Stenocactus multicostatus
{{Short description|Species of plant in the family Cactaceae}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Brain Cactus (Stenocactus multicostatus).jpg
|image_caption = Stenocactus multicostatus
|genus = Stenocactus
|species = multicostatus
|authority = (Daul) A.Berger{{cite web|url= https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:244569-2|title= Stenocactus multicostatus (Daul) A.Berger|author=|date=n.d.|website=Plants of the World Online|publisher=The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|access-date= August 22, 2020}}
|synonyms = {{collapsible list|
- Brittonrosea multicostata {{au|(Daul) Speg. 1923}}
- Echinocactus multicostatus {{au|Daul 1890}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus {{au|(Daul) Britton & Rose 1922}}
- Efossus multicostatus {{au|(Daul) Orcutt 1926}}
- Brittonrosea lloydii {{au|(Britton & Rose) Speg. 1923}}
- Brittonrosea zacatecasensis {{au|(Britton & Rose) Speg. 1923}}
- Echinocactus lloydii {{au|(Britton & Rose) A.Berger 1929}}
- Echinocactus multicostatus {{au|Rebut 1886}}
- Echinocactus zacatecasensis {{au|A.Berger 1929}}
- Echinofossulocactus erectocentrus {{au|Backeb. 1961}}
- Echinofossulocactus lloydii {{au|Britton & Rose 1922}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus var. coahuilensis Frič 1931}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus f. erectocentrus {{au|(Backeb.) P.V.Heath 1992}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus f. lloydii {{au|(Britton & Rose) P.V.Heath 1992}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus f. zacatecasensis {{au|(Britton & Rose) P.V.Heath 1992}}
- Echinofossulocactus multicostatus var. zacatecasensis {{au|(Britton & Rose) Lodé 1995}}
- Echinofossulocactus zacatecasensis {{au|Britton & Rose 1922}}
- Efossus lloydii {{au|(Britton & Rose) Orcutt 1926}}
- Efossus zacatecasensis {{au|(Britton & Rose) Orcutt 1926}}
- Stenocactus lloydii {{au|A.Berger 1929}}
- Stenocactus multicostatus subsp. zacatecasensis {{au|(Britton & Rose) U.Guzmán & Vázq.-Ben. 2003}}
- Stenocactus zacatecasensis {{au|(A.Berger) A.Berger 1929}}
}}
Stenocactus multicostatus, the brain cactus, is a member of the cactus family native to the deserts of Mexico, and is popular in the gardening community. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/327544/i-stenocactus-multicostatus-i/details |title=Stenocactus multicostatus |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=18 May 2023 }}
Description
It grows single plant body is spherical to somewhat cylindrical up to 2.5 in (6 cm) tall, 2.4 to 4 in (6–10 cm) wide. It has no fewer than 120 very thin, sharp-edged, pressed, wavy ribs, between which there are narrow furrows. It has nearly 100 thin ribs around the outside, each with six to nine spines. Three white, papery, curved central spines arise from the areole, which are up to 3 centimeters long and have a square cross-section. The four marginal spines are glassy white, upright or slightly curved. In the variety or subspecies S.m. Coahuilensis there can be as many as 144 ribs, with the highest phylotaxis (55/144) of any cactus.{{cite book | last= Borg M.D. | first= Prof. J. | date= 1937 | title= Cacti | location= London | publisher= MacMillan and Co. | page= 223}} The crown is covered by a thin, whitish wool. The upper spines are wider, at 1.6 to 3.2 in (4–8 cm) long, while the lower ones are shorter, at 0.2 to 0.6 in (5–15 mm) long. The flower is white to purple, 0.8 to 2 in (2–5 cm) in diameter with many stamens. The scales of the ovary are broadly ovoid, pointed to pointed, very thin, more or less papery and fall off early.{{cite web| title=Brain Cactus| publisher=Desert Tropicals| access-date=2015-01-11| url=http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Stenocactus_multicostatus.html}}
Image:Stenocactus multicostatus pm.JPG|Brain cactus in bloom
File:Stenocactus lloydii flower.jpg|White flower
File:STENOCACTUS MULTICOSTATUS WWW.RAREPLANT.ME.jpg|Plant
Distribution
Though it has only been reported in the shrublands of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas,Hunt, D., Taylor, N. and Charles, G. (compilers and editors). 2006. The New Cactus Lexicon. dh Books, Milborne Port, UK. and Tamaulipas,Martínez-Ávalos, J.G. and Jurado, E. 2005. Geographic distribution and conservation of Cactaceae from Tamaulipas Mexico. Biodiversity and Conservation 14: 2483-2506. it has yet to be assessed using the IUCN Categories and Criteria because its taxonomy is still unclear.{{cite web|author=Gómez-Hinostrosa, C. |author2=Sánchez, E. |author3=Guadalupe Martínez, J. |author4=Bárcenas Luna, R. |author5=Goettsch, B.K. | year=2013| title=Stenocactus multicostatus| publisher=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species| version= 2014.3.| url=http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/151801/0| access-date=2015-01-11}}
Taxonomy
The first mention as Echinocactus multicostatus comes from 1890.{{cite web | last=Gartenbau-Gesellschaft. | first=Deutsche | last2=Gartenbau-Verein | first2=Kaiserliche Russischer | last3=Gartenbau-Verein | first3=Russischer | last4=Gartenbaues | first4=Verein zur Beförderung des | title=Gartenflora | publisher=F. Enke | volume=Jahrg.39 (1890) | date=1890 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42404640 | access-date=2023-11-05}} Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose assigned Echinocactus multicostatus as Echinofossulocactus multicostatus to the genus Echinofossulocactus, which they newly established in 1922. At the same time they published the first description of two species collected by Francis Ernest Lloyd (1868–1947). Echinofossulocactus lloydii from Zacatecas and Echinofossulocactus zacatecasensis from northern Zacatecas are now considered synonyms. In 1929, Alwin Berger placed the species described by Britton and Rose in Illustrated Handbooks of Succulent Plants: Cacti in the genus Stenocactus. Another synonym Echinofossulocactus erectocentrus was published invalidly by Curt Backeberg in 1961.