Tephrocactus (or Opuntia) ID

[wuness]

I received this recently. Is it a Tephrocactus articulatus (or Opuntia articulata)? Thank you. Dave

DSC02334.JPG (64.21 KiB) Viewed 359 times

[phil_SK]

It's Tephrocactus articulatus, the form (possibly only a single clone, I'm not sure) usually referred to as T. articulatus v. strobiliformis (although this name isn't validly published - Opuntia strobiliformis or Tephrocactus strobiliformis are your valid name choices).

[teo]

Is it the same as v. inermis ?

[wuness]

Thanks. I tried The Plant List using all the possible names you mentioned, but I'm even more confused. I'll go with Tephrocactus articulatus. Thanks again. Dave

[greenknight]

I think this might actually be the inermis form - strobiliformis has more protruding areoles that continue to stick out even on the older growth. On the inermis type, the areoles project just slightly on the new growth but become buried on the older parts - and that's what I see here.

[7george]

Should be the same plant. And the shape depends on hydratation of stems.

[DaveW]

In habitat populations vary and often the same species will have been named several times by different authors in ignorance the same population had been named before. People then fixate on micro differences in the original descriptions as being separate species or varieties when they could have just being slightly differing individuals growing within a foot or two of each other. You need to accept a certain amount of variation in a species since no two plants in habitat will be identical.

The problem is many old species we grow are untypical clones selected in cultivation and so we do not realise the extent of natural variation until somebody recollects a more typical selection of the variation in habitat. When collectors were collecting for the commercial market in the past they usually chose the most attractive or unusual plants in a population as having the highest commercial value, rather than the most typical.

When it comes down to synonymy of all these duplicate names the first name validly published takes priority over any published later.

[7george]

A good reading about Tephrocactus in Argentina:
http://www.grahamcharles.org.uk/Chilean ... ssue50.pdf pp. 91 - 95.