View source for Epithelantha

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Epithelantha
|accepted_authority=F. A. C. Weber ex Britton & Rose
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Cact.
|place=3: 92, fig. 102. 1922
|year=1922
}}
|common_names=Button cactus;ping-pong ball cactus
|basionyms=
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Cactaceae;Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae;Epithelantha
|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>[[Epithelantha]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek epi, upon, thele, nipple, and anthos, flower, describing flower position near tubercle apex
|volume=Volume 4
|mention_page=page 99, 255
|treatment_page=page 239
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Plants </b>miniature, erect, usually unbranched [branched], not deep-seated in substrate. <b>Roots</b> diffuse [tuberlike in E. pachyrhiza of Mexico]. <b>Stems</b> unsegmented, mostly spheric, often flat-topped, 1–4(–6) × 2–4(–6) cm, surface completely obscured by spines; tubercles numerous, not confluent into ribs, hemispheric or short cylindric, very small, ca. 1–3 mm; areoles at tips of tubercles, nearly circular, elliptic when distended by flower or fruit, copiously woolly only at sexually mature stem apex; areolar glands absent; cortex and pith not mucilaginous. <b>Spines</b> 20–90 per areole, in 1–5 series, appressed on sides of stems, erect at sexually mature stem apex, white to ashy gray, straight, terete, slender, innocuous, 4.5–12 mm at sexually mature stem apex, often shorter from breakage or wear, smooth or microscopically roughened by breakup of epidermis, not distinguishable as radial and central spines. <b>Flowers</b> diurnal, borne at adaxial margins of spine clusters deep within woolly stem apex, inconspicuous, only distal portion visible from spines and hairs, funnelform, 0.6–1.7 × 0.3–1.7 cm; outer tepals entire or sparsely erose-fimbriate; inner tepals pink to white (rarely yellow), (1–)2–6(–9) × 1–2.3(–3) mm, margins entire or perhaps weakly erose-denticulate; ovary smooth, scales, hairs, and spines absent; stigma lobes (2–)3–4(–6), white, to 1 mm. <b>Fruits</b> indehiscent, bright red, narrowly cylindric, 3–20 × 2–3(–5) mm, weakly succulent, soon drying and papery, smooth, spineless; pulp absent; floral remnant deciduous. <b>Seeds</b> blackish, obliquely hemispheric, 1.2–1.4 × 1 mm, glossy, impressed-reticulate; testa cells flat or slightly convex, anticlinal cell walls not protruding. <b>x</b> = 11.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=sw United States;Mexico.
|discussion=<p>Species 2–5 (2 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p>In fully adult plants of <i>Epithelantha</i>, the distal portions of the longest spines are worn, leaving all but the apex of the plant covered with short, innocuous spines. Where the ranges of the two species in the flora area overlap, they usually occur on different geologic substrates, although they grow intermingled with no evidence of hybridization, at some sites in Coahuila, Mexico. The interspecific differences have been obscured by published illustrations of misidentified specimens and by inaccurate spine counts.</p><!--
--><p>Although generally resembling <i>Mammillaria</i> and superficially similar to <i>M. lasiacantha</i>, chloroplast DNA evidence somewhat inconclusively indicates that <i>Epithelantha</i> is taxonomically isolated and more closely related to <i>Pediocactus</i> and <i>Ariocarpus</i> than to <i>Mammillaria</i> (C. A. Butterworth et al. 2002).</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

--><div class="treatment-key">
==Key==
<div class="treatment-key-group">
  
{| class="wikitable fna-keytable"
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Spines 20-35(-40) per areole, in 1-3 superimposed series except for a dense adaxial tuft, grayish or purplish white, often with brown bases collectively forming brown spot at center of each spine cluster; general aspect of stem relatively rough; spine clusters at sides of stem 4-5(-7) mm diam.; flowers 0.6-0.9 × 0.3-0.5 cm
|[[Epithelantha micromeris|Epithelantha micromeris]]
|-id=key-0-1
|1
|Spines (40-)50-90 per areole, in more than 3 superimposed series, uniformly white to creamy yellow; general aspect of stem appearing smooth and shiny; spine clusters at sides of stem 2- 2.5(-4) mm diam.; flowers 1-1.7 × 1-1.7 cm
|[[Epithelantha bokei|Epithelantha bokei]]
|}
</div></div><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Epithelantha
|author=Allan D. Zimmerman;Bruce D. Parfitt
|authority=F. A. C. Weber ex Britton & Rose
|rank=genus
|parent rank=subfamily
|synonyms=
|basionyms=
|family=Cactaceae
|distribution=sw United States;Mexico.
|reference=None
|publication title=Cact.
|publication year=1922
|special status=
|source xml=https://bibilujan@bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation.git/src/bb6b7e3a7de7d3b7888a1ad48c7fd8f5c722d8d6/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V4/V4_435.xml
|subfamily=Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae
|genus=Epithelantha
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae]]