae). The specific epithet kunzei honors the German cactus collector Richard Ernst Kunze (1838–1919) who collected cacti around 1900 for the Erfurt Kakteen-Haage nursery. A common name is "Devil Cholla".
description
Grusonia kunzei is richly branched and forms mats up to 50 centimeters high. The curved, club-shaped shoot sections narrowed towards their base are 10 to 15 centimeters long and have a diameter of 2.5 to 4 centimeters. They are covered with clearly recognizable 2 to 3 centimeters long bumps. The circular areoles are covered with gray to white wool and a few yellow glochids that are 5 to 6 millimeters long. The 17 to 27 thorns are distributed along the shoots and cover them. The upper thorns are ocher to reddish ocher, spreading and angular at their base. The longest of them grows up to 2 inches long. The lower thorns are ocher, edged with white, strongly flattened and curved downwards. The longest of them reaches a length of up to 4.5 centimeters.
The yellow to light yellowish green flowers reach lengths of 1.5 to 2 centimeters. The obovate to elongated, lemon-yellow to yellow fruits are fleshy and covered with glochids and thorns. They are 4 to 7.5 inches long and 1.5 to 4 inches in diameter. Occasionally the fruits sprout.
Distribution, systematics and endangerment
Grusonia kunzei is distributed in the United States in southwest Arizona as well as in the north of the Mexican state of Baja California and in the state of Sonora at altitudes of up to 600 meters.
The first description as Opuntia kunzei was in 1908 by Joseph Nelson Rose . Donald John Pinkava placed the species in the genus Grusonia in 1999 . Synonyms are Opuntia stanlyi var. Kunzei (Rose) LDBenson (1944), Opuntia stanlyi var. Kunzei (Rose) Backeb. and Corynopuntia kunzei (Rose) MPGriff (2003).
In the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN , the species is listed as " Least Concern (LC) ". H. listed as not endangered. The development of the populations is considered stable.
proof
literature
- Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4573-1 , p. 306 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-05597-3 , p. 129.
- ^ A preliminary treatment of the Opuntioideae of North America . In: Smithsonian miscellaneous collections . Volume 50, 1908, pp. 505-506, (online) .
- ^ Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science . Volume 32, number 1, 1999, p. 50.
- ↑ Corynopuntia kunzei in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Listed by: Baker, M. & Puente, R., 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
