Unicorn cacti

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Spikylover
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Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 3:47 pm

Unicorn cacti

Post by Spikylover »

What are some mysterious or forgotten cacti? Are there like any described cacti that have gone extinct and no one has them in their collections? Or maybe a cactus in an old photograph that no one knows what it is?
Thought this would be an interesting topic...

Rachel.
Rachel
Gardening with my mother and father in war ridden Syria
DaveW
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Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:36 pm
Location: Nottingham, England/UK

Re: Unicorn cacti

Post by DaveW »

There are quite a few cacti published in old literature where their identities are uncertain due to their rudimentary descriptions. These are usually listed in Latin as nomina dubia or nomen dubium's, meaning as it sounds, dubious names. Also their countries of origin were often listed as the port they were shipped back to Europe from rather than where they grew. Frailea columbiana for instance has never been found again in Colombia and so it is suspected that was just the country where it was originally shipped from, not where collected.

The early described cacti were often collected near small settlements that have now become major towns or cities and effectively wiped out the original habitat. This is why we have some forms in cultivation we have yet to re-find in the wild. Also some simply have not been recollected in recent times so we don't know if they still exist. Sometimes that is due to development and changes in transport. In the past horses and burro's were favoured transport which used difficult rocky long forgotten tracks which the need for more modern roads for wheeled transport bypassed. Therefore they may be there still, but remain undiscovered until somebody once again gets off the present roads on foot into the more inaccessible wilds.

Conversely modern roads opened up areas that were pretty inaccessible before, so new plants were found. Quite a few new plants have been found due to modern communications such as the building of microwave towers on hills for mobile phones etc and the putting in of roads for access to them, meaning easier access to new areas and populations of plants.
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