The position of the Genus Notocactus within the Plant Kingdom

The genus Notocactus can be classified as follows: (Information taken from various sources)

Kingdom: Plantae: Plants.
Division: Magnoliophyta (was Spermatophyta): A seed bearing plant.
Class: Magnoliopsida (Dicotyledonous plants): Seed bearing plants that have two cotyledons.
Order: Caryophyllales: Perfect flowers, leaves opposite or whorled, ovary generally superior, fruit a capsule, petals sometimes absent.
Family: Cactaceae A.L de Jussieu.: For a full description of the family Cactaceae see: The Families of Flowering Plants - Cactaceae
Sub-Family: Cactoideae K. Schumann.: Flowers sessile, without proliferous flower axis. Ovary inferior. Seeds with thin, hard black to light and soft testa. Body shape extremely varied. Leaf blades nearly always completely reduced.
Tribe: VII. Notocacteae F. Buxbaum.: Flowers regular. Pericarpel and receptacle tube scaly, with increasing coverage of areoles towards the top, the upper part of the receptacle tube with areoles with bristles or even spines. Occasionally areoles absent, very rarely scales are absent too, and then the receptacle tube has a leafy crown (Melocactus). Sometimes the base of the inner perianth segments grows into a true perigonium. Stems globose or flattened to dwarf, rarely short columnar, branching from the base or solitary, ribbed or with ribs divided into tubercles. Flowers solitary or in clusters from normal areoles or a cephalium.
Genus: Notocactus K. Schumann (Fric).: Stems globose, usually elongate in age, some species columnar up to over 1 m tall, solitary or more rarely sprouting from the base, some species producing stolons. Ribs few, fairly high and sharp, or numerous, bluntly-rounded and low, frequently spiralling, often cross-furrowed or tuberculate. Young areoles very woolly, later becoming glabrous, usually with needle-shaped or bristly spines. Flowers often numerous, near the apex, funnel-shaped or widened to bell shaped, yellow, rarely red. Stigma-lobes usually red. Pericarpel and receptacle-tube densely covered with narrow scales, abundant wool and bristly spines in the axils. Fruit small, floral remains conspicuous, often much elongated before ripening, and with seeds in the upper part only, dry, splitting open length wise, or breaking off by a basal opening, or berry-like, soft and deliquescent. Seeds straight or slightly oblique bell-shaped to semi-globose, hilum basal, strophiole large, incorporating part of seed coat; seed coat proper black or dark brown, warty.
Split into 6 subgenera: Notocactus, Neonotocactus, Malacocarpus, Brasilicactus, Eriocactus, and Brasiliparodia.

NOTE: Recently transferred to Parodia in the revision by the IOS Consensus.

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