Saturday, January 20, 2007

Eriosyce




Eriosyce is a genus of much confusion, with many former genus lumped within it. I have collected cacti and succulents for many years and have never encountered a plant tag that read Eriosyce. As with many cacti, old names, new names and wrong names are prevalent, so often one doesn’t really know what they truly have until much hard work and research is done.
I won’t pretend here to be the authority on the subject but merely try and convey some of my findings and hope you as the reader will glean some useful information about the wild world of Eriosyce.
This interesting group of cacti hails from the hot and dry deserts of western South America. As mentioned, Eriosyce is made up of many plants with previous distinctions and names, some include; Chileorebutia, Delaetia, Horridocactus, Islaya, Neochilenia, Neoporteria, Pyrrhocactus, Echinocactus, Rodentiophila, and Thelocephala.
Eriosyce is primarily distinguished by its wooly fruits, which is also where the plant derives its name (greek, erion – wool, syce – fig ) . It also has a unique flower, pollinated by hummingbirds and insects. Other characteristics include fibrous roots that extend from a tap root, heavy spination, in man cases
flattened against the surface, often baring wooly areoles and many species are highly variable which also makes identification more difficult. Another interesting tidbit about Eriosyce is the way in which many of them receive their water. As with much of the coastal Chilean deserts, very little rain finds the desert floor. The plants which inhabit this area survive on seasonal fog and the very, very minimal rainfall which occurs about every tens years or so.
This special group of plants is one to learn about so grab that cacti your not
sure of the name and maybe it becomes your first Eriosyce!

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