Parodia ottonis

Parodia ottonis, also known as Indian head cactus, is a cactus found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. There are two recognized subspecies.[1] The epithet ottonis honors the German botanist Christoph Friedrich Otto.

Parodia ottonis
Parodia ottonis flower.jpg
P. ottonis
Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Core eudicots
Order:
Caryophyllales
Family:
Cactaceae
Subfamily:
Cactoideae
Tribe:
Notocacteae
Genus:
Parodia
Species:
P. ottonis
Binomial name
Parodia ottonis

DescriptionEdit

The plant at first grows individually and later forms groups. The light to dark green or blue-green spherical shoots are often tapered towards the base. They reach diameters of 3 to 15 centimeters. The six to 16 distinct ribs are rounded or sharp-edged. There are usually only a few areoles on each rib . The bristle-like thorns that spring from them are straight, curved or twisted. The one to four central spines are brownish, reddish brown or yellowish and have a length of 0.8 to 4 centimeters. The four to 15 spines are whitish to yellowish or brownish and 0.5 to 3 centimeters long.[2]

The usually yellow flowers, rarely orange-red or red, reach lengths of 5 to 6 centimeters and would appear in late summer. Its flower tube is covered with brownish wool and bristles. The scars are dark red. The thick-walled egg-shaped to short cylindrical fruits tear open. They have diameters from 0.9 to 1.3 centimeters. The fruits contain, often very numerous, bell-shaped, glossy black seeds, which are strongly humped.[3]

RangeEdit

Parodia ottonis is common in southern Brazil, southern Paraguay, Uruguay, and northeastern Argentina.[4]

TaxonomyEdit

The first description as Cactus ottonis by Johann Georg Christian Lehmann was published in 1827. Nigel Paul Taylor presented the type 1987 in the genus Parodia . Other nomenclatural synonyms are Echinocactus ottonis (Lehm.) Link & Otto (1830), Malacocarpus ottonis (Lehm.) Britton & Rose (1922), Notocactus ottonis (Lehm.) A.Berger ( 1929) and Peronocactus ottonis (Lehm.)[5]

The following subspecies are distinguished:

  • Parodia ottonis subsp. ottonis
  • Parodia ottonis subsp. Horstii (F. Knight)

GalleryEdit

  • A flowering specimen

    •  

  • Botanical illustration

    •  

  • Flower closeup

    •  

  • Side view of flower

 


This article uses material from the Wikipedia article
 Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the 
Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.