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Photo of conspecific taxa,
varieties, forms and cultivars of
plants belonging to the
Echinocereus viridiflorus
complex.
E. chloranthus
is part of the
E. viridiflorus compless that comprises a large number of
infraspecific
taxa, differing in various combinations of flower color, spine color,
number and thickness of central spines, and other characters, including
floral scent. Wherever such taxa are
sympatric they intergrade; all are freely interfertile in the
greenhouse. Among them:
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E. viridiflorus var. viridiflorus: (Typical form)
With small stems and relatively pure yellow flowers, extends
from central New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle to South Dakota. (E.
viridiflorus var. robustior) is a more robust form but not
sufficiently differentiated and considered merely a local
variant of E. viridiflorus v. viridiflorus.
-
E. viridiflorus var. chloranthus (E. chloranthus) with the
most numerous central spines (five or more per areole), giving the
plants a bristly appearance, are often considered a separate species.
-
E.
viridiflorus var. russanthus (E. russanthus)
: Plants with a bristly appearance usually with reddish
or russet flowers. Yellow-spined plants may occur at high altitudes.
-
E. viridiflorus
var. cylindricus (E. chloranthus var.
Cylindricus) : The common morphotype at middle altitudes in
Texas and southeastern New Mexico has 0-2(-3) central spines.
-
E. viridiflorus var. correllii (E.
chloranthus var. Cylindricus "corellii") A poorly
defined, yellow-spined population near Marathon, Texas.
-
E. viridiflorus var. neocapillus (E.
chloranthus var. neocapillus): Remarkable for its softly
hairy, not sharply spiny, seedlings.
- E. chloranthus subsp. rhyolithensis
Bristly red-spined plants from New Mexico.
Echinocereus viridiflorus
in the broad sense may prove
paraphyletic with respect to
E.
davisii, but they are
phenologically isolated, with E. davisii flowering
earlier and thus appearing reproductively isolated in the wild. |
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