Copiapoa calderana

Original Description

Ritter F. (1959) in Cactus, Paris, xiv. No. 65, 197

Simplex, hemisphaerica, dein colurnnaris, 5-10 cm crassa, cinereoviridis, radice rapacea, tenuicollari; vertice tomentoso; costis, 10-17 obtusis vix subtuberculatis; areolis mediocribus griseis; aculeis nigris vel brunneis subrectis, marginalibus 5-7, centrali plerumque solilario; floribus infundibuliformibus flavidis; fructibas viridalis plerumque sammo squomis paucis instructis; seminibus nigris, nitidis, minime tuberculatis, hilo subbasali.

Plante simple, hémisphérique, puis allongée, atteignant 5-10 cm de diamètre. Epiderme gris vert, non pruineux, racine napiforme longue, mince, dure, fortement rétrécie au collet.

Côtes 10-17, obtuses, larges, hautes d‘environ 1 cm, non divisées en tubercules, non échancrées.

Aréoles grises, puis noires, atteignant 5 mm de diamètre, rondes.

Aiguillons assez forts ou minces, droits ou faiblement arqués, bruns à noirs, devenant gris ; radiaux 5-7, longs de 10-15 mm, les inférieurs étant plus longs ; centraux 1, rarement 2, longs de 15-30 mm.

Fleur odorante, haute de 30-35 mm. Diamètre 30 mm ; tube jaune pâle, infundibuliforme, légèrement rétréci au-dessus de l'ovaire, long de 10-12 min, diamètre 10-12 mm, nu, à part quelques grandes écailles brun rouge.

Chambre nectarifère longue de 2-3 mm, large de 3-4 mm, à demi fermée.

Filets staminaux jaune pâle, les inférieurs de 10 mm, insérés sur le tube, 2-3 mm au-dessus de la chambre nectarifère, appliqués sur le style, les supérieurs, longs de 7 mm, appliqués contre la paroi du tube. Sacs polliniques jaune citron à jaune d‘or.

Style jaune pâle, long de 15 mm, diamètre 2 mm, stigmates environ 12. jaune pâle, étalés, longs de 4-5 mm, au niveau des sacs polliniques.

Pétales longs de 15 mm, larges de 6-7 mm, obovales, extrémité arrondie, faiblement acuminée, jaune pâle, segments externes faiblement teintés de rouge.

Fruit à peine charnu, long de 10-15 mm, large de 7-12 mm, vert pâle, nu, teinté de brun rouge vers le sommet, celui-ci muni de quelques écailles brun rouge longues de 5 mm, larges de 2 mm. Déhiscence capsulaire.

Graine longue de 1,5 mm, large de 1 mm, épaisse de 0,‘7 mm, face dorsale fortement convexe, carénée, épiderme noir brillant, couvert de très fins tubercules aplatis. Hile semi-ventral‘ basal, blanc, ovale long de 0,7 mm.

LOCALITE-TYPE:
Zone littorale au nord de Caldera, Chili septentrional : aire d'extension vraisemblablement réduite à la localité type.

POSITION SYSTEMATIQUE :
Espèce très proche de C. megarhiza Br. et R., dont la localité-type se situe loin à l' Est. C. megarhiza se distingue de C. calderana, notamment par la pruine blanche de l‘épiderme, les côtes divisées en tubercules peu distincts, les aiguillons radiaux et centraux plus nombreux et tous égaux, les graines plus grosses, longues de 2 mm, lisses, au hile nettement basal et deux fois plus grand, long de 1,5 mm. Les différences de structure florale sont inconnues.

Copiapoa calderana Ritter

PHOTO
prise sur place dans la localité-type.
Cette espèce a été introduite sous le n° FR 507.

Un exemplaire-type et des graines ont été déposés parmi les collections du Jardin Botanique de Zurich.

References in Literature


Ritter F. in Hildegard Winter Katalog		FR507 appears first in the 1957 Katalog as C. pepiniana. From 1958 to 1960, FR507 is shown as: C. calderana sp nov; (nicht pepiniana) Grauweiß bereift. - Pruinose grey-white; a contradiction with Ritter's original description in 1959.

Ritter F. (1959) in Cactus, Paris, xiv. No. 65, 197		Original description, see above

Backeberg C. 1961 Die Cactaceae - Nachträge 6:3817		Backeberg reports that seed of FR507, raised by A.M. Wouters, gave rise to two different types of seedlings, this perhaps because this number was collected by Ritter at 5 different locations. (See Englera)

Ritter F. (1980), Kakteen in Südamerika (3):1081		Ritter believes C. calderana to be closely related to C. cinerascens, (growing further north) and C. megarhiza (growing to the southeast). Ritter comments that the photograph in Cactus (Paris) shows a plant with very long spines that should not be regarded as typical.

Taylor N. P. (1981) A commentary on Copiapoa , The Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain, 43(2/3): 49-60		*C. calderana* F. Ritter in Cactus (Paris) 14(65): 197-98, with fig. (1959); Kakt. Südamer. 3: 1081 - 82, figs. 1011 & 1012 (1980). Type: Prov. Atacama, coast N. of Caldera, 1956, Ritter 507 (ZSS cited, but type never received). Syn. C. lembckei Backeb., Die Cact. 3: 1922, t. 160 (1959), nom. inval. (Art. 37); C. calderana var. spinosior F. Ritter, loc. cit., fig. 1013 (1980). To be considered here is *C. atacamensis* Middleditch in The Chileans 11(37): 21 (1979, publ. 1980). Type: Prov. Antofagasta, coastal hills around Antofagasta, 1914, Rose 19410 (?NY). Syn. C. marginata sensu B. & R. (1922), pro parte, et F. Ritter in KuaS 12: 6, fig. 2 (1961); C. echinoides sensu Backeb. (1959) et Lembcke in KuaS 17: 29 (1966); C. boliviana sensu F. Ritter, Kakt. Südamer. 3: 1089 - 90, figs. 1029 & 1030 (1980), non Echinocactus bolivianus Pfeiffer (1847). Range: between La Chimba and Blanco Encalada. Cf. C. cinerascens and C. hypogaea.

Butcher D. (1982) The Genus Copiapoa, Calandrinia II		Body-solitary, hemispherical, later elongated to 10 cm across, greyish-green, not pruinose. Ribs 10-17. Areoles-grey, later black, 5 mm across. Spines-brown to black, becoming grey. Radials 5-7, to 15 mm long. Centrals 1(-2), to 3 cm long. Flower 3-3.5 cm long, 3 cm wide, scented. Fruit-pale green, reddish above to 15 mm long with glossy black seeds. Habitat - coast of Calderana. Note: this appears to be a very variable species.

Hoffmann A.E. (1989) Cactaceas en la flora silvestre de Chile: 98		Adriana Hoffmann merges C. calderana as a new variety of C. atacamensis.

Eggli U., Schick M.M. & Leuenburger, B.E. (1995) Englera 16: 522 Copiapoa calderana FR507 Isotype specimen at Utrecht Herbarium Image by Paul Klaassen Copiapoa calderana FR507 Type specimen at Utrecht Herbarium Image by Paul Klaassen		*Ritter 507: Copiapoa calderana* F. Ritter - Cactus (Paris) No. 65: 197-198, ill.. 1959. Typus (T); Ritter 507 (U [status ?], SGO, ZSS [status ?J) (Type cited for ZSS, but none of the specimens at ZSS seems to qualify as holotype.). loc. 1: Chile: Atacama; ,,von der Typuslokalität Caldera“ = from the type locality Caldera. - / 1. / 1956. - Originally distributed as Copiapoa pepiniana. U 098048B ISO - rad, corp. ar, sp (Collection number inferred.) ZSS A10490 Type number - corp. ar, sp (Ex cult. ZSS s.n., 13. 6. 1977. No locality data associated with this specimen.) ZSS AX3632 Type number - rad, corp, ar, sp (Leg. F. Ritter 1958. Ex cult. ZSS s.n., 28. 11. 1980. Labelled as "holotype" in the herbarium list, but this is improbable in view of the date of conservation.) ZSS S10298 Type number - sem (Leg. F. Ritter 1957. No locality directly associated with this specimen.) loc. 2: Chile: "Caldera". SGO 124872 ISO - corp, ar, sp loc. 3: Chile: "25 km sudl. Flamenco“ = 25 km S of Flamenco / "S. Flamenco“ = S of Flamenco. SGO 124873 - (corp), ar, sp loc. 4: Chile: "28 km nördl. Flamenco“ = 28 km N of Flamenco. ZSS SR13420 -sem loc. 5: Chile: "nördl. Caldera“ = N of Caldera. -/ l./ 1956. ZSS SR13421 Type number - sem

Schulz R. & Kapitany A. (1996) Copiapoa in their Environment		The species is outside the range covered.

Charles G. J. (1998) Copiapoa		Charles retains this as a good species and observes that plants that were imported into Europe during the 1970s were easy to become established, although the bodies tended to elongate in cultivation. The large tap root had in most cases been removed, but a fibrous root system usually established without difficulty.

Hunt D. (Ed.), (2001) Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives		Regarded by Fred Kattermann as doubtfully distinct from C. marginata, but with mucilage, which C. marginata does not. When Fred Kattermann tested cultivated plants of C. calderana FK 32 they did not have mucilage, but a seedling of FK 46 (var. longispina) did. He therefore considers the presence / absence of mucilage unreliable as a means of separating C. atacamensis and C. calderana from C. marginata. Included by Taylor in "The Rest": Roots tuberous, no mucilage Included in the Cinerascens Group.

Hunt D. (Ed.) (2002) Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives 13:12		Expands the species to include: Copiapoa calderana ssp. atacamensis (Middleditch) D. Hunt

Hoffmann A.E. & Walter H. (2004) Cactaceas en la flora silvestre de Chile (2nd Ed.): 126		Recognises C. calderana subsp. calderana (syn. C. lembckei Backeberg, C. calderana var. spinosior Ritter, C. atacamensis var. calderana) and C. calderana subsp. atacamensis (Middleditch) Hunt 2002 (syn. C. atacamensis, Echinocactus bolivianus Pfeifer, C. boliviana (Pfeiffer) Ritter

Hunt D. (Ed.) (2006) The New Cactus Lexicon

Distribution

PK Comments

Seen at Copiapoathon Stops:

calderana

var. spinosior

ssp. atacamensis

2001 S035, S036, S098 S093, S097 S067

2003 S126 (= S098), S182,
S184, S185, S186 S127, S181 S141 (= S067)

2004 S225 (= S098),
S293 (= S185) S226, S292 S284 (=S067)

Ritter's habitat seed was offered for sale by mail order from annual catalogues between 1954 and 1962, published by his sister, Hilda Winter, who lived at Fechenheim, Frankfurt A. M., Germany. The 1957 Catalogue lists FR 507 as Copiapoa pepiniana (Lem.) Ritter with the description

'Grauweiss bereift.- Pruinose grey-white.....'

The description continues in the 1959 and 1960 catalogues, but now as C. calderana and is absent in 1961 and 1962. So Ritter, at this stage, does not use the name C. calderana for a green bodied plant.

BUT the 1959 original description in French (was Ritter's French good enough to write the French text or at least to proofread it to pick out mistakes that crept into the translation by a 3rd party?) states:

'....Epiderme gris vert, non pruineux ....'

which according to my schoolboy French translates as 'Epidermis grey green, not pruinose'. A clear contradiction that is carried forward to Kakteen in Sudamerika (1980, 3:1081) where the body colour is given as 'hell graugruen, ohne weisse Bereifung' (bright grey green - itself an apparent contradiction - without white farina).

Later (1980) Ritter includes Echinocactus pepinianus K. Schumann 1898 (non. Lemaire) (p.1106-1107) under the heading of 'Unclear and non-acceptable names that have been used for Copiapoa', and explains that Lemaire first used the name as a nomen nudum for a plant that was described by Salm-Dyck in 1845 as Cereus pepinianus. Ritter suggests that Salm-Dyck used the name in error for a plant of the Echinopsis chilensis complex and that the plants described by Schumann 50 years later were not this plant. However, he judges Schumann's description to be inadequate as a means of identifying what plant it is meant to apply to. Ritter concludes that the name is best ignored.

So what plant did Ritter have in mind in 1959 when he used the name for his FR 507 collection? Irrespective of whether he intended it for a plant with or without white grey-white pruinose epidermis, did he believe these forms to be distinct enough to consider a separate taxon for the other? And if so, why did he not carry out this intention?

What Copiapoa was there in cultivation in Germany at that time under the name pepiniana? Schumann's name (as Echinocactus pepinianus) was picked up by Backeberg who proposed its move to Copiapoa as C. pepiniana (K. Sch. non Lem) Backeberg in Backeberg & Knuth Kaktus-ABC in 1935, thus making the Winter's 1957 catalogue name of Copiapoa pepiniana (Lem.) Ritter invalid, 22 years after Backeberg had made the combination.

Backeberg points out (Die Cactaceae 3:1917-1919) that Schumann makes no mention of any waxy epidermis for pepiniana and shows black & white photos of two cultivated seedling and an ex-habitat mature clump of what might be a member of the Coquimbana complex.