Overview
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Vulnerable |
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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: April, May. • Flower Color: near white, white
Size/Age/Growth
Size: under 6" tall.
Habitat
Biome: Terrestrial [2].
Ecology:
Northern campo rupestre (Chapada Diamantina) element: on exposed
arenitic rocks often with an accumulation of gravel
or in pure quartz
sand, caatinga/campo rupestre.[2].
List of Habitats
:
- 3 Shrubland
- 3.5 Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry
- 6 Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs , mountain peaks) [more info]
Biology
Growth
Culture: Space 3-6" apart.
Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .
Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High
Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b. (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
- Britton & Rose
- Subspecies:
boomianus
- Botanical name: - Discocactus zehntneri boomianus Britton & Rose
- Subspecies:
boomianus
- Specific epithet:
zehntneri
- Britton & Rose
- 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
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- IUCN. 2002. 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 8 October 2002.
- Taylor, N.P. and Zappi, D.C. 1991. Arthrocereus, Discocactus. In: Hunt, D.R. and Taylor, N.P. (eds) Notes on miscellaneous genera of Cactaceae. Bradleya 9:84–86.
- Taylor, N.P. and Zappi, D.C. 2004. Cacti of Eastern Brazil. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- .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.
- IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
- Taylor, N.P. 2002. Discocactus zehntneri ssp. boomianus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 31January2012.
- Taylor, N.P. 2002. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 19, 2008.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 5790160
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:967040-1
- IUCN ID: 18482
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 994238
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]
- Taylor, N.P. 2002. Discocactus zehntneri ssp. boomianus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 31 January 2012. [back]
