Cochemiea wrightii

{{Short description|Species of cactus}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Mammillaria meridiorosei (8701319434).jpg

| image_caption =

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref ={{cite journal | last1=Univ. | first1=Martin Terry (Sul Rose State | last2=College | first2=Kenneth Heil (San Juan | last3=Mexico | first3=New | last4=Ambiental) | first4=Rafael Corral-Díaz (Consultor | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | date=2009-11-17 | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/152338/121532036 | access-date=2024-06-02 | page=}}

| genus = Cochemiea

| species = wrightii

| authority = (Engelm.) Doweld 2000

| synonyms =

  • Cactus wrightii {{au|(Engelm.) Kuntze 1891}}
  • Chilita wrightii {{au|(Engelm.) Orcutt 1926}}
  • Ebnerella wrightii {{au|(Engelm.) Buxb. 1951}}
  • Fimbriatocactus wrightii {{au|(Engelm.) Guiggi 2023}}
  • Mammillaria wrightii {{au|Engelm. 1856}}
  • Neomammillaria wrightii {{au|(Engelm.) Britton & Rose 1923}}

}}

Cochemiea wrightii is a species of Cochemiea found in Mexico and the southern United States.{{cite web | title=Cochemiea wrightii (Engelm.) Doweld | website=Plants of the World Online | url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:1036345-2 | access-date=2024-04-21}}

Description

Cochemiea wrightii grows as a solitary cactus with dark green, flattened, spherical to briefly cylindrical shoots measuring {{cvt|3 to 8| cm}} in diameter. The cylindrical warts do not produce milky juice, and the axillae are bare. It has up to 3 dark, hooked central spines, each {{cvt|1 to 1.2| cm}} long. There are also up to 12 whitish marginal spines, 8 to 12 millimeters long, with the upper ones being shorter and dark-tipped.

The flowers are magenta to bright purple, rarely white, and up to {{cvt|2.5| cm}} long and wide, with perianth segments that are reflexed. The egg-shaped to spherical fruits are purple, up to {{cvt|2.5| cm}} long, and contain black seeds.{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Edward F. | title=Das große Kakteen-Lexikon | publisher=Ulmer | publication-place=Stuttgart (Hohenheim) | date=2011 | isbn=978-3-8001-5964-2 | language=de | page=415}}

File:Mammillaria meridiorosei - Frucht (8047769572).jpg|Fruit

File:M. wrightii ssp. wilcoxii (Syn. M. meridiosei) (7207721662).jpg|Flower

Distribution

Cochemiea wrightii is found in the US states of Arizona and New Mexico, and in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua at elevations of {{cvt|1000 to 2200|m}}. Plants are found growing in sandy hills and grasslands growing among Echinocereus polyacanthus and Cochemiea saboae subsp. haudeana.{{cite web | title=Cochemiea wrightii | website=LLIFLE | date=2013-08-04 | url=http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/9414/Cochemiea_wrightii | ref={{sfnref | LLIFLE | 2013}} | access-date=2024-06-17}}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=bysa3|from this source=yes}}

Taxonomy

The species was first described as Mammillaria wrightii by George Engelmann in 1856.{{cite book | last1=Schumann | first1=Karl Moritz | last2=Hirscht | first2=Karl. | title=Gesamtbeschreibung der Kakteen (Monographia cactacearum) /von Karl Schumann. | publisher=J. Neumann | publication-place=Neudamm [Dębno, Poland?] | year=1899 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.10394 | page=}} The specific epithet honors American botanist Charles Wright, who researched Texas and Cuba.{{cite web | last=Arts | first=American Academy of | title=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | publisher=Metcalf and Co | volume=v. 3 (1852-1857) | date=1852 | issn=0199-9818 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3100857 | access-date=2024-06-17}} In 2000, Alexander Borissovitch Doweld reclassified the species into the genus Cochemiea.

References

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