Coryphantha sulcata

(Engelmann) Britton & Rose

Cact. 4: 48. 1923.

Common names: Pineapple cactus
Endemic
Basionym: Mammillaria sulcata Engelmann Boston J. Nat. Hist. 5: 246. 1845 (as Mammilaria)
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 227. Mentioned on page 222, 223, 225, 228, 232.

Plants unbranched (western) to freely branched and forming clumps 30–50 cm diam. (eastern), relatively smooth except for protruding abaxial central spine, not much obscured by spines. Roots diffuse or short taproots; branches root adventitiously. Stems spheric or obovoid, 4–8 (–12) × 6–8 cm; tubercles 8–19 × 10 mm, soft or flaccid (sagging in drought); areolar glands seasonally conspicuous; parenchyma not mucilaginous; medullary vascular system absent. Spines 9–16 (–18) per areole, yellowish or pinkish, later gray to nearly white with dark reddish-brown or black tips, central spines often streaked or speckled with black on adaxial side; radial spines 8–15 per areole, 9–16 mm, stout; central spines 0–4 per areole, one porrect, others, if present, erect, sometimes appressed against radial spines, main central spine, when present, straight or curving downward, others straight, all terete or nearly so, longest spines 9–15 × 1 mm. Flowers apical or nearly so, 40–60 × 35–55 mm; outer tepals entire; inner tepals ca. 25 per flower, golden yellow (rarely greenish yellow), distally slightly darker, proximally bright red (rarely brownish red or greenish), 40 × 7 mm; outer filaments bright red (rarely greenish in flowers without proximally red tepals); anthers yellow; stigma lobes 7–10, whitish or greenish yellow, ca. 3.5 mm. Fruits usually green, becoming dull red, ellipsoid or oblong, becoming broadly ovoid, 15–25 × 10–15 mm, slimy; floral remnant strongly persistent. Seeds dark reddish-brown, somewhat comma-shaped, 2 mm, smooth, shiny. 2n = 22.


Phenology: Flowering late spring–summer (Apr–May); fruiting ca 3-4 months after flowering.
Habitat: Grasslands, shrublands, savannas, gravelly, sandy to clayey soils
Elevation: 300-1100 m

Discussion

From Austin, Texas, eastward, Coryphantha sulcata has converged on the morphology of the sympatric C. missouriensis; the vegetative resemblance between these two species sometimes is nearly perfect, and numerous misidentifications occur in the literature. The porrect central spines of adult C. sulcata, when present, often curve downward, unlike the straight spines of C. missouriensis.

In the relatively arid western part of its range, Coryphantha sulcata converges on the vegetative appearance of C. echinus (usually unbranched, densely spine covered, with prominent central spines). In the general region of the Pecos River, where these two species approach each other geographically, identification of C. sulcata and C. echinus requires caution. Both species have strongly heter-omorphic growth, with central spines lacking until sexual maturity or later. The consistent interspecific differences are relatively subtle compared with the difference between age classes within populations of either species. The species are closely related, but not each other’s closest relative.

Coryphantha sulcata probably will prove conspecific with taxa in Mexico.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Coryphantha sulcata"
obscured +  and protruding +
cushionlike +
circular to linear +
deciduous +  and persistent +
connected +
hourglass--shaped +
Allan D. Zimmerman +  and Bruce D. Parfitt +
(Engelmann) Britton & Rose +
spineless +  and naked +
hardened +
Mammillaria sulcata +
triangular +
black +, speckled +  and streaked +
curved +  and straight +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (5.5 cm55 mm <br />0.055 m <br />) +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
Pineapple cactus +
with mucilage +  and mucilaginous +
300-1100 m +
not separating +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
nearly +  and apical +
salverform +, funnel +  and campanulate +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (5.5 cm55 mm <br />0.055 m <br />) +
indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
ovoid +, oblong +  and ellipsoid +
fleshy +  and juicy +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
Grasslands, shrublands, savannas, gravelly, sandy to clayey soils +
40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br /> (?) +
deciduous +  and persistent +
rudimentary +
flat +  and terete +
nearly +  and microscopic +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
fluted;spheric;depressed-spheric or club-shaped +
9mm +  and 15mm +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +
fringed +  and toothed +
small +
straight +  and curving +
downward +  and erect +
not mucilaginous +
deciduous +  and persistent +
Flowering late spring–summer (Apr–May) +  and fruiting ca 3-4 months after flowering. +
mucilaginous +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
colorless +  and white greenish or pinkish +
3;2;2;30 +
erose +  and entire +
rudimentary +
triangular +
arillate +  and strophiolate +
dark reddish-brown +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
0.4mm;12mm +
comma--shaped +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (?) +
adventitious +
pinkish later gray +  and nearly white +
straight +  and curving +
deciduous +  and persistent +
downward +  and erect +
8 (?) +  and 15 (?) +
0.9 cm9 mm <br />0.009 m <br /> (1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br />) +
hard +  and rigid +
differentiated +
decurrent +
unsegmented +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
obovoid +  and spheric +
succulent +
6cm;8cm +
greenish yellow +  and whitish +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (?) +
protruding +  and flat +
large +  and small +
tuberculate +
Aulacothelae +, Cochiseia +, Cumarinia +, Escobaria +, Escobesseya +, Lepidocoryphantha +  and Neobesseya +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Coryphantha sulcata +
Coryphantha +
species +
dull +  and glossy +
pitted +  and raised-reticulate +
black +  and dark reddish-brown +
8mm +  and 19mm +
conic +  and hemispheric or cylindric +
flaccid +  and soft +
unbranched +  and freely branched +
30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br /> (50 cm500 mm <br />0.5 m <br />) +
epiphytic;epiphytic;epiphytic +