Melocactus schatzlii
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Melocactus schatzlii |
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| H.Till & R. Gruber |
Melocactus schatzlii is a species of plant in the genus Melocactus in the cactus family(Cactaceae). The specific epithet honors the Austrian horticultural artist and cactus collector Stefan Schatzl (1922–2001), director of the cactus collection of the Linz Botanical Garden in Austria.
description
Melocactus schatzlii grows with depressed spherical to egg-shaped, mostly gray-green and slightly glaucous bodies that reach heights of 8 to 18 centimeters and diameter of 10 to 20 centimeters. There are 10 to 15 mostly sharp-edged ribs . The weak, straight or slightly curved thorns are dark brown and gray with age. The 1 to 4 outward central spines are 8 to 20 millimeters long. The 5 to 10 radial spines are similar to the central spines and 4 to 20 millimeters long. The cephalium , formed from white to gray wool , is up to 12 centimeters high and 6 to 10 centimeters in diameter. The bristles are almost completely hidden in the cephalium.
The light to deep pink flowers hardly protrude from the cephalium. They are 2.1 to 3 inches long and 9 to 12 millimeters in diameter. The fruits, which are red at the tip , turn pink or white towards their base. They are 1.8 to 2.5 inches long.
Distribution, systematics and endangerment
Melocactus schatzlii is widespread in northeast Colombia and in neighboring western Venezuela , where it grows in the Andes at altitudes of 500 to 1050 meters.
It was first described in 1982 by Hans Till and Rudolf Gruber. The following subspecies are distinguished:
- Melocactus schatzlii subsp. darling
- Melocactus schatzlii subsp. chicamochaensis Fern.Alonso & Xhonneux
In the Red List of Threatened Species of IUCN is the species as " Vulnerable (VU) ", d. H. listed as endangered.
proof
literature
- Edward F. Anderson : The Great Cactus Lexicon . Eugen Ulmer KG, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4573-1 , p. 430 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Urs Eggli, Leonard E. Newton: Etymological Dictionary of Succulent Plant Names . Birkhäuser 2004, ISBN 3-540-00489-0 , p. 214.
- ↑ Hans Till, Rudolf Gruber: A wonderful new find from Venezuela: Melocactus schatzlii Till et Gruber . In: Cacti and other succulents . Volume 33, Number 4, 1982, pp. 68-70.
- ↑ Melocactus schatzlii in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Listed by: Nassar, J. & Taylor, NP, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
further reading
- Jafet M. Nassar, Nelson Ramírez, Margarita Lampo, José Antonio González, Roberto Casado, Francisco Nava: Reproductive Biology and Mating System Estimates of Two Andean Melocacti, Melocactus schatzlii and M. andinus (Cactaceae) . In: Annals of Botany . Volume 99, 2007, pp. 29-38, doi : 10.1093 / aob / mcl229 .
