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I bought this from ebay from bcss. It was sold as a columna alba, but as I researched, I found it to look much like a haseltoniana.

Can anyone help explain what the differences are between the two?

Ps. I asked if it is a poached plant, and the seller said he didn't know, as it was donated from another member.

Thanks,

Orange apical wool is usually a characteristic of C. haseltoniana. Both it and C. columna-alba are members of the C. cinerea group.

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/COPIAP ... oniana.htm

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/COPIAP ... a-alba.htm

Spination can be quite variable in habitat, more than we often realise in cultivation.

As to poaching, there are still many plants in British collections that were imported pre-CITES, therefore were obtained legally at the time. Just as there are many native plants in American collections obtained before any laws against collection in the wild came into operation. Unless you know the history, it is always difficult to resolve such matters.

Usually, growth made in less sunny Britain does not develop the white waxy farina of the plant when it was growing in habitat, therefore remaining greenish. I would say from the looks of the corking on your plant it started against a rock in habitat, but the upper growth was British, therefore obviously imported quite a few years ago. CITES came into operation 1 July 1975 in most countries so was it imported before then, depends on how quick the owner subsequently grew it?

Yes. The sale did say it was 40 years old, so perhaps it was imported before the ban.
Is the orangey wool the main distinguisher between columna alba and haseltoniana? I've seen several other pictures of copiapoa cinera with orangey top being classified as a columna alba...

Thanks for your reply

beautiful copiapoa

See my post here:-

https://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic. ... oa#p399057

There are also pictures of C. haseltoniana and C. cinerea in my travelogue too. They are variable too. I have a C. cinerea v. albispina with black spines and have no reason from its source to believe it was not grown from seed from the C. cinerea v. albispina population. Spines often do fade or change colour in age and populations are far more variable than we realise with our cultivated clones. Because much of a population is white spined does not mean there will not be a few with different coloured ones or longer or shorter spines, that's just natural variability.

Also in cultivation, or previously collecting in the field, the most attractive or spiniest forms are usually chosen which are not always typical of the population as a whole, but they are the ones that get described a the type species.