Interesting Facts
Common Names
Common Names in English:
Discocactus
Description
Family Cactaceae
Fleshy
perennials
, shrubs
, trees
or vines
, terrestrial
or epiphytic. Stems jointed
, terete
, globose
, flattened, or fluted
, mostly leafless and variously spiny
. Leaves alternate, flat or subulate
to terete, vestigial, or entirely absent; spines, glochids (easily detached, small, bristlelike spines), and flowers always arising from cushionlike, axillary
areoles (modified short shoots
) . Flowers solitary, sessile, rarely clustered and stalked
(in Pereskia), bisexual
, rarely unisexual
, actinomorphic
or occasionally zygomorphic. Receptacle tube
(hypanthium or perianth tube) absent or short to elongate
, naked or invested with leaflike bracts, scales
, areoles, and hairs
, bristles
, or spines; perianth segments usually numerous
, in a sepaloid
to petaloid
series. Stamens numerous, variously inserted
in throat
and tube; anthers
2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary (pericarpel) inferior, rarely superior, 1-loculed, with 3 to many parietal
(rarely basal) placentas; ovules usually numerous; style 1; stigmas 2 to numerous, papillate
, rarely 2-fid. Fruit juicy or dry, naked, scaly
, hairy
, bristly
, or spiny, indehiscent or dehiscent
, when juicy then pulp derived from often deliquescent funicles
(except in Pereskia) . Seeds usually numerous, often arillate
or strophiolate
; embryo curved
or rarely straight; endosperm present or absent; cotyledons reduced or vestigial, rarely leaflike.
About 110 genera and more than 1000 species: temperate
and tropical
America; Rhipsalis baccifera (J. S. Mueller) Stearn native
in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, Mascarenes, and Sri Lanka; some species of other genera now extensively naturalized
in the Old World through human agency; more than 60 genera and 600 species cultivated as ornamentals
or hedges
in China, of which four genera and seven species more or less naturalized.[1]
Physical Description
Flowers: Bloom Period: March, April, May.
Size/Age/Growth
Size: under 6" tall.
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 6-9" apart.
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.
Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 10a, 10b, 11. (map)
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Caryophyllales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
()
- Family:
Cactaceae
()
- Durande, 1782 ex A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons.
- cactus
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
()
- Tribe:
Notocacteae
()
- Genus:
Discocactus
()
- Pfeiffer, 1837
- Specific epithet:
zehntneri
- P.J.Braun
- Variety:
horstiorum
- Botanical name: - Discocactus zehntneri var. horstiorum P.J.Braun
- Variety:
horstiorum
- Specific epithet:
zehntneri
- P.J.Braun
- Genus:
Discocactus
(
- Tribe:
Notocacteae
(
- Subfamily:
Cactoideae
(
- Family:
Cactaceae
(
- Suborder:
Portulacineae
(
- Order:
Caryophyllales
(
- Superorder:
Caryophyllanae
(
- Subclass:
Caryophyllidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Discocactus
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 17 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
D. bahiensis (Discocactus) · D. ferricola (Discocactus) · D. hartmannii (Discocactus) · D. heptacanthus (Discocactus) · D. heptacanthus catingicola (Discocactus) · D. heptacanthus 'Boliviensis' (Discocactus) · D. heptacanthus 'Cangaensis' (Discocactus) · D. heptacanthus 'Crassispinus' (Discocactus) · D. horstii (Discocactus) · D. insignis (Discocactus) · D. placentiformis (Discocactus) · D. pseudoinsignis (Discocactus) · D. zehntneri (Discocactus) · D. zehntneri boomianus (Discocactus) · D. zehntneri var. albispinus (Discocactus) · D. zehntneri var. araneispinus (Discocactus) · D. zehntneri var. horstiorum (Discocactus)
More Info
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Further Reading
- .Li Zhenyu. 1999. Cactaceae. In: Ku Tsuechih, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 52(1): 272-285.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 17, 2012.
Identifiers
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:995782-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 995782-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1008891
Footnotes
- Zhen-yu Li & Nigel P. Taylor "Cactaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 209. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
