Grusonia pulchella
| Grusonia pulchella | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grusonia pulchella |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Grusonia pulchella | ||||||||||||
| ( Engelm. ) H.Rob. |
Grusonia pulchella is a species of plant in the genus Grusonia fromthe cactus family (Cactaceae). The specific epithet pulchella means '(Latin pulchellus) cute'.
description
Grusonia pulchella grows low, is richly branched and forms mats 10 to 20 centimeters high. The roots are bulbous. The cylindrical to ellipsoidal or club-shaped, clearly humped shoot sections are 1 to 4 centimeters long (rarely up to 10 centimeters) and have a diameter of 0.5 to 2.5 centimeters. The circular areoles are covered with white to gray wool and yellow to reddish yellow, bearded, up to 8 millimeters long glochids . The eight to 15 initially white to reddish brown thorns turn gray later. Most of them are located on the areoles near the shoot tips. The thorns are spreading and curved downwards and flattened. The longest of them are up to 6 inches long.
The pink to purple colored flowers reach lengths of 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters. The wrongly conical, smooth fruits are reddish and fleshy, but dry quickly when fully ripe and finally fall off. They are 1.5 to 3 centimeters long and have a diameter of 8 to 12 millimeters.
ecology
The dry fruits are spread by the wind.
Distribution, systematics and endangerment
Grusonia pulchella is common in the United States in central Nevada and in the neighboring border regions of California and Utah in the vegetation of the Mohave Desert at altitudes of 1200 to 1500 meters.
The first description as Opuntia pulchella was in 1863 by George Engelmann . Harold Ernest Robinson put the species in 1973 in the genus Grusonia . Nomenclatory synonyms are Corynopuntia pulchella (Engelm.) FMKnuth (1936) and Micropuntia pulchella (Engelm.) C. Holland (1997, nom. Inval. ICBN -Article 33.3).
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. 307-308 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Additions to the Cactus-Flora of the Territory of the United States . In: Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis . Volume 2, 1863, p. 201, (online) .
- ↑ Phytologia . Volume 26, Number 3, 1973, p. 176, (online) .
- ↑ Corynopuntia pulchella in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: Gravuer, K., Baker, M. & Puente, R., 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
