Description of Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus

Photo © Mark Faint

Body solitary, very rarely with two or more heads, uniform oblong, to 5 cm high and 3 cm Ø, bright matt green, becoming grey and corky at the base. Apex not or hardly sunken, covered by the white wooled areoles and curved spines. Ribs completely divided into tubercles. These organised in 8 and 13 spirals, at the side more or less well-rounded to square to almost short conical, 5 mm broad at the base, to 7 mm long and pointing upwards. Areoles at the tips of the tubercles, round, 2 to 3 mm Ø, very woolly, but becoming bare. Spines 3, more rarely 4, somewhat tortuous, all curved to the top, so that the intermeshing spines protect the tubercles and especially the apex. The lower spine is to 2.5 cm long, 2 side spine approximately 1/3 as short and the upper, very often missing, still shorter. All are cardboard like and thick, evenly broad (the lower 1 mm and the other ½ mm), slightly pointed, in cross-section the underside is round and upper side flat, often with very fine longitudinal furrows. The colour of the spines is grey brown and, under the magnifying glass, covered with diagonal splits, similar to un-polished shoe leather. The spines are persistent only on the upper body, below they fall off and the body and tubercles are corky and bare, axils bare. Flowers solitary at the apex from the young areoles, funnel-shaped, approximately 18 mm Ø, silky. Spherical ovary and short receptacle light olive green. Outer perianth segments 10 mm long and 1.5 mm broad, smooth edged, slender lanceolate and acute, dirty pale pink with olive brown, with brownish mid-stripe on the back. Inner perianth segments of equal form, to 15 mm long and 2 mm wide, pure, pale pink with broad purple mid-stripe. Filaments white, pale pink at the top, with light yellow anthers. Style white, pink at the base and top, the stigma with 4 short, whitish outstanding stigma-lobes. Fruit and seeds unknown.

Locality: Miquihuana, Tamaulipas, México.

Related taxa

Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus forms an aggregate of taxa with the following:

• T. schmiedickeanus ssp. flaviflorus
• T. schmiedickeanus ssp. gracilis
• T. schmiedickeanus ssp. rubriflorus

References

• Rod Turbinicarpus by M. Zachar, R. Staník, A. Lux, I. Dráb

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