Gymnocalycium anisitsii

Gymnocalycium anisitsii is a globular cactus belonging to the family Cactaceae. The specific epithet honors the Hungarian pharmacist Dániel Anisits J. (1856-1911).

Gymnocalycium anisitsii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Subfamily:	Cactoideae
Genus:	Gymnocalycium
Species:	G. anisitsii
Binomial name
Gymnocalycium anisitsii (K.Schumann) Britton & Rose, 1922
Synonyms
Gymnocalycium damsii (K. Sch.) Br et R. Gymnocalycium griseopallidum Backeb. Gymnocalycium joossensianum (Boed.) Br. et R.

Description

Gymnocalycium anisitsii can be solitary or slowly clustering with light green, often reddish or purple-tinged, spherical to short columnar shoots. It reaches a diameter of 8–15 cm and a height of about 10 cm. Sometimes a central spine is present, but it is usually absent. The eight to eleven ribs have pointed humps. Sometimes a central spine is present, but usually it is absent. The 5-7 spines are yellowish to brownish, slender, twisted and 1–6 cm long. The flowers are white to pink, funnel-shaped, up to 4 inches long. The red fruits are long and cylindrical, up to 2.5 cm long with a diameter of 1 cm.^[2]

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  Flower
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  An example of Gymnocalycium anisitsii in bloom.

Subspecies

Accepted subspecies:

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Gymnocalycium anisitsii subsp. anisitsii	Bolivia to Paraguay
	Gymnocalycium anisitsii subsp. damsii (K.Schum.) G.J.Charles	Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul)

Distribution

Gymnocalycium anisitsii is widespread in southern Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia. This species prefers open areas with the protection of low bushes.^{[citation needed]}

Taxonomy

The first description as Echinocactus anisitsii was made in 1900 by Karl Moritz Schumann. The specific epithet anisitsii honors the Hungarian pharmacist Dániel J. Anisits (1856–1911), who supplied Karl Moritz Schumann with cacti. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Gymnocalycium in 1922.^[3]

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  Gymnocalycium anisitsii subsp. anisitsii. Illustration from Blühende Kakteen - Iconographia Cactacearum (1904)