Copiapoa hypogea

[uzbeck]

In flower today.

Copiapoa hypogea FK444

[juster]

That’s a very pretty flower

[Cidermanrolls]

Is it just me? That is certainly a pretty flower, but the spines are nothing like any Copiapoa hypogaea I’ve seen before.

[rodsmith]

Is it just me? That is certainly a pretty flower, but the spines are nothing like any Copiapoa hypogaea I’ve seen before.

I agree. C. hypogea spines are tiny, almost non-existent.

[uzbeck]

Thanks for your comments Rod and Cidermanrolls. I originally acquired this plant from the Copiapoa National Collection at Chester Zoo labelled Copiapoa hypogaea FK444. An admittedly cursory review, firstly from Ralph Martins Field Number database showed FK444 to be a collection by Fred Katterman which he called C. mollicula. Graham Charles in his book 'Copiapoa' merely noted that this was now C. hypogaea. Consequently I left the label name as it was.

Following your comments I did a little more digging. There is on the forum a 2009 posting showing a C. mollicula looking identical to my plant. viewtopic.php?t=151113
There is also a very detailed explanation of the mollicula/hypogaea name on the CactiGuide forum at http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5013

Whilst it has been called mollicula or montana or hypogaea the name in current application seems to be mollicula. This is accepted by Kew Plants of the World Online, in the Larridon et al paper 'An integrative approach to understanding the evolution and diversity of Copiapoa (Cactaceae), a threatened endemic Chilean genus from the Atacama desert' and consequently by Joel Lode in his Taxonomy of the Cactaceae', others however show it to be a synonym of C. montana. It is all a matter of opinion but I tend to go with Lode whilst maintaining notes of previous names. In either event it looks like a change of my label is called for.

[rodsmith]

Names seem to be changing all the time in the cactus world. This was the plant I had recorded as C. montana flowering in 2015:

Copiapoa montana

And this is my C. hypogaea flowering in July 2019.

Copiapos hypogaea