Espostoa lanata ruficeps (Espostoa lanata ruficeps)
Description
There are several subspecies of Espostoa lanata (lanata, huanucoensis, lanianuligera and ruficeps) as well as some older 'varieties' which have since been subsumed – they are all worth growing if you can track them down and if you have room. I'll illustrate these different forms with two plants from my collection. First is a plant I acquired as a seedling in 2001 as Espostoa lanata var. sericata (fig. 1) – it is now just 60cm tall, still in a 12cm pot, but desperate for moving on. This is a tidy plant with short wool and very short, central spines. In complete contrast is this plant of Espostoa lanata subsp. lanata (E. ritteri) (fig. 2) which has quite striking central spines about 5cm long – this plant was grown from seed in 1998 and is now about 50cm tall.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Cactaceae
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Genus: Espostoa
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