''Blossfeldia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...

(family Cactaceae) containing only one species, ''Blossfeldia liliputana'', native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

in northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

(

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

, Tucumán, Catamarca and Mendoza Provinces) and southern

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

( Santa Cruz and

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...

Departments). It grows at 1,200–3,500 m altitude in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, typically growing in rock crevices, and often close to

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

Description

It is the smallest cactus species in the world, with a mature size around 10–12 mm diameter, solitary or with many dark-green stems forming colonies in the fissures of the rocks; it does not have ribs or tubercles, nor spines. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are white or rarely pink, 6–15 mm long, and 5–7 mm diameter. The genus ''Blossfeldia'' has been divided into many separate species, but most morphological evidence indicates the genus to be monotypic, and contains only ''B. liliputiana''. The flowers emerge from the apex of the stem, 0.5 to 1 cm long and 0.5 cm in diameter, white. They self-pollinate. The fruit is globose, red, and woolly, with very small, brown seeds. The species is named after the fictional country of Lilliput, where all of the inhabitants are minute. File:Blossfeldia liliputana1MW.jpg File:Blossfeldia liliputana Purmamarca.jpg, Plant growing in between rocks in

Purmamarca Purmamarca is a town in the Tumbaya Department of the Jujuy Province in Argentina. Etymology The name of the town can be interpreted as the combination of Aymara language words purma (desert) and marca (city), though desert in that language ca ...

File:Blossfeldia liliputana 2016-04-28 9021.jpg

Taxonomy

The genus and species were first described in 1937 by

Erich Werdermann Erich Werdermann (2 March 1892 – 20 April 1959) was a German botanist. Born in Berlin, Erich Werdermann was the son of the landowner Carl Werdermann. He first studied in Jena, but then switched to Friedrich Wilhelm University (now called Hu ...

after being discovered in northern Argentina by Harry Blossfeld and Oreste Marsoner, while exploring northern Argentina in 1936. The genus name honors Blossfeld. ''B. liliputiana'' has several features making it unique among cacti, including a very small number of

stoma In botany, a stoma (: stomata, from Greek language, Greek ''στόμα'', "mouth"), also called a stomate (: stomates), is a pore found in the Epidermis (botany), epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that controls the rate of gas exc ...

ta, the absence of a thickened cuticle, and hairy seeds with an

aril An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ova ...

. It is placed in the subfamily

Cactoideae The Cactoideae are the largest subfamily of the cactus family, Cactaceae, and are widely distributed throughout the Americas. Cactaceae is the 5th most endangered plant or animal family evaluated globally by the International Union for Conservati ...

, and traditionally in the tribe

Notocacteae Notocacteae is a tribe of cactus, cacti belonging to the subfamily Cactoideae. It is one of the oldest cactus lineages endemic to South America. Description Notocacteae are mostly single, rarely tree-like or shrub-like plants. Their mostly spheri ...

. However,

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies have repeatedly shown that it is sister to the remaining members of the subfamily, and well removed from other genera placed in the Notocacteae: Nyffeler and Eggli, in their 2010 classification of Cactaceae, accepted tribe Blossfeldieae as outlined by Crozier, within Cactoideae. Earlier, ''Blossfeldia'' was considered as a distinct genus within the tribe Notocacteae; it had even been placed in an entirely separate subfamily, Blossfeldioideae. A nomenclature synonym is ''Parodia liliputana'' (Werderm.) N.P.Taylor (1987).

References

Bibliography

* Buxbaum F., "Gattung Blossfeldia", in Krainz H., ''Die Kakteen'', 1.11.1964 * Fechser H., "''Blossfeldia liliputana'' - The Tiniest Cactus", ''Cact. Succ. J. (US)'', 32 : 123-125, 1960 * John V., "''Strombocactus'', ''Blossfeldia'' a ''Aztekium''", ''Kaktusy'', 23 : 38-41, 1987 * Kilian G., "Beitrag zur Blossfeldia-Kultur", ''Kakt. und and. Succ.'', 13 : 82-83, 1962 * Köhler U., "Beobachtungen an Blossfeldien", ''Kakt. und and. Succ.'', 17 : 11-14, 1966; * "''Blossfeldia'' heute", ''Kakt. und and. Sukk.'', 32 : 132133, 1981 * Říha J., "''Blossfeldia liliputana'' Werdermann, ''Kaktusy'', 22 : 105-107, 1986 * * *http://llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACTI/Family/Cactaceae/5701/Blossfeldia_liliputana

External links

* *
Mauseth cacti research: ''Blossfeldia liliputana''Cacti Guide: ''Blossfeldia liliputana''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q635852, from2=Q137117, from3=Q13521850 Cactoideae Monotypic Cactaceae genera Cacti of South America