Astrophytum capricorne v. minus (Runge & Quehl) Okumura, introduction
After the first description of Astrophytum capricorne (A. Dietrich) Britton et Rose (1851) there passed nearly 40 years until the well known cacti-collector C. Runge detected a new, small variety of the species near Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. He sent plants to the cactus company Haage in Europe. From there they came a little later to Leopold Quehl, who published the description without depositing a specimen at an herbarium (Quehl,1892). A pen-drawing was enclosed which shows some at that time known essential characteristic of the new plants: a dwarf-growth compared with the type and thin twisted spines over the whole body. Dams (1903) also got from C.A. Purpus and later H. Möller (1925) from his brother imported plants from this novelty. They then were regarded as missing until 1971.So it is not very astonishing that the scanty description of Quehl was expanded or changed inventive by different authors. Backeberg (1960) had at last to cite from older literature in his work "Die Cactaceae" without having living plants. This may be the reason why he shows us mistaken the photo of a normal Astrophytum capricorne as Astrophytum capricorne v. minor. We thank it Klaus (1971), an Astrophytum expert from Vienna, that the presumable location was rediscovered.
1892 original description of Echinocactus capricornis v. minor (Astrophytum capricorne v. minus) RUNGE, C.; QUEHL, L. (1892): Echinocactus capricornis DIETR. var. minor RUNGE Monatsschrift f. Kakteenkunde 2 (6): 82
alle descriptions
Astrophytum capricorne v. minus
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