Coryphantha
Genus of cacti
title: "Coryphantha" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["coryphantha", "cactoideae-genera", "flora-of-central-america", "flora-of-the-south-central-united-states", "flora-of-the-southwestern-united-states", "flora-of-the-northwestern-united-states", "cacti-of-mexico", "cacti-of-the-united-states", "taxa-named-by-george-engelmann"] description: "Genus of cacti" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryphantha" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of cacti ::
|image = Nightblooming cactus.jpg |image_caption = Coryphantha ramillosa |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Coryphantha |authority = (Engelm.) Lem. |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text
Coryphantha (from Greek, "flowering on the top"), or beehive cactus, is a genus of small to middle-sized, globose or columnar cacti. The genus is native to arid parts of Central America, Mexico, through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas and north into southwestern, central, and southeastern Montana. With its two subgenera, 57 species and 20 subspecies, it is one of the largest genera of cactus.
Description
There are four characteristics that distinguish Coryphantha from other cacti.
- Their bodies do not have ribs, just tubercles.
- The flowers form at the top of the plant (the apex or growing end of the stem).
- The tip (podarium) of each flowering tubercle has three parts, the spiny areole, the groove and the axil. Without the groove it is not a Coryphantha.
- The seed coat (or testa) has a net-like pattern (reticulate). More than many other cacti, the Coryphantha change in their appearance over their lifespan. The presence or absence of a central spine is not indicative of the genus, even in fully adult plants.
Name
The name Coryphantha was first applied by George Engelmann in 1856 as a subgenus, the earlier name Aulacothele of Lemaire having been abandoned. In 1868 Lemaire promoted the group to genus level. Before this all Coryphantha had been classified as Mammillaria.
Species
::data[format=table]
| Image | Scientific name | Subspecies | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Coryphantha ancistracantha Haage.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha clavata (Scheidw.) Backeb. | |
| [[File:Coryphanta compacta.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha compacta (Engelm.) Orcutt | |
| [[File:Coryphantha radians.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha cornifera (DC.) Lem. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha gladiispina SB711.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha delaetiana (Quehl) A.Berger | |
| [[File:Coryphantha palmeri 22.JPG | 120px]] | Coryphantha delicata L.Bremer | |
| [[File:Coryphantha dificilis (5660193255).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha difficilis (Quehl) Orcutt | |
| [[File:Coryphantha durangensis (5730508551).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha durangensis (Runge ex K.Schum.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha echinoidea (5766065352).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha echinoidea (Quehl) Britton & Rose | |
| Coryphantha echinus (Engelm.) Britton & Rose | Central Texas to NE. Mexico | ||
| [[File:CactiFlowers.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha elephantidens (Lem.) Lem. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha erecta.JPG | 120px]] | Coryphantha erecta (Lem. ex Pfeiff.) Lem. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha villarensis Haage.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha georgii Boed. | |
| Coryphantha glanduligera (Otto & A.Dietr.) Lem. | Mexico (to Jalisco). | ||
| [[File:Coryphantha glassii (5742180867).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha glassii Dicht & A.Lüthy | |
| Coryphantha gracilis Bremer & A.B.Lau | Mexico (Chihuahua). | ||
| [[File:Coryphantha hintoniorum.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha hintoniorum Dicht & A.Lüthy | |
| [[File:Coryphantha jalpanensis longispina.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha jalpanensis Buchenau | |
| [[File:Coryphantha kracikii.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha kracikii Halda, Chalupa & Kupčák | |
| Coryphantha longicornis Boed. | Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango) | ||
| [[File:Coryphantha maiz-tablasensis.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha maiz-tablasensis Fritz Schwarz ex Backeb. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha neglecta.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha neglecta L.Bremer | |
| [[File:Coryphantha nickelsiae KŠ 33 (9913391355).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha nickelsiae (K.Brandegee) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha octacantha (5776826539).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha octacantha (DC.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha ottonis 1e.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha ottonis (Pfeiff.) Lem. | |
| [[File:2010. Выставка цветов в Донецке на день города 40.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha pallida Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha poselgeriana-IMG 2436.JPG | 120px]] | Coryphantha poselgeriana (A.Dietr.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha potosiana 02.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha potosiana (Jacobi) Glass & R.A.Foster | |
| [[File:Coryphantha pseudoechinus? (5700361034).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha pseudoechinus Boed. | |
| Coryphantha pseudonickelsiae Backeb. | Mexico (Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila) | ||
| Coryphantha pulleineana (Backeb.) Glass | Mexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí) | ||
| [[File:Coryphantha pycnacantha (9328591043).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha pycnacantha (Mart.) Lem. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha ramillosa.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha ramillosa Cutak | |
| [[File:Coryphantha recurvata 1e.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha recurvata (Engelm.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha retusa (5739317510).jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha retusa (Pfeiff.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Pima Pineapple Cactus Cluster Sahuarita Arizona 2014.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha robustispina (Schott ex Engelm.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha salinensis.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha salinensis (Poselg.) Dicht & A.Lüthy | |
| [[File:Coryphantha sulcata, Dana Peak Park, Bell County, Texas 1.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha sulcata (Engelm.) Britton & Rose | |
| [[File:Coryphantha tripugionacantha.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha tripugionacantha A.B.Lau | |
| Coryphantha vaupeliana Boed. | Mexico (Tamaulipas, Durango, Zacatecas) | ||
| [[File:Coryphantha vogtherriana 01.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha vogtherriana Werderm. & Boed. | |
| [[File:Coryphantha werdermannii 1e.jpg | 120px]] | Coryphantha werdermannii Boed. | |
| Coryphantha wohlschlageri Holzeis | Mexico (Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí) | ||
| :: |
Synonymy
The genus has two valid synonyms:
- Cumarinia Buxb. and
- Lepidocoryphantha Backeb. and three invalid ones:
- Aulacothele Monv. (nom. inval.)
- Glandulifera (Salm-Dyck) Fric (nom. inval.)
- Roseia Fric (nom. inval.)
Related genera
A number of Coryphantha have previously been classified in other genera, indeed the type species C. sulcata was originally named Mammillaria sulcata Other examples include Echinocactus salinensis Poselger 1853 now Coryphantha salinensis (Poselger) Dicht and A.Lüthy 1998 and Neolloydia pulleineana Blackberg 1948 now Coryphantha pulleineana (Blackberg) Glass 1968.
Similarly, a number of other species have been previously classified as Coryphantha. For example, Escobaria vivipara was called Coryphantha vivipara.
Gallery
|File:Coryphantha palmeri.JPG|Coryphantha delicata |File:Coryphantha cornifera 5.JPG|Coryphantha cornifera |File:Coryphanta palmeri c.JPG|Coryphantha delicata |File:Coryphanta andreae 3 (coryphantha pycnacantha).JPG|Coryphantha pycnacantha
References
References
- Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, p. 1, {{ISBN. 3-540-22306-1
- Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) "3.2 Tubercles" ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, pp. 9–12, {{ISBN. 3-540-22306-1
- 3-540-22306-1
- Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (2005) ''Coryphantha: Cacti of Mexico and Southern USA''. Springer, Berlin, p. 2, {{ISBN. 3-540-22306-1
- 0-88192-498-9
- 3-540-22306-1
- [[Nathaniel Lord Britton. Britton, Nathaniel Lord]] and Brown, Addison (1913) ''An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British possessions, from Newfoundland to the parallel of the southern boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean westward to the [[102nd meridian west. 102d meridian]]'' (2nd edition) Scribner, New York, pp. 1–3, {{OCLC. 852525
- Dicht, Reto F. and Lüthy, Adrian D. (1998) "Im Feld wiederaufgefunden: ''Coryphantha salinensis'' (Poselger) ''Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten'' 49(11): pp. 256ff., in German
- Glass, Charles (1968) "Cactaceas Mexicanas Poco conocidas" ''Cactaceas y Suculentas Mexicanas'' 2: pp. 34ff., in Spanish
- Hunt, David R. and Benson, Lyman (1976) "The lectotype of ''Coryphantha''". ''Cactus and Succulent Journal'' (U.S.) 48: pp. 72ff.
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