Yearbook of the British Cactus and Succulent SocietyVolume 9/1991 Edited by Nigel Taylor & David Hunt Royal Botanic Gardens Kew German Summaries by Urs Egali ‘Stadtische Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zurich Published by British Cactus & Succulent Society 54 Priory Road, Kew Richmond TW 30H Details of subscription rates from BCSS Publicity Officer 43 Dewar Drive Sheffield $7 2GR (tel. 0742 361649) Back numbers from D.V. Slade 15 Brentwood Crescent Hull Road York YO1 SHU ISBN 0.902099 19 1 ISSN 0265-086x Al rights reserved. No part of this publication may bo reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission from the Publisher, ©1991, BCSS, authors and illustrators of individual papers. Bradleya Yearbook of the British Cactus and Succulent Society Contents ‘The genus Melocactus (Cactaceae) in Central and South America, 1 Nigel P. Taylor Notes on miscellaneous genera of Cactaceae 81 David Hunt & Nigel Taylor (eds) ‘Observations on pollination and hybridization in the genus Conophytum (Mesembryanthemaceae) 93 Sigrid Liede, Steven Hammer & Vin Whitehead Gasteria glomerata van Jaarsveld sp. nov. 100 Ernst van Jaarsveld Conophytum: an annotated checklist (S-Z) 105 Steven A. Hammer The cover design incorporates Richard Bradley's drawing of Agave americana, the ‘Common American Aloe’, from his Historia Plantarum Succulentarum: ‘The history of succulent plants, containing the Aloes, Ficoids (or Fig- Marygolds), Torch-Thistles, Melon-Thistles, and such others as are not capable of an Hortus Siccus’, the work being published in five parts (decades) between 1716 and 1727, in London,Bradleya 9/1991 pages 1-80 The genus Melocactus (Cactaceae) in Central and South America Nigel P. Taylor The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AE, U.K. Summary. Melocactus Link & Otto (31 spp.) is revised in Central and South America to include 24" species and 10 |heterotypie subspecies, arranged in 6 speciesgroups primarily ‘on the basis of fruit, seed and spination characters: M. ORFAS Group incl. IM, oreas (2 subsp. M. ernesti (2 subspp.), M. bahiensis © subsp), M. conoideus; M. betnacaxraus Group (1 6p. M. unviresrarus Group (1 sp; M. anus Group ine ‘M. azureus (2 subspp.), M. pachyacanthus (2 subspp.); M. iotactos Group incl. M. salvadorensis, M. zelintneri, M. anssensionus, M glaucescens, M. concinrius, M. paucispinus, M. violaceus (3 subsp), M. nergy, M. smith; ML cunvishists Group incl. M. estevest, M. mazelianus, M. schatalii, M. andinus (sp. nov.), M. beliavistensis (2 subsp.) M. perusianus and M. curvispinus (3 subspp.). Tere are 18 species in eastern and Amazonian Brazil (16 endemic), 3 in ‘the region of the Guianas and Venezuelan Colombian lianas, land 4 endemic to the central and northern Andes. Only one, polymorphic species, M. curvispinus, is recognized in Central America (incl. Mexico) and. ranges southeastward into northern Colombia and northern Venezuela (also in Cuba) ‘The ‘relationships of the genus and species-groups are analyzed cladistically. A comprehensive survey of seed- ‘morphology is presented together with keys to species and infraspeeiic taxa, deseriptions, ecological data, distribution ‘maps, cladograms, eolour and halftone illustrations, a list of ‘new names and an index to specific epithets. The remaining T Caribbean species of Melocaetus, which have ‘not been revised, are briefly treated in an appendix: Zusammenfassung. Die Arten der Gattung Melocactus (Cactaceae) in Mitte. und Sudamerika. Die mittel- und sudamerikanischen Arten der Gattung Meloenctus Link & Otto (81 Arten) werden revidiert; im Gebiet umfasst dic Gattung 24 Arten und 10 heterotypisehe Unterarten, die va. faufgeand von Frucht- und Samen-Merkmalen sowie der Bedornung zu 6 Artengruppen zusammengefasst werden: Die (M ontas 1.6 x width 1, Fruit dehiseent by basal’ pore Bradleya 9/1991 MELOCACTUS Melocactus Link & Otto in Verh. Ver. Beford. Gartenb. Preuss. Staat. 8: 417 (1827), nom. cons. Type: Cactus melocactus L. (ICBN 1988; cf. Taxon 18: 472. 1969), typ. cons. (= M. caroli-linnaei N.P. Taylor). [Cactus sensu Britton & Rose, Cact. 3: 220 (1922) non L. (1753).] Stem unbranched (unless damaged), highly succulent, scarcely woody except at extreme base, depressed-globose to ‘vlindric, vegetative part rarely > 60cm lang, with 8-27 Vertical ribs, mucilage absent to abundant; arvoies small to Spines (3-M-21 oF more reole, usually only weakly differentiated into central ‘and radial series, sometimes strongly curved to hooked at apex in seedlings. At reproductive maturity stem apex ‘converted into a terminal cephalium of bristles and dense trichomes, vegetative growth ceasing (.e. plant is mono- carpicl; cephalium remaining small er sometimes attaining nearly 1-m in length, to 12 em in diam. Flowers short-lived (anthesis usually < 6 hours), small (15-48 x 4-25 mm), tubular, naked, only the pink, magenta or red perianth and sometimes uppermost part of tube exserted from the ‘eephalium (rarely leistogamous);periearpel very small, ‘conspicuously narrower than the swollen nectarchamber at base of tube; perianth-segments tapered to linear, seldom ‘exceeding 10 mm long, arranged in 2-4 series, lowermost Stamens with filaments enlarged at base to protect nectar: chamber, anthers minute, <1 mm; style and 4-9 stigma- lobes very slender, equalling stamens or long-exserted and ‘conspicuous. Fruit short- to elongate-lavate (¢. 10-50 x 5-15 mm), naked except for the pale floral remains attached at, apex, white, pink, magenta or reddish, expressed from the ‘ephalium and sometimes falling down from the plant funicular pulp often becoming liquid, translucent. Seeds (see Plates 2-11) small (0.8-20 mm), black to the naked eye, globose to ovoid, + flattened; hilum = perpendicular to long ‘axis of seed, sometimes nearly equalling seed diameter: testa-cells with isodiametric or elongate, flat to strongly. convex or almost pointed periclinal walls, intercellular depressions: weakly developed or usually lacking, surface ‘smooth or with conspicuous eutieular folds (SEN, ‘One of the most widely distributed genera of Cact- aceae, with 31 species, ranging from western Mexico (Jalisco) southwards to southern Peru (Arequipa), and from the Caribbean region (from N Cuba) southwards through the Amazon to eastern Brazil (south as far as Rio de Janeiro). The greatest concentration of species and centre of diversity is in eastern Brazil (especially Bahia, with 11 endemic taxa and a total of 14 species) Infrageneric classification and evolution In the following cladogram of infrageneric taxa of Melocactus (Fig. 2), the 6 ‘species-groups’ recognized are delimited by relatively few characters, or by features which have evolved in parallel in other terminal taxa (see Fig. 1). In these circumstances it seems wise to use only informal groups for arranging the 31 species which comprise the genus, rather than formally name them as sections etc. on a poorly justified basis. Nevertheless, the Melo. cactus groups employed are easy to recognize and, hopefully, are of some use in under- standing the relationships within the genus. 19