Melocactus intortus
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Melocactus intortus is a species of plant in the genus Melocactus from the cactus family(Cactaceae). The botanical name is derived from the Latin word "intortus" for "wound". The species is part of the coat of arms of the Turks and Caicos Islands .
description
Melocactus intortus grows with light green, spherical to cylindrical shoots and reaches heights of up to 1 meter with a diameter of 15 to 40 centimeters. There are 14 to 20 (sometimes more) large and wide ribs . The nine to 21 strong, yellow to horn-colored spines are between 2 and 7 centimeters long and are often difficult to distinguish between central and radial spines. The cephalium consists of brown bristles. It can sometimes be as high as the vegetative part of the shoot.
The pink flowers are 1.5 to 2 centimeters long and 1.2 to 1.5 centimeters in diameter. The pink fruits are broadly club-shaped and 2 to 2.5 inches long.
Distribution, systematics and endangerment
Melocactus intortus is widespread in the Caribbean . The subspecies Melocactus intortus susbp. domingensis occurs only in the Dominican Republic .
It was first described as Cactus intortus in 1768 by Philip Miller . Ignaz Urban placed the species in the genus Melocactus in 1919 . There are two subspecies:
- Melocactus intortus subsp. intortus
- Melocactus intortus subsp. domingensis Areces
Important synonyms are Cactus melocactus var. Communis Aiton (1789) and Melocactus communis (Aiton) Link & Otto (1827).
In the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN , the species is listed as " Least Concern (LC) ". H. listed as not endangered.
Botanical history
In the so-called Catalogus Plantarum Americanum , which is contained in Charles Plumier's work Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera (1703), the species is mentioned for the first time with the brief description " Melocactus purpureis, striis in spiram contortis ". Carl von Linné does not consider this description for the genus Cactus established by him . Only Philip Miller makes 1768 from an independent art. His English description coincides with "Roundish Cactus or Melon-thistle, with fifteen angles spirally twisted, and erect spines" (Rounded cactus or melon thistle with 15 spirally twisted ribs and upright spikes) very close from . When quoting Plumier's description, he turns the word “contortis” into the word “intortis” and thus gives the species its name.
proof
literature
- Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4573-1 , p. 427 .
- Curt Backeberg : Die Cactaceae: Handbuch der Kakteenkunde . 2nd Edition. tape IV . Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart New York 1984, ISBN 3-437-30383-X , p. 2574 f .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gardeners Dictionary . 8th edition, London 1768, without page number (online) .
- ^ Repertory Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis . Volume 16, 1919, p. 35 (online) .
- ↑ Melocactus intortus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: Taylor, NP, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Suffering 1703
- ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742
further reading
- J. Camilo Fagua, James D. Ackerman: Consequences of floral visits by ants and invasive honeybees to the hummingbird-pollinated, Caribbean cactus Melocactus intortus . In: Plant Species Biology . Volume 26, Number 3, 2011, pp. 193-204, DOI: 10.1111 / j.1442-1984.2011.00319.x .
