Thelocactus
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''Thelocactus'' is a genus 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
cactus 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 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, ...
. Members of the genus are native to the arid lands of Central and Northern
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.


Description

''Thelocactus'' species are globe-shaped, short and cylindrical. They are small cacti, although there are one or two species which, while only about 15 cm high, can be 25 cm in diameter; for example, ''T. nidulans''. ''Thelocactus'' species are generally solitary, but some varieties will cluster in groups. The ribs on ''Thelocactus'' species are very clearly marked and are sometimes twisted in a spiral. There can be from 8 to 20 ribs, which are rather low and normally marked with raised, angular or hexagonal
tubercles In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection, b ...
. These tubercles can sometimes be difficult to distinguish.
Areole In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cactus, cacti out of which grow clusters of Thorns, spines, and prickles, spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cactus, cacti, and identify them as a family distinct fr ...
s sit in a furrow directly above where the spines grow and there can be up to twenty radial/radiating spines. They are often needle-like, spread out and can be from 1.3 – 1.5 cm long. The central spines are mostly coarser, number up to six, stand vertically out from the plant and can be 2.5 – 7.5 cm long. Colours of all of the spines vary and include white, gray, golden-yellow and red-brown. Flowers grow from the new areoles at the very top of the plant. They are funnel-shaped, have a diameter of 2.5 – 7.5 cm and their colours vary from white to shades of yellow, red or purple. They are diurnal. Fruits are small, globe-shaped and plain. They are dehiscent through the large basal pore, green to brownish purple o magenta spherical to short cylindrical, 5 - 18 x 6 – 17 mm, not juicy, drying immediately after ripening, scaly, spineless, hairless and with floral remnant persistent.


Distribution

''Thelocactus'' species grow in the wild in central and North
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and in the US in Texas. In Mexico, the species are generally concentrated along and to the west of the Sierra Madre Oriental beginning with ''T. hastifer'' in Querétaro State, about 150 km NNW of
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
. One subspecies (''T. bicolor ssp. flavidispinus'') grows on the other (northern) side of the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
, well distributed in the Big Bend area of Texas. Other occurrences of ''T. bicolor'' in Texas have been reported but cited verification is sketchy although it would be odd if they did not occur there. Some species are distributed over a wide area of many Mexican states (''T. bicolor'' and its subspecies and ''T. hexaedrophorus'') with ''T. bicolor '' and its current (2013) botanically accepted subspecies ''bolaensis'', ''flavidispinus'', ''heterochromus'' and ''schwarzii'' having the widest distribution. In contrast, one species, ''T. lausseri'', only occurs in one known remote locality in central Coahuila state. Species are distributed in mountainous stony/rocky places or grassy territory with
clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
soil.


Cultivation

''Thelocactus'' species are generally easy to cultivate, even if many species fail to flower until they are five years old.
Soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
s should be composed of equal proportions of
sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
and
humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...
. Water normally from Spring to Autumn. In Winter, keep most species at a minimum temperature of 8 °C. They can survive at lower temperatures but the roots then must be kept dry. The dark brown or black
seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...
s can be relatively large for the size of cactus and they germinate readily. Reproduction is nearly always from seed, since the plant rarely produces plantlets. The seed should be put in a sand and compost mixture, kept moist, maintained at a temperature of 21 °C and placed in a shady position. ''Thelocactus bicolor'' has gained the
Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...
's
Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...
.


Synonymy

The following genera have been brought to
synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
with ''Thelocactus'': * ''Hamatocactus'' Britton &
Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
This genus contained 8 species and was known from the Southwest
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and in northern
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. The name ''Hamatocactus'' means "hooked cactus" in
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. * ''Thelomastus''
Fric The Royal Institute of Chemistry was a British scientific organisation. Founded in 1877 as the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland (ICGBI), its role was to focus on qualifications and the professional status of chemists, and its ai ...
(nom. inval.)


Species

Species recognized by
Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
:


Formerly placed here

* '' Turbinicarpus beguinii'' (N.P.Taylor) Mosco & Zanov. (as ''T. beguinii'' N.P.Taylor) * ''
Turbinicarpus gielsdorfianus ''Turbinicarpus gielsdorfianus'' is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae. It is endemic to San Luis Potosí state in northeastern Mexico. Its natural habitat is hot deserts. It was thought to be extinct for some time until it was redisco ...
'' (Werderm.) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. gielsdorfianus'' (Werderm.) Borg) * '' Turbinicarpus horripilus'' (Lem.) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. horripilus'' (Lem.) Kladiwa) * '' Turbinicarpus knuthianus'' (Boed.) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. knuthianus'' (Boed.) Borg) * ''
Turbinicarpus lophophoroides ''Turbinicarpus lophophoroides'' is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae. It is endemic to Mexico. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland and hot deserts. It is threatened by illegal collecting, habitat loss ...
'' (Werderm.) Buxb. & Backeb. (as ''T. lophophoroides'' Werderm.) * '' Turbinicarpus mandragora'' (Fric ex A.Berger) A.D.Zimm. (as ''T. mandragora'' A.Berger) * ''
Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus ''Turbinicarpus'' is a genus of very small to medium-sized cacti, which inhabit the north-eastern regions of Mexico, in particular the states of San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas ...
'' (Backeb.) Glass & R.A.Foster (as ''T. pseudopectinatus'' (Backeb.) E.F.Anderson & Boke) * ''
Turbinicarpus saueri ''Turbinicarpus saueri'' is a species of plant in the family Cactus, Cactaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas states, located in northeastern Mexico. Its natural habitat is hot deserts. Subspecies , Plants of the W ...
'' (Boed.) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. saueri'' (Boed.) Borg) * '' Turbinicarpus subterraneus'' (Backeb.) A.D.Zimm. (as ''T. subterraneus'' (Backeb.) Backeb. & F.M.Knuth) * '' Turbinicarpus viereckii'' (Werderm.) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. viereckii'' (Werderm.) Bravo) * '' Turbinicarpus ysabelae'' (Schlange) V.John & Ríha (as ''T. ysabelae'' Schlange)


References

* ''This article has been expanded using, inter alia, material based on a translation of an article from the
Swedish Wikipedia The Swedish Wikipedia () is the Swedish language, Swedish-language edition of Wikipedia, started in 2001. A free content online encyclopedia, it is the largest reference work in Swedish history, while consistently ranked as the most visited or on ...
, by the same name. It has also been augmented by material translated from the
Italian Wikipedia The Italian Wikipedia () is the Italian language, Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on 10 May 2001, and first edited on 11 June 2001. As of , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is the -largest W ...
.''


Literature

* Edward F. Anderson: ''A revision of the genus Thelocactus B. & R. (Cactaceae)''. In: '' Bradleya''. Band 5, 1987, S. 49–76. * Grzegorz F. Matuszewski, Stanisław Hinz: ''Thelocactus. Systematik, Vorkommen und Kultur''. 2011, . * Alessandro Mosco, Carlo Zanovello: ''A phenetic analysis of the genus Thelocactus''. In: '' Bradleya'', Band 18, 2000, S. 45–70
PDF
* Alessandro Mosco, Carlo Zanovello: ''An introduction to the genus Thelocactus''. In: ''Cactus & Co.'' Band 6, Nummer 3, 2002, S. 144–171
PDF


External links


Cactiguide Thelocactus
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133258 Cactoideae genera