''Espostoopsis'' is a
monotypic genus
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
of
cactus
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gre ...
containing the single
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
''Espostoopsis dybowskii''. The generic name is formed from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''opsis'' meaning "view", referring to its resemblance to the genus ''
Espostoa
''Espostoa'' is a genus of columnar cacti, comprising 16 species known from the Andes of southern Ecuador and Peru. It usually lives at an altitude of between 800m and 2500m. Its fruit is edible, sweet, and juicy. The genus is named after Nicola ...
'', with which it is often confused. The plant is only known from northern
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
Synonymy
The genus ''Espostoopsis'' has been brought into synonymy with ''Gerocephalus''
F.Ritter
Friedrich Ritter (9 May 1898 – 9 April 1989) was a German botanist who collected and described many species of cacti. ''Ritterocereus
''Stenocereus'' ( Gk. ''stenos'', narrow, L. ''cereus'', candle) is a genus of columnar or tree-like cacti ...
.
References
Trichocereeae
Cacti of South America
Endemic flora of Brazil
Flora of Bahia
Cactoideae genera
Monotypic Cactaceae genera
Vulnerable flora of South America
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