''Parodia'' 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 ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s in the
family Cactaceae,
native to the eastern slopes of the Andes in northwestern Argentina and southwestern Bolivia and in the lowland pampas regions of northeastern Argentina, southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and Uruguay.
This genus has about 65
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
, many of which have been transferred from ''Eriocactus'', ''Notocactus'' and ''Wigginsia''. They range from small globose plants to tall columnar cacti. All are deeply ribbed and spiny, with single flowers at or near the crown. Some species produce
offsets at the base. They are popular in cultivation, but must be grown indoors where temperatures fall below .
Taxonomy and systematics
The first description was published in 1923 by the Italian-Argentinian botanist Carlos Luis Spegazzini. The genus is named after
Domingo Parodi, one of the early investigators of the flora of
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
. The type species is ''
Echinocactus microspermus''. Anatomical and morphological work by
David Richard Hunt et. al. and Reto Nyffeler
[Reto Nyffeler: ''Notocactus versus Parodia – the search for a generic classification of the subtribe Notocactinae''. In: ''Cactus Consensus Initiatives''. Nr. 7, S. 6–8, 1999] led to the incorporation of the genera ''Brasilicactus'', ''Brasiliparodia'', ''Eriocactus'', ''Notocactus'' and ''Wigginsia'' into the genus ''Parodia''. These studies also suggested the inclusion of the genera ''
Blossfeldia'' and ''
Frailea''.
According to Reto Nyffeler, the genus Parodia can be divided into three subgenera:
*Subgenus ''Parodia'':
**Group ''Parodia'': (Parodia s. str.)
The shoots are flat spherical, globular or columnar and rarely sprout. A tuber is rarely present. The shoot tissue usually contains no mucilage, the epidermis is usually tender. The areoles are always on the protuberances. The central and radial spines differ significantly from each other. The central spine is sometimes hooked. The flowers are funnel-shaped, styles and stigmas are always the same color. The soft fruits later dry up and open at their base.
**Group ''Notocactus'': (Notocactus s.str. + Wigginsia)
The shoots are flat spherical, globular or columnar and occasionally sprout. A tuber is sometimes present. The shoot tissue usually contains mucus, the epidermis is often hard. The areoles are located in the depressions between the bumps. The central and radial spines differ. The flowers are broadly funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, styles and stigmas are usually differently colored. The fruits, which are often elongated when ripe, open differently.
*Subgenus ''Eriocactus'':
The shoots are often long columnar in old age and occasionally sprout. The
shoot apex is often crooked. The instinctual tissue contains no mucus. The humps are fused into straight ribs. The areoles are located between the protuberances. They are not sunken or only vaguely sunken and are often heavily woolly. The thorns are more or less bristle-like. The light to dark yellow flowers are broadly bell-shaped, styles and stigmas are the same color. The fruits have a hard pericarp and open at the base.
Species
Species of the genus ''Parodia'' according to
Plants of the World Online separated into sections according to Reto Nyffeler:
Synonyms
References
BiolibUniversal biological indexer
Bibliography
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Cactoideae genera
Cacti of South America
Taxa named by Carlo Luigi Spegazzini