|
Family:
Cactaceae
(Cactus
Family)
Scientific name:
Copiapoa streptocaulon (Hooker
emend Ritt.) Ritter comb. nov. in: K.u.a.S. 12:1:1961
Origin: Type locality (according to Ritter, not Hooker)
Morro Copiapo, south-westerly from Caldera, on the north Chilean coast.
Area of distribution: only known from the Type Locality. Field number FR
511. (while
Copiapoa marginata grows in the coastal
hills near Antofagasta and is the most northerly species of this
genus)
Systematically this species stands between
Copiapoa
dura which grows further to the south-east and Copiapoa
bridgesii which grows to the north.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
Synonyms:
- Echinocactus streptocaulon Hooker
In: Curtis‘s Bot, Mag, 77 (1851)
- Echinocactus marginatus Salm-Dyck
Original Publication: Allgem. Gartenztg., 13:386
1845
Cultivation: Needs full
sun, otherwise the bodies tended to elongate in cultivation, but it
should be protected from excessive heat and sun in summer. Requires
light watering, and good drainage. Keep warm and dry in winter to avoid
rot. Frost tolerance 0°C
Propagation: Seeds (offsets
rarely), Grafting is often used to speed growth rate, and to create a
back-up to plants in collection.
|
|
Description: Body upright,
columnar-cylindrical, almost like a Cereus, forming a somewhat open
clump.
Stem: Up to 50 cm tall, 7-10 cm in diameter, basally narrowed,
grass-green to greys-green, crown blunt whit creamy-brown wool, which is
in no way obscured by flowers
Ribs: 10-14, very sharp, broad obtuse,
separated by broad intervals, neither tubercled nor notched up to
1 cm tall, straight or running up in a screw-like spiral, with sharply
indented furrows between.
Areoles: Rounded 0,5-1 cm in diameter, closely approaching each
other or touching one another, young areoles with abundant grey or
brownish wool, becoming ash-grey or black and bare in age.
Spines: Dark-brown becoming chalky-white as they ages. Spines
clusters very closely set.
Radial spines: 5-7 strong, straight, spreading out in a ray, 1 -
2 cm. long, the sideways or downwards pointing ones commonly the
longest,
Central spines: 1 standing up vertically, very rigid, porrect, 2
to 3(-4) cm long (longer than the radials)
Root:
Conical-napifom root-stock, rapidly tapering with thick neck.
Flowers: 3 to 4 developing at a time, ,with characteristic
Copiapoa flower-scent, sprouting out from the wool of the crown, yellow,
scarcely standing out from the spines, when completely open only 2,5 to
3 cm in diameter, with lanceolate-spathulate perianth segments approx 15
mm long, 7 mm large, narrower below, rounded off above, pale yellow, the
outermost reddish at the tips and expanded. Floral tube funnel-form
1-1.5 cm long, exterior with a few larger, greenish scales becoming
red-brown above. Nectar chamber 3-5 mm. long, 3-4 mm wide half open.
Filaments pale yellow, the lower ones 1.2 cm. long, the upper 0.7 to 0.9
cm. long, anthers citron yellow. Style1.75 - 2 cm long, 2 mm. thick,
(longer than the stamens) with 9-15 rayed pale yellow stigma lobes,
without any narrowing above the ovary.
Fruit: Small, 1 up to 1.2 cm. long, 0.8 up to 1.2 cm. broad,
barrel shaped, (ovary 3 to 7 mm in diameter) pale green, or with a faint
red tint, at the upper end greener or more reddish-brown, usually quite
hairless and scaleless, or with few (1 or 3) red scales. Dehising from a
lid-like top cracking when ripe.
Blooming season: Spring and summer
Seeds: 1 mm long, 0,7 mm wide, 03 mm thick, black, somewhat
shiny, with very small verrucae, hilum at the basal end inclined half
ventral-wards, oval, white.
|
Cultivation and
Mail Sale 
