Coryphantha robustispina
Coryphantha tuberculosa
biznaga-partida de espinas gruesas, long-tubercle beehive cactus, long-tubercled coryphantha, pi neapple cactus, pima pineapple
cob cactus, white-column foxtail cactus
± diffuse.
± diffuse.
spheric or ovoid (cylindric in old plants), deep-seated only when young, sometimes flat-topped, 5–15(–25) × 5.5–8.5(–15) cm;
tubercles (10–)15–30(–40) × 8–15 mm, firm;
areolar glands seasonally conspicuous;
parenchyma not mucilaginous;
pith 1/3–1/2 of lesser stem diam.;
medullary vascular system present.
ovoid to cylindric (spheric), 4–16 × (2.2–)3–6(–6.5) cm;
tubercles (6–)8–11 × 3–6 mm, firm;
areolar glands absent;
parenchyma not mucilaginous;
druses in pith and cortex nearly microscopic, mostly spheric;
pith 1/8–1/4 of lesser stem diam.;
medullary vascular system absent.
7–20+ per areole, usually whitish, straw colored or horn colored to grayish tan, sometimes pale pinkish gray when fresh, tips dark red to dark brown, larger spines often extensively tipped chestnut, blackish purple, or black;
radial spines 6–16(–20) per areole (commonly 5–7 on immature plants), 11–35 mm, nearly as large as the central spines, often longer, 0.8–1.2 mm diam.;
subcentral spines 0–2 per areole;
central spines 1–4 per areole (0–1 on immature plants), abaxial (or only) spine porrect or slightly ascending, larger spines rigid, straight on older plants in eastern populations (strongly curved and/or hooked in some immature plants and young adults of western populations), one 23–34 mm, others, if present, 12–50 × 0.3–2 mm.
(17–)21–41 per areole, ashy white, gray, or pale tan, tips of largest spines pinkish tan to reddish brown or reddish black, all straight;
radial spines 15–41 per areole, gray, (5–)7–12(–13.5) mm, largest spines 0.1–0.2 mm diam.;
subcentral spines 0–6 per areole;
central spines usually 5;
outer central spines (1–)3(–7) per areole, erect or ascending;
inner central spines (0–)2 per areole, porrect or descending, longest spines (5–)10–15(–18) × 0.2–0.3(–0.5) mm.
nearly apical, (38–)45–64 × (32–)50–73 mm;
outer tepals minutely fringed;
inner tepals ca. 20 per flower, dark golden yellow, pale greenish yellow, translucent dull yellow, or saffron yellow, proximally reddish, often bronze tinted proximally or in vague midstripes, sometimes turning entirely pinkish bronze, 23–36 × 5–11.5 mm;
outer filaments reddish or orange;
anthers pale to bright yellow;
stigma lobes 6–11, cream to creamy pink, yellow, or orange-yellow, 3–7 mm.
apical or nearly so, (18–)20–30(–32) × 20–45(–4) mm, sterile distal part of flower tube 5–8.5(–11) mm, longer than stamen-bearing part;
outer tepals conspicuously fringed;
inner tepals 21 per flower, pure white, pale rose-pink, or pale lavender-pink, darker centrally, midstripes ± inconspicuous, (9–)11–19 × 1.5–2.5(–3.5) mm;
outer filaments cream;
anthers pale yellow or nearly white;
stigma lobes 4–6(–8), white, (1.8–)2–4 mm.
green, fusiform-cylindric, (35–)40–50 × (12–)13(–15) mm, slimy;
floral remnant deciduous, leaving a concave abscission scar.
bright red [green to maroon], ellipsoid, cylindric, or narrowly obovoid, (8–)13–25 × 3.5–6.5(–7.5) mm, not very succulent;
floral remnant strongly persistent.
bright reddish brown, narrowly reniform-cylindric to reniform-obovoid or comma-shaped, 2.3–3.5 mm, smooth, shiny (anticlinal cell walls forming a conspicuous reticulate color-pattern, but not visibly protruding).
reddish brown, darker with age, obliquely obovoid, 0.9–1 mm, pitted.
= 22.
= 22 (as C. strobiliformis, C. varicolor, and Escobaria tuberculosa).
Coryphantha robustispina
Coryphantha tuberculosa
Coryphantha robustispina appears to be a cline from robust western plants to smaller eastern plants. Western populations, especially C. robustispina in the strict sense, are the most robust in the species, and central spines of their immature plants are always hooked. Rarely, the spines are hooked at all ages. Southeastern populations of C. robustispina are smaller in all parts and produce only straight central spines throughout their lives. They were the original basis of Mammillaria scheeri Muehulenpfordt, an illegitimate later homonym. Specimens (syntypes) upon which C. scheeri var. valida (Schott ex Engelmann) L. D. Benson (as M. scheeri var. valida) was based were a mixture of both.
L. D. Benson (1969c) described C. scheeri var. uncinata based on an unusual specimen of the widespread form in southern New Mexico and adjacent regions.
Coryphantha robustispina characteristically occurs at such low density that casual exploration rarely discloses more than one or two plants per location. Sampling error seems responsible for most of the reported differences between the purported varieties; this is especially true with respect to floral characters. Tepal color and flower shape, for example, vary equally in each of the “varieties.”
Young adult plants of Ancistrocactus brevihamatus with some elongate areoles and poorly defined ribs might key to Coryphantha robustispina, but Ancistrocactus has different seeds and broad bracteoles.
Coryphantha robustispina is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The names Coryphantha strobiliformis and Escobaria strobiliformis have been misapplied to C. tuberculosa by some recent authors (e.g., L. D. Benson 1982). Those names were based on Echinocactus strobiliformis Poselger, which is C. chihuahuensis (Britton & Rose) A. Berger.
Despite strong superficial similarity to other species in the genus, Coryphantha tuberculosa seems taxonomically isolated. Coryphantha tuberculosa superficially resembles C. sneedii, from which it is distinguished by (1) giant lenticular druses absent (abundant in older pith and cortex of C. sneedii); (2) fruits in region of sympatry always red (green in most U.S. populations of C. sneedii); (3) maximal expansion of flowers in late afternoon, sometimes remaining fully open at sunset (unlike any other species of Coryphantha); (4) flowers larger than those of C. sneedii, either pure white or a characteristic shade of pale lavender-pink, identifiable at a glance when flowers are alive and open; (5) anthers pale yellow, nearly white (bright yellow in C. sneedii); and (6) sterile distal part of receptacular tube longer than the stamen-bearing portion (short in C. sneedii).
On igneous and metamorphic substrates populations of Coryphantha tuberculosa mostly have unbranched stems. D. Weniger (1984) considered such populations to represent C. varicolor Tiegel; their reproductive structures, however, are identical to those of C. tuberculosa. Without seeds or flowers, mature specimens from such populations sometimes are indistinguishable from C. dasyacantha [hence the synonym C. dasyacantha var. varicolor (Tiegel) L. D. Benson].
Coryphantha tuberculosa is the type species of the segregate genus Escobaria, which includes the coryphanthas with pitted seeds.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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