Xerophyte

Central Spines

1-4 only slightly stronger, 1-4 cm long.

Seeds

1,4 mm long, 1 mm wide, 0,7 mm broad. Testa black, glossy, almost smooth or finely tuberculate; Hilum oval, whitish.

Description

Copiapoa tocopillanaSN|9790]]SN|1326]] (now considered a subspecies of Copiapoa humilisSN|1326]]SN|9790]]) is a tiny cactus with white, woolly heads. It is the most northern Copiapoa, as well as one of the least attractive, it is a very uncommon plant rarely seen in collections.

Roots

Napiform single or branched, firm, 10-30 cm long and 2-3 cm wide, with a narrow neck about 10 cm long.

Tubercles

Rounded-obtuse 4-6 mm long and wide, sometimes with a keel under the areola.

Flowers

Diurnal closing at night, scentless, protracting the period of opening many days, lemon yellow, 2,3-2,5 cm long. Ovary almost spherical, 3,5-5 mm in diameter, pale, with 0-4 coffee-red scales evenly distributed, short and narrow 3-5 mm long and 0, 5-1 mm wide, hairless or with small tufts of woolliness. Tubular nectaries 1-1, 5 mm high, narrow at the base of the Stamens. Tube funnel-shaped 7-8 mm long, inside bright yellow outside, pale with few coffee-red narrow scales, 7-10 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, hairless. Filaments yellow 5-7 mm long, the of upper ones more short. Anthers and pollen golden yellow. Style bright yellow, 10-12 mm long with 6-7 yellow stigma lobes 2-3 mm long. Tepals lemon yellow, with a reddish-brown mid-line on the outside all 10-12 mm long, 2,5-4 mm wide, short to long somewhat lanceolate and narrow.

Spines

1-3 cm long, acicular, straight to slightly curved upward, maroon or blackish, with whitish bases.Radial spines 10-12, all almost the same size 10-25 mm long.

Ribs

(7-) 10-14, barely evident in young plants, forming distinct spiralling tubercles.

Stem

Glaucous-green to greyish green, globose to short cylindrical (approx.three times longer than broad), densely covered by spines. Apex white-woolly only in adult plants.

Fruits

brownish red.

Habit

Usually solitary.

Note

Copiapoa tocopillanaSN|9790]]SN|1326]] is strictly related with Copiapoa humilisSN|1326]]SN|9790]] but the latter distinguishes for its softer darker coloured body, growth more flattened, ribs more high, flower larger with strong fragrance, ovary always glabrous, with smaller scales inserted only above the peripheral ring, nectaries more large, wider and more open, stamens more long, lobes of the stigma more numerous and seeds more wide.

Areoles

Round 3-5 mm in diameter, grey felted, 5-10 mm apart.