Pelecyphora, pincushion cactus or foxtail cactus"Escobaria Britton & Rose foxtail cactus" PLANTS database, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture is a genus of cacti, comprising 20 species. They originate from Mexico and the United States.
Common species include the Missouri foxtail cactus P. missouriensis,"Escobaria missouriensis (Sweet) D.R. Hunt - Missouri foxtail cactus" PLANTS database, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture widespread in grassland and forest west of the Mississippi, and the spinystar P. vivipara,"Escobaria vivipara (Nutt.) Buxbaum - spinystar" PLANTS database, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture distributed across the US and into Canada, first described by Nuttall in 1813.
Description Pelecyphores are spherical to club-shaped stem succulents up to in diameter and gray-green in color. They branch only sparsely and only at an older age. The areoles standing on the longitudinally or transversely flattened warts have thorns in a pectinate (comb-shaped) arrangement. As we age, the thorns, then the areoles and finally the warts fall off. Between the warts, the plant bodies are initially dense and short-haired, so that the apexes are hidden.
The flowers arise individually from short furrows on the upper surfaces of the youngest areoles. They are bright purple and about long. The greenish fruits that form after the flowers are fertilized dry out when ripe and release the black seeds into the crown wool, from which they are only washed out (in nature) after a long time.
Taxonomy Species accepted by Plants of the World Online with sections from Nigel Paul Taylor from 1986:
Section Group Image Scientific name Subspecies Distribution PelecyphoraPelecyphora aselliformis San Luis Potosi, MexicoPelecyphora strobiliformis Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas states in Mexico Pleurantha Pelecyphora chihuahuensis Pelecyphora chihuahuensis subsp. chihuahuensis Pelecyphora chihuahuensis subsp. henricksonii MexicoPelecyphora tuberculosa New Mexico, Mexico Escobaria Sneedii GroupPelecyphora laredoi Coahuila de Zaragoza - Mexico Pelecyphora sneedii Pelecyphora sneedii subsp. sneedii Pelecyphora sneedii subsp. orcuttii Mexico (Chihuahua), United States (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) Vivipara GroupPelecyphora alversonii Arizona, CaliforniaPelecyphora chlorantha Arizona, California, Nevada, UtahPelecyphora hesteri Pelecyphora hesteri subsp. grata Pelecyphora hesteri subsp. hesteriTexas Pelecyphora vivipara Canada (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan ), Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Sonora), United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming) Neobesseya Pelecyphora abdita Pelecyphora abdita subsp. abdita Pelecyphora abdita subsp. tenuispina Mexico (Coahuila)Pelecyphora emskoetteriana Mexico (Coahuila de Zaragoza, Tamaulipas ), United States (Texas) Dasyacantha GroupPelecyphora dasyacantha Pelecyphora dasyacantha subsp. dasyacantha Pelecyphora dasyacantha subsp. chaffeyi Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Zacatecas), USA (Texas, New Mexico)Pelecyphora duncanii New Mexico, TexasPelecyphora lloydii Mexico (Zacatecas)Pelecyphora minima Texas Pelecyphora robbinsiorum Arizona Missouriensis GroupPelecyphora cubensis Cuba Pelecyphora macromeris Pelecyphora macromeris subsp. macromeris Pelecyphora macromeris subsp. runyonii S. New Mexico to W. Texas and NE. Mexico.Pelecyphora missouriensis Pelecyphora missouriensis subsp. missouriensis Pelecyphora missouriensis subsp. asperispina USA ( Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, North Dakota), Mexico (Coahuila de Zaragoza, Nuevo Leon)Pelecyphora zilziana Mexico (Coahuila de Zaragoza)
Synonymy At genus level The genus Encephalocarpus A.Berger has been brought into synonymy with Pelecyphora.
At species level
The following are synonyms of species now placed outside of Pelecyphora: Pelecyphora aselliformis var. pectinata (= Mammillaria pectinifera) Pelecyphora pectinata (= Mammillaria pectinifera) Pelecyphora pseudopectinata (= Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus) Pelecyphora valdeziana (= Turbinicarpus valdezianus) Pelecyphora plumosa (= Turbinicarpus valdezianus) Pelecyphora pulcherrima (= Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus)
Psychoactivity Pelecyphora aselliformis: Mescaline (Less than 0.00002% in dry weight) Neal et al. 1972
Conservation status Both P. aselliformis and P. strobiliformis are classified as being of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, however both species are contained in Appendix 1 of CITES species (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) as at June 2013.
References
Anderson, Edward F. (2001) The Cactus Family Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, pp. 307–314,
External links