Thelocactus macdowellii

{{Speciesbox

|image=Thelocactus macdowellii 02.jpg

|image_caption=

| status = NT

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite journal | last1=Biología | first1=Héctor Hernández (Instituto de | last2=Group) | first2=Succulent Plants Specialist | last3=Assessment) | first3=Martin Smith (Global Cactus | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | date=2009-11-18 | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/152202/121582699 | access-date=2024-05-05 | page=}}

|genus=Thelocactus

|species=macdowellii

|authority=(Rebut ex Quehl) W.T.Marshall

|synonyms_ref=

|synonyms={{Collapsible list|

Echinocactus macdowellii Orcutt
Echinocactus macdowellii Rebut ex Quehl
Echinomastus macdowellii (Orcutt) Britton & Rose
Neolloydia macdowellii (Rebut ex Quehl) H.E.Moore
Thelocactus conothelos var. macdowellii (W.T.Marshall) Glass & R.B.Foster

}}}}

Thelocactus macdowellii, called the Chihuahuan snowball, is a species of cactus native to northeastern Mexico.{{cite web |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:251053-2 |title=Thelocactus macdowellii (Rebut ex Quehl) W.T.Marshall |author= |date=2017 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=24 March 2021 }}{{cite web |url=http://navigate.botanicgardens.org/weboi/oecgi2.exe/INET_ECM_DispPl?NAMENUM=21427 |title=Thelocactus macdowellii Chihuahuan Snowball |author= |date= |website=Gardens Navigator |publisher=Denver Botanic Gardens |access-date=24 March 2021 }} It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web |title=Thelocactus macdowellii |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/115515/Thelocactus-macdowellii/Details |publisher=The Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=24 March 2021 }}

Description

Thelocactus macdowellii is a small, spherical cactus, typically 4 to 10 centimeters tall and 4 to 12 centimeters wide, with a yellowish apex covered in woolly hairs. It has 30 or more ribs, each with 5 to 7 millimeter high, conical, rhombic warts at the base. The areoles, initially woolly, bear 15 to 25 needle-shaped marginal spines, 1.5 to 2 centimeters long, and 3 to 4 central spines, each 3 to 5 centimeters long and straw yellow.

The flowers are funnel-shaped, 4 to 8 centimeters wide and up to 4 centimeters long, varying in color from rose red to magenta. The ovaries are smooth and have broad scales.

Distribution

Endemic to the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and the Chihuahuan Desert, Thelocactus macdowellii grows on scrubland and limestone hills in a very restricted area at an altitude of 1500 meters.{{cite web | last=Vallicelli | first=Valentino | title=Thelocactus macdowellii | website=LLIFLE | date=2013-08-04 | url=http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/14974/Thelocactus_macdowellii | access-date=2024-05-05}}

Taxonomy

First described as Echinocactus macdowellii in 1894 by Leopold Quehl, with the specific epithet honoring the Mexican gardener and plant collector José Alberto McDowell. The species was later placed in the genus Thelocactus by William Taylor Marshall in 1947{{cite journal | last=Marshall | first=W. Taylor | title=The Genus Thelocactus | journal=The Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain | publisher=British Cactus and Succulent Society | volume=9 | issue=2 | year=1947 | issn=0007-9375 | jstor=45135523 | pages=28 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/45135523 | access-date=2024-05-05}}

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline|Thelocactus macdowellii|Thelocactus macdowellii}}
{{Wikispecies-inline|Thelocactus macdowellii|Thelocactus macdowellii}}

macdowellii

Category:Endemic flora of Mexico

Category:Flora of Northeastern Mexico

Category:Plants described in 1947