Copiapoa gigantea f. albispina

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Since 4 Aug 2013

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Copiapoa gigantea f. albispina hort.
= Copiapoa cinerea var. albispina
Family: CACTACEAE

Accepted Scientific Name: Copiapoa haseltoniana Backeb.
Descr. Cact. Nov. 33 (1957). Backeb.

Copiapoa gigantea f. albispina Photo by: Valentino Vallicelli
In cultivation this clone reveal an olive-green to brownish epidermis that is quite sensitive and is almost always marked with fungal-like spots and surface cracks. (This is not a defect but a normal characteristic of this plant)

Origin and Habitat: This is a cultivated clone, found in cactus collections.

Synonyms:

Copiapoa gigantea f. albispina hort.

See all synonyms of Copiapoa haseltoniana

Description: This white spined clone is quite unusual and rarely seen in cultivation. It is a solitary, or slowly offsetting, globular to columnar cactus.
Stems: Up to 1.2 m tall, 10-20 cm in diameter. The epidermis of the white spined form has a sensitive epidermis, that is almost always marked with fungal-like (but innoquous) spots and cracks.
Ribs: 12-30 broad, obtuse;
Central spines: 1 or 2 up to long, terete, glassy white;
Radial spines: 5- 7
Flowers: Yellow funnelform, 1.5 to 2.5 cm in diameter, occasionally with a pink or reddish tint. The Ovary is naked; it needs a lot of sunlight to bloom, so it's pretty rare to have blossoms when in cultivation in greenhouses.
Fruits: 1.5 to 2 cm. long;
Seeds: Black and shining.

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Subspecies, varieties, forms and cultivars of plants belonging to the Copiapoa haseltoniana group

Copiapoa eremophila F.Ritter: is a densely spined form with very distinctive yellow-brown spines, later almost black found only on the high altitude range of the species. Distribution: Paposo.
Copiapoa gigantea Backeb.: has the largest and stouter individual stems among the member of the Copiapoa haseltoniana group. Distribution: of Taltal to north of Paposo.
Copiapoa gigantea f. albispina hort.: it is a white spined clone is quite unusual and rarely seen in cultivation.
Copiapoa haseltoniana Backeb.: has light green or reddish tinged stems with an amber yellow woolly crown, and forms massive clumps, up to 1,5 m tall. Distribution: Paposo (from Taltal to Caleta Colorado)
Copiapoa tenebrosa F.Ritter: It shows the characters of haseltoniana, but it is probably an hybrid with thinner and lesser evident spines and green to grey epidermis. The form of Q. San Ramon is particularly beautiful with orange wool with yellowish-white spines.
Copiapoa tenebrosa f. cristata: Crested form.

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Notes: This plant is often found in cultivation labelled as: Copiapoa cinereaSN|1344]]SN|1380]] var. albispina, but it may be more properly referred to Copiapoa giganteaSN|1380]]SN|1344]] to which it shares many characteristic.