Maihueniopsis (Cactaceae)
Hi All,
I feel we ought to be able to sort out this genus. There are many observations identified only to genus level which with a little work could probably be improved. The main culprits are those species in Chile, from where there are many names and the genus is poorly understood, and those from southern Mendoza, where the difficulty arises primarily from confusion between M. ovata, darwinii, hickenii and platyacantha. Undoubtedly iNat will need to expand the taxonomy of the genus to accommodate some of these.
To make a start I've uploaded a couple of articles from Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives written by David Hunt who made several trips to study the genus. After seeing the plants in habitat he had a marked change of opinion regarding what was originally published in The New Cactus Lexicon. You can find the articles here.
I've also uploaded a couple of observations of cultured plants that I believe to be examples of M. hickenii and M. platyacantha (below) which hopefully will help with future identifications.
Cheers!
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Thank you for sharing your excellent work.
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