Copiapoa

[CoronaCactus]

Thanks Cereusly!

Vlani, Great plants!
I have 2 with the name C. paposoensis. Mine have not pupped like yours tho. Noticed that this has been reduced to a synonym of...drum roll... C. humilis

[vlani]

Yes they say this is humilis that lives above fog level where humilis can not survive.

Actually all 3 names I've used are illegal

[iann]

C. dura is now C. echinoides. The name change is mainly down to the arcane rules of nomenclature. The plants are the same and it is clear where they come from.

C. paposoensis is a type of C. humilis, not much doubt about that. Watch out, it will happily cross-pollinate with all your other C. humilis varieties and subspecies! C. paposoensis is currently just a synonym for C. humilis var variispinata, a somewhat vaguely defined variety from an area with highly variable plants.

C. lembckei is now completely sunk under C. calderana, not even a variety. The C. lembckei of cultivation is a green plant with black spines. I've never seen one so old as yours except in habitat. I have both "C lembckei" and "C. lembckei var magnifica", both have intensely black spines and dark green skin but that may change if they ever reach the size of your plant.

[CoronaCactus]

Ian,
What do you think the grey/green body brown spined C. calderana is? (If not just a variation of C. calderana) I have one thats near identical to vlani's. Mine is only about 4inches tall and maybe 2inches around. However, i have 2 others that are as you described...green body (although kinda greyish and powdered) and jet black spines.

Man, and i thought Opuntias and chollas were a challenge...Copiapoa must be 2nd in line, if not first!

[iann]

I think the reddish spines and grey or pale green bodies are still forms of C. calderana, but usually those forms don't get called C. lembckei. They sometimes develop a light white farina like C. cinerea and this can give the grey colouring. This is common on habitat plants but not on cultivated plants and never seems to get to thick white like a habitat C. cinerea. Probably this requires sustained intense light levels. Possibly the wax production needs to get switched on as a seedling since habitat plants continue to produce it in the same conditions where other plants don't. And possibly the wax production is triggered by UV levels since plants behind glass are very reluctant to produce it.

Copiapoas are certainly a pain to name. The variation between young and old plants, and between plants grown in different conditions, is just unbelievable. Obviously this lead to far more names than plants, but even with the current relatively well-defined names there is great variation within each species. There is not a lot of variation in the fruit and flowers (with a couple of exceptions like C. solaris), so no help there. There is a lot of variation in root types, from purely fibrous to massive fleshy roots, and that can give some good clues.

[CoronaCactus]

Ahh, i see. Thanks.

Well, maybe i have a shot then. The sun levels here must be intense enough...no?