Copiapoa - Living on the Edge
Copiapoa Species
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Copiapoa Taxonomy

It is tempting to name the next Copiapoa that we discover after that great US statesman, Secretary of State, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld: Copiapoa rumsfeldi.

We owe so much to this gentleman, as he sums up perfectly the current state  of Copiapoa taxonomy and classification:

  • There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know.

  • There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things we know we don't know.

  • But, there are also unknown unknowns. These are things we don't know we don't know.

The accepted species listing below is based on The New Cactus Lexicon (2006) edited by David Hunt & Graham Charles. A complete listing of all names in circulation today and applied to Copiapoa taxa, along with publication data is provided, as many of these names, whilst of little botanical value, do serve to differentiate distinct ecotypes..

Accepted Taxa - New Cactus Lexicon (2006)  

Copiapoa Britton & Rose The Cactaceae, iii. 85 (1922)
Syst. Init. 13: 15. 2002 [Apr 2002]
  • Copiapoa calderana F.Ritter
    in Cactus, Paris, xiv. No. 65, 197(1959)

 

 

S225 - Caleta Zenteno, Ruta 5 km 910
  • Copiapoa calderana F.Ritter
          subsp. atacamensis (Middled.) D.R.Hunt
 in Syst. Initiatives 13: 12 (April 2002)

  • Copiapoa cinerascens Britton & Rose
    Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 3: 88 (1922)

S227 - near southern entrance, Pan de Azucar National Park
  • Copiapoa cinerea (Phil.) Britton & Rose
 Cactaceae, iii. 86 (1922)
  • Copiapoa cinerea (Phil.) Britton & Rose
    subsp. columna-alba (F.Ritter) M.Meregalli

S228:

 in Piante Grasse, 11(4): 20 (1991 publ. 1992), contrary to Arts. 24.1, 32.1 ICBN (1988)

S234, near Planta Esmeralda
  • Copiapoa cinerea (Phil.) Britton & Rose
        subsp. haseltoniana
 in Kaktusy (Brno), 33(speciál): 3 (1997)

  • Copiapoa coquimbana (Karw. ex Rümpler) Britton & Rose - The Cactaceae (Britton & Rose) 3: 87 (1922)

S221 - South of Los Hornos
in Cactus, Paris, xiv. No. 63, 137 (1959)
in Syst. Initiatives 13: 15 (2002)
Cactaceae, iii. 88 (1922)
Kakteen in Sudamerika (3):1064
in Backeberg & Knuth, Kaktus-ABC, 280, 1936.
(Dated 1935, publ. Febr. 1936.) 
  • Copiapoa grandiflora Ritter
    Ritter (1963), Taxon 12(1):29

S229 - El Mirador, P.N. Pan de Azucar
  • Copiapoa humilis (Phil.) Hutchison
 in Cact. & Succ.Journ. Amer. xxv. 34 (1953)
  • Copiapoa humilis (Phil.) Hutchison
        subsp. tennuissima
  
  • Copiapoa humilis (Phil.) Hutchison
        subsp. tocopilana
  
  • Copiapoa humilis (Phil.) Hutchison
        subsp. varispinata
  
  • Copiapoa hypogaea F.Ritter
    in Cactus, Paris, xv. No. 66, 19 (1960)

S179: in the hills at the southern end
of the P.N. Pan de Azucar

  • Copiapoa hypogaea F.Ritter
         subsp. laui (Diers) Charles (2006) CSI 21:11
  
  • Copiapoa krainziana F.Ritter
    in Taxon, xii. 30 (1963). (IK)

 

 

S281: Copiapoa krainziana in
Quebrada San Ramon, north of Taltal

 

S235: at the mouth of the Guanillos Valley

 

S236: between Quebrada Guanillos and Esmeralda
  • Copiapoa marginata (Salm-Dyck) Britton & Rose
 (Britton & Rose) Cactaceae 3: 86 (1922)
Cactaceae, iii. 89 (1922)
  • Copiapoa megarhiza Britton & Rose
        subsp. echinata (F.Ritter) Doweld
 Sukkulenty (Moscow) 4(1-2): 55 (2001 publ. 2002)
in Cactus, Paris, xv. No. 66, 21-22 (1960)
  • Copiapoa serpentisulcata F.Ritter
    in Cactus, Paris, xv. No. 66, 22 (1960)

 

 

 

S178: P. N. Pan de Azucar

  • Copiapoa solaris (F.Ritter) F.Ritter
 Kakteen in Südamerika, 3: 1047 (1980)
in Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat. 1929, xxxiii. 614
  • Copiapoa taltalensis (Werderm.) Looser
        subsp. desertorum (Ritter) D. Hunt
Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives 13:12-15 (2002)

All material, except where otherwise credited, is Copyright
 © 2001-2006 Paul Klaassen
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