View source for Ancistrocactus scheeri

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Ancistrocactus scheeri
|accepted_authority=(Salm-Dyck) Britton & Rose
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Cact.
|place=4: 4. 1923
|year=1923
}}
|common_names=Root cactus
|basionyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Echinocactus scheeri
|authority=Salm-Dyck
}}
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Ancistrocactus megarhizus
|authority=(Rose) Britton & Rose
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Sclerocactus scheeri
|authority=(Salm-Dyck) N. P. Taylor
}}
|hierarchy=Cactaceae;Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae;Ancistrocactus;Ancistrocactus scheeri
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Cactaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Ancistrocactus]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>species</small>[[Ancistrocactus scheeri]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 4
|mention_page=page 208, 211
|treatment_page=page 210
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Plants </b>unbranched (unless injured) until very old age, then few branched from ground level, precociously conspicuous. <b>Roots</b> long, fleshy, tuberlike taproots with bulbous swellings, sometimes having bulbous secondary roots, frequently horizontally oriented. <b>Stem</b> cylindric to club-shaped and stipitate, or spheric, to 17 × 8 cm. <b>Spines</b>: radial spines 13–28 per areole, translucent yellowish, tips red-brown, longest spines 6–28 × 0.15–0.55 mm; central spines 3–4 per areole; abaxial central spine 1 per areole, hooked (very rarely straight), ± terete or adaxially flattened, generally whitish or light brown, sometimes adaxially dark striped with brown to black, 12–38 mm; adaxial central spines (2–)3 per areole, erect, straight, dorsiventrally compressed, abaxially tan to whitish, adaxially brown to dark reddish brown, 19–50 mm. <b>Flowers</b>: inner tepals consistently bright green to yellowish (rarely pink to pale reddish). <b>Fruits</b> 19–35 mm. <b>2n</b> = 22.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|phenology=Flowering Nov–Mar.
|habitat=Tamaulipan thorn scrub, plains and low hills, sandy, loamy, silty, or gravelly soils [rarely on shale]
|elevation=20-500 m
|distribution=Tex.;Mexico (Nuevo León;Tamaulipas).
|discussion=<p>The roots of <i>Ancistrocactus scheeri</i> are diagnostic at all ages; frequently they are horizontally oriented, sausage-shaped or otherwise strongly tuberlike, but always separated from the stem by a fragile constriction, in contrast to the short, succulent, vertical taproots of <i>A. brevihamatus</i>. When separated from the tuberlike roots, stems of <i>A. scheeri</i> in horticulture will develop their peculiar succulent root systems, even in the artificial environment of a container.</p><!--
--><p>Seedlings and immature plants of <i>A. scheeri</i> often have narrowly cylindric stems and numerous tightly appressed, pectinately arranged, short radial spines. With age, the stems broaden distally and new spines are longer, coarser, and less tightly appressed.</p><!--
--><p>Adult plants of <i>Ancistrocactus scheeri</i> and <i>A. brevihamatus</i> are relatively similar above ground. The stems of immature <i>A. brevihamatus</i>, however, are not obscured by spines and are often flush with the soil surface, whereas those of <i>A. scheeri</i> are nearly hidden by spines and fully exposed above the soil.</p><!--
--><p>Ribs on the stems of <i>Ancistrocactus scheeri</i> seem straighter and better defined than ribs of <i>A. brevihamatus</i>, even prior to sexual maturity.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Ancistrocactus scheeri
|author=
|authority=(Salm-Dyck) Britton & Rose
|rank=species
|parent rank=genus
|synonyms=Ancistrocactus megarhizus;Sclerocactus scheeri
|basionyms=Echinocactus scheeri
|family=Cactaceae
|phenology=Flowering Nov–Mar.
|habitat=Tamaulipan thorn scrub, plains and low hills, sandy, loamy, silty, or gravelly soils [rarely on shale]
|elevation=20-500 m
|distribution=Tex.;Mexico (Nuevo León;Tamaulipas).
|reference=None
|publication title=Cact.
|publication year=1923
|special status=
|source xml=https://jpend@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/8f726806613d60c220dc4493de13607dd3150896/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V4/V4_392.xml
|subfamily=Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae
|genus=Ancistrocactus
|species=Ancistrocactus scheeri
}}<!--

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