Ariocarpus
The name comes from the ancient Greek "aria" (an oak type) and "carpos" (fruit) because of the resemblance of the fruit of the two genus in acorn form.
It comes from limestone hills of Rio Grande in the south of Texas (Ariocarpus fissuratus) and also the north and the center of Mexico (all other species including Ariocarpus fissuratus forms known as Ariocarpus loydii and Ariocarpus fissuratus var. intermedius with strong sunshine exposures.
- Ariocarpus loydii (Texas, Mexico)
- Ariocarpus fissuratus (Texas, Mexico)
Ariocarpus are endangered and quite rare in the wild.
Ariocarpus species are very slow-growing. Plants have thick tuberous tap-roots, and are solitary or form small clusters of stems. The stems have tubercules (as is normal in cacti), but unusually these are triangular and in some species may resemble leaves. The areoles, when present, vary in appearance from grooves on the upper surface to round pads near the tips. Spines are only present in seedlings (except occasionally in Ariocarpus agavoides). The funnel-shaped flowers are borne on a woolly structure at the apex. They vary in colour, from white or yellow to pink, purple or magenta. The seeds are black and pear-shaped.
The plant contains bitter and toxic alkaloids such as hordenine. These protect the plant against consumption by herbivores.
The taxonomic history of the genus is somewhat confused. In 1838, Michael Scheidweiler described Ariocarpus retusus, establishing the genus. He based the description on plants sent to Europe from Mexico by Henri Galeotti. The same plants were received by Charles Antoine Lemaire, who described them in a book published 1839 as Anhalonium prismaticum, adding a criticism of Scheidweiler's description in a note at the end of his book. Lemaire was well known as a cactus specialist, and subsequent authors used his name until about 1900, although Scheidweiler's name had priority. Anhalonium is superfluous and hence an illegitimate name.
In 1925, Alwin Berger separated off some species of Ariocarpus into the genus Roseocactus, on the basis of the shape of the areoles. This separation is not now considered justified. Ariocarpus agavoides was originally described in a separate genus, Neogomesia, but is now placed in Ariocarpus.
