At first glance, the plants
pictured closely resemble C. grandiflora s.l. or more precisely, the
population north of Taltal, described as C. montana. I guess that Ritter
wanted to report variations in flower colour of Copiapoa when he described
Copiapoa rubriflora. Since then, I have been able to observe individual
plants and small population groups where the same phenomenon is found in other
taxa, particularly in the C. coquimbana group and in a few flowers of
C. solaris in the Quebrada Botija.
