''Coryphantha'' (from
Greek, "flowering on the top"), or beehive cactus, is a
genus of small to middle-sized, globose or columnar
cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
. The genus is
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
to arid parts of Central America, Mexico, through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas and north into southwestern, central, and southeastern Montana. With its two
subgenera
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
, 57
species and 20
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
, it is one of the largest genera of cactus.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, p. 1, ]
Description
There are four characteristics that distinguish ''Coryphantha'' from other cacti.
# Their bodies do not have ribs, just
tubercles.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.2 Tubercles" ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, pp. 9–12, ]
# The flowers form at the top of the plant (the apex or
growing end of the stem).
# The tip (
podarium) of each flowering tubercle has three parts, the spiny
areole, the groove and the
axil
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...
. Without the groove it is not a ''Coryphantha''.
# The seed coat (or
testa Testa may refer to:
* Testa (botany), a term to describe the seed coat
* Testa (surname)
* Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, a former Boston law firm
* 11667 Testa, a main-belt asteroid discovered in 1997
* Testa (ceramics), fired clay material, espe ...
) has a net-like pattern (
reticulate).
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.7 Seeds" ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin]
p. 17-20
More than many other cacti, the ''Coryphantha'' change in their appearance over their lifespan.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, p. 2, ] The presence or absence of a central spine is not indicative of the genus, even in fully adult plants.
Name
The name ''Coryphantha'' was first applied by
George Engelmann
George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; he was particu ...
in 1856 as a subgenus,
[Anderson, Edward F. (2001) "Coryphantha" ''The Cactus Family''. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon]
p. 186
the earlier name ''Aulacothele'' of
Lemaire having been abandoned.
[Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin]
p. 23
In 1868 Lemaire promoted the group to genus level.
Before this all ''Coryphantha'' had been classified as ''
Mammillaria''.
Species
Synonymy
The genus has two valid
synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
:
*''Cumarinia''
Buxb.
Franz Buxbaum (25 February 1900, Liebenau, Graz – 7 February 1979) was an Austrian botanist, specialising in cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera wit ...
and
*''Lepidocoryphantha''
Backeb. Curt Backeberg (2 August 1894 in Lüneburg, Germany – 14 January 1966) was a German horticulturist especially known for the collection and classification of cactus, cacti.
Biography
He travelled extensively through Central and South America, an ...
and three invalid ones:
*''Aulacothele''
Monv. (nom. inval.)
*''Glandulifera''
( Salm-Dyck) Fric (nom. inval.)
*''Roseia''
Fric (nom. inval.)
Related genera
A number of ''Coryphantha'' have previously been classified in other genera, indeed the
type species ''C. sulcata'' was originally named ''Mammillaria sulcata'' Other examples include ''Echinocactus salinensis'' Poselger 1853 now ''Coryphantha salinensis'' (Poselger) Dicht and A.Lüthy 1998 and ''Neolloydia pulleineana'' Blackberg 1948 now ''Coryphantha pulleineana'' (Blackberg) Glass 1968.
Similarly, a number of other species have been previously classified as ''Coryphantha''. For example, ''Escobaria vivipara'' was called ''Coryphantha vivipara''.
[Hunt, David R. and Benson, Lyman (1976) "The lectotype of ''Coryphantha''". ''Cactus and Succulent Journal'' (U.S.) 48: pp. 72ff.]
Gallery
References
External links
USDA Plants Profile for ''Coryphantha'' (beehive cactus)USDA Plants Profile: gallery of ''Coryphantha'' images
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133876
Cactoideae genera
Flora of Central America
Flora of the South-Central United States
Flora of the Southwestern United States
Flora of the Northwestern United States
Cacti of Mexico
Cacti of the United States
Taxa named by George Engelmann