Description of Turbinicarpus viereckii

T. viereckii [Click the image for more pictures]

Photo © Mark Faint

Werdermann, Monatsschrift der DKG, 3:175, 1931

Body simple, almost spherical, to 6 cm in diameter, dull green, bluish farina. Apex barely sunken, but covered by dense white wool and dark coloured spines. Ribs ca. 15-18, almost completely divided into tubercles. Tubercles only joined to each other by narrow bridges, hexagonal, honeycomb-like in outline, mostly somewhat elongated, ca. 6 mm high near the apex, becoming flatter towards the base of the plant. Tubercle tip a little teat-like, blunt, above the areole somewhat extended, to some extent with the beginnings of a furrow and here especially younger areoles covered with white wool. Areoles almost 2 mm in diameter, round or elliptical, white wooled when new, later becoming bare, the wool from the upper part of the areole surviving the longest. Radial spines about 20, occasionally some more or less, to 1 cm long, spreading horizontally, mostly directed sideways or diagonally downwards, these are also longer than the uppermost. All straight or slightly curved, glassy white, needle-like, pungent, smooth, the base light brown and slightly bulb-shaped thickened. Central spines 4, in a cross like formation, diagonally extended, to 2 cm long, stronger than the radials, but also needle-like, smooth, milky white, from about the middle becoming brownish and with darker, almost black tip, especially at the apex, at the base brownish and thickened like the radials. Later all spines becoming more or less grey. 1-3 sub-centrals occasionally develop in the upper part of the areole, these are however shorter and weaker than the centrals.

Flowers arising individually from the apical wool, barely 2 cm long, ca. 1.8 cm wide when opened, funnel-shaped. Ovaries ca. 3 mm in diameter, separated from the tube by a shallow constriction, smooth, pale green. Tube covered with a few scales, which gradually pass into the outer perianth segments. These are ca. 0.7 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, at the edges almost smooth, rounded at the end with small tips, pale purplish red at the edge, with darker mid-stripe. Inner perianth segments somewhat longer and narrower, entire, with sharp tips, pinkish purple. Flower throat pale green. Filaments crimson at the top, greenish below, anthers orangish yellow. Style cream-coloured, stigma lobes 4, snow-white, erect spreading, just taller than the stamens, but much shorter than the petals. Fruit and seeds unknown. [MF: seeds 1.5 mm long, l mm in diameter.]

Home: Jaumave, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Related taxa

Turbinicarpus viereckii is part of the saueri aggregate of taxa, together with the following:

References

Monatsschrift der DKG, 3:175, 1931.
Two new varieties of Gymnocactus from North-eastern Mexico, CSJ(US), 50(6): 281-285, 1978.

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