Coryphantha nickelsiae

(K. Brandegee) Britton & Rose

Cact. 4: 35. 1923.

Common names: Nickels’s pincushion cactus
Conservation concern
Basionym: Mammillaria nickelsiae K. Brandegee Zoë 5: 31. 1900 (as Mamillaria nickelsa e)
Synonyms: Coryphantha calochlora Boedeker Coryphantha laui Bremer Coryphantha neglecta Bremer Coryphantha sulcata var. nickelsiae (K. Brandegee) L. D. Benson
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Mentioned on page 224.

Plants unbranched (western) to freely branched and ± forming mats (eastern), tuberculate with numerous, fine spines. Roots diffuse or short taproots; branches root adventitiously. Stems deep-seated, aerial portion hemispheric or ± flat-topped, less than 11 × (4–) 5.2–7 cm; tubercles 7–10 (–13?) × 10 mm, firm; areolar glands seasonally conspicuous; parenchyma not mucilaginous; pith 1/2 of lesser stem diam.; medullary vascular system conspicuous. Spines 13–21 per areole; uppermost radial spines white, contrasting with others, at least on old plants, sometimes forming conspicuous white tufts, others white to tan or dark-brown; radial spines 13–20 per areole, 13–23 × 0.15–0.17 mm; central spines 0–1 per areole, porrect, straight or slightly curved downward, longest spines 11–16 mm. Flowers apical or nearly so, 45–50 mm diam.; outer tepals entire; inner tepals ca. 30 per flower, pale-yellow, ca. 30 mm; outer filaments white or pale-yellow; anthers orange-yellow; stigma lobes 5–8, white or cream, (2.5–) 5–8 mm. Fruits gray-green or bright green (paler proximally), obovoid, spheric, or ellipsoid, 18–23 × 8–10 mm; floral remnant strongly persistent. Seeds orange, drying to reddish-brown, spheric to comma-shaped, 1.1–1.7 mm, finely and weakly raised-reticulate.


Phenology: Flowering summer (Aug–Sep).
Habitat: Tamaulipan thorn scrub, eastern edge of Chihuahuan Desert, limestone outcrops, nearby alluvium
Elevation: 100-150 m

Distribution

V4 413-distribution-map.gif

Tex., Mexico (Coahuila), Mexico (Nuevo León), Mexico (Tamaulipas)

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Coryphantha nickelsiae in the flora is based on old herbarium specimens labeled only as from “Laredo, Texas.” Coryphantha nickelsiae belongs to the same species group as C. ramillosa. Coryphantha sulcata, with which L. D. Benson (1969b, 1969c, 1982) inexplicably united C. nickelsiae, is not closely related.

Coryphantha nickelsiae often has ribbonlike uppermost radial spines.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Coryphantha nickelsiae"
orange-yellow +
cushionlike +
circular to linear +
deciduous +  and persistent +
connected +
hourglass--shaped +
Allan D. Zimmerman +  and Bruce D. Parfitt +
(K. Brandegee) Britton & Rose +
spineless +  and naked +
hardened +
Mammillaria nickelsiae +
triangular +
curved +  and straight +
downward +  and porrect +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (5.5 cm55 mm <br />0.055 m <br />) +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
Nickels’s pincushion cactus +
with mucilage +  and mucilaginous +
Tex. +, Mexico (Coahuila) +, Mexico (Nuevo León) +  and Mexico (Tamaulipas) +
100-150 m +
not separating +
4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (6.5 cm65 mm <br />0.065 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 />) +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
bright green;gray-green +
indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
1.8 cm18 mm <br />0.018 m <br /> (2.3 cm23 mm <br />0.023 m <br />) +
ellipsoid +, spheric +  and obovoid +
fleshy +  and juicy +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
Tamaulipan thorn scrub, eastern edge of Chihuahuan Desert, limestone outcrops, nearby alluvium +
0.45 cm4.5 mm <br />0.0045 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 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 +
1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br /> (1.6 cm16 mm <br />0.016 m <br />) +
fringed +  and toothed +
small +
white;tan or dark-brown +
pale-yellow +  and white +
not mucilaginous +
deciduous +  and persistent +
Flowering summer (Aug–Sep). +
mucilaginous +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (5.2 cm52 mm <br />0.052 m <br />) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br />) +
flat-topped +  and hemispheric +
5.2 cm52 mm <br />0.052 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
colorless +  and white greenish or pinkish +
3;2;2;30 +
erose +  and entire +
rudimentary +
triangular +
arillate +  and strophiolate +
reddish-brown +  and orange +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
0.4mm;12mm +
glossy +  and shiny +
spheric;comma-shaped +
0.11 cm1.1 mm <br />0.0011 m <br /> (0.17 cm1.7 mm <br />0.0017 m <br />) +
Conservation concern +
adventitious +
curved +  and straight +
deciduous +  and persistent +
13mm +  and 23mm +
13 (?) +  and 20 (?) +
annulate-ridged +, hairlike +, daggerlike +, subulate +  and acicular +
hard +  and rigid +
differentiated +
0.015 cm0.15 mm <br />1.5e-4 m <br /> (0.017 cm0.17 mm <br />1.7e-4 m <br />) +
decurrent +
unsegmented +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
deep-seated +
tuberculate +
flat-topped +, cylindric +, ovoid +, spheric +  and hemispheric +
succulent +
1cm;15cm +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
cream +  and white +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
protruding +  and flat +
large +  and small +
tuberculate +
Coryphantha calochlora +, Coryphantha laui +, Coryphantha neglecta +  and Coryphantha sulcata var. nickelsiae +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Coryphantha nickelsiae +
Coryphantha +
species +
dull +  and glossy +
pitted +  and raised-reticulate +
7mm +  and 10mm +
conic +  and hemispheric or cylindric +
conspicuous +
unbranched +  and freely branched +
epiphytic;epiphytic;epiphytic +