Cactus Explorers Journal - The Cactus Explorers Club

Photo: N.Gerloff
Photo: N.Gerloff
The Cactus Explorer ISSN 2048-0482 Number 4 May 2012
Fig. 10 Parodia maldonadensis found at the type locality
at the Pan de Azucar in Southern Uruguay.
Fig.11 Parodia maldonadensis found at the type locality
at the Pan de Azucar in Southern Uruguay.
early picture of Echinocactus corynodes. Already
in 1842, a picture of a plant named Echinocactus
corynodes had been published in Curtis’s
Botanical Magazine (W.J.Hooker 1841). Even if
the provenance of the plant is not mentioned
in the protologue, it fits the description of
Echinocactus corynodes perfectly.
This picture was used in several publications
(e. g. Krook 1855, Förster & Rümpler 1886,
Britton & Rose 1922 as Malacocarpus erinaceus).
Pfeiffer & Otto (1845) also mentioned
Echinocactus corynodes again, a short time after
publication. Under Echinocactus sellowianus
30
Fig.12 Parodia maldonadensis in habitat near Velasquez
in Uruguay.
(plate 1), they wrote: “Durch Herrn Sellow
zuerst im bot. Garten zu Berlin eingeführt,
blieb diese Art lange Zeit sehr selten, wurde
aber leider häufig mit E. corynodes verwechselt,
bis endlich die ächte Pflanze durch Samen
vermehrt und der Irrthum aufgeklärt wurde.“
(First introduced from Mr. Sellow to the
Botanical Garden of Berlin, this species stayed
very rare for a long time, unfortunately
misidentified as E. corynodes, until the correct
plant was propagated through seeds and the
error could be corrected).
It can be interpreted that Echinocactus
corynodes is similar to Echinocactus sellowii
(which is the correct spelling of the name of
that species), a taxon which is today known as
Notocactus sellowii (Link & Otto) Theunissen or
Parodia sellowii (Link & Otto) D.R. Hunt. But
Echinocactus sellowii cannot be confused with
plants which are described as Echinocactus
acuatus var. arechavaletai. This is another
reason, why the synonymizing of Albesiano &
Kiesling is wrong.
Under ICBN Art 9.17(b), there is a serious
conflict between the neotype of Albesiano &
Kiesling and the original description of
Echinocactus corynodes. Important characteristics
of the protologue were not correctly appreciated.
Therefore, the neotypification of Albesiano &
Kiesling is superseded here.
Gerloff & Neduchal (2004) designated several
neotypes for plants which they classify under
Notocactus. For Echinocactus corynodes, they
Photo: N.Gerloff