Cactus Adventures 111-112, 2016

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Fraileeae: B.P.R. Chéron, Tribus nova
by Brice P. R. CHÉRON

Note: this content differs slighly from the original work. Please refer to the original publication in Cactus Adventures Int. if needed

I°) Typification

    Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron, Tribus nova

Typus: Frailea N. L. Britton & J. N. Rose (1922) in BRITTON Nathaniel L. & ROSE Joseph N. (1922): The Cactaceae. Volume III, p. 208-211.
Typus speciei identicus quam ejus generisFrailea : Frailea cataphracta (E. Dams) N. L. Britton & J. N. Rose (1922). Basionymum : Echinocactus cataphractus E. Dams (1904) in DAMS Erich (1904): Echinocactus cataphractus n. sp. Monatsschrift für Kakteenkunde, Vierzehnter Band [vol. 14] : p. 172-173.

II°) Diagnosis
      Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron, tribus mono-generica cujus genus typicum Frailea N. L. Britton & J. N. Rose (1922) est. Insigniter qualitatem monophyleticam distinguenda.

III°) Description
      Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron is a monogeneric and monophyletic tribe. Its essential, diagnostic characteristics are therefore the same as those established for the genus Frailea (BRITTON & ROSE 1922) with the addition of differences that
were brought out by studying and improving knowledge on Frailea species for now almost a century :
• green, succulent, leafless and perennial plants,
• always dwarf, minute plants(exceptionally : bigger and larger by trophic and hydric excesses up to five centimetres in diameter),
• mostly solitary or caespitose plants, with a semi-cryptic habit,
• plants forming globular bodies (stems) or less usually narrowly cylindrical (or becoming as such slowly by ageing), with umbilicate, depressed apex or less often simply flat,
• costae and tubercles with geometrical and regular arrangements, the intercostal rows of which are poorly marked, not exceeding 15 % of the radius of the stem, spination excluded,
• tuberous or napiform roots, always massive (root system weight ≥ stem weight) and retractile,
• spines small or even very small, scabrid, linear or slightly curved, (1)3-5(10) mm long, bundled by 4 to18 per areole, most of the time flattened, sometimes with 1-4 erect central spines, finally only weakly harmful,
• actinomorphic flowers always of a clear yellow, pale in most of the occurrences (except in cases of hyperchromy, albinism and in cultivars), broad and conspicuous when compared to the bodies of the plants which produce them, chasmogamous (heterogamy) or cleistogamous (autogamy),
• receptacle (upper part of the gynoecium) of yellow colour, yellow-green or more rarely tinged red during anthesis,
• inflorescence almost always uniflorous or multiflorous but then in succession during anthesis, arising apically (which can become quickly lopsided to allow space for the next flower),
• ovaries then fruits with an always densely woolly and aciculated hypanthium (the ratio tomentum / aciculesis is however variable),
• seeds galeiform (helmet-shaped), large when compared to the size of fruits, from 1 to 1,6 mm long, with smooth or spinulescent testa (especially on edges), glossy, with a cellular scalariform structure,
• hilum very broad and marked, concave, surrounded by a margin histologically derived from the testa,
• dissemination by myrmecochory or eventually by hydrochory.

      The chorology of the tribe merges with the one of the genus its contains : in South America only, where it is known with certainty in Argentina (N & NE), Bolivia (S-E), Brazil (S-W), Paraguay and Uruguay, from 20 m to 900 m in altitude.

      Being based on Frailea (BRITTON & ROSE 1922), the etymology of Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron is the same. The suffix -eae is exclusive to the taxonomic rank of the tribe, accordingly to article 19.3 of the International Code of Nomenclature (Melbourne Code) (MAC NEILL & al. 2012).

IV°) Systematics
      Since Franz Buxbaum’s major publication in 1958 (BUXBAUM 1958), almost every botanist and systematician having worked on Cactaceae A. L. de Jussieu (1789) nomen conservandum (WIERSEMA & al. 2015), integrated the genus Frailea into the tribe Notocacteae F. Buxbaum (1958) (ENDLER & BUXBAUM 1979, GIBSON & NOBEL 1986, BARTHLOTT & HUNT 1993, ANDERSON 2001, TAKHTAJAN 2009, ANDERSON & EGGLI 2011). Today we know, thanks to phylogenetic studies, especially those of Reto Nyffeler, that this is false (NYFFELER 2002, CROZIER 2005, NYFFELER & EGGLI 2010, HERNÁNDEZ-HERNÁNDEZ & al. 2011, LODÉ 2015) because Frailea proceeds from a clearly independent evolutionary lineage, even if there are evolutionary morphological similarities with other genera which are confusing.

       Consequently, the following partial synonymy appears :
Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron,
synonym: Notocacteae F. Buxbaum (1958)–pro parte et typo excluso.
This means that I still recognise the validity of the tribe Notocacteae, but this latter cannot and must not include the genus Frailea which now belongs to Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron.

To date, the tribe Fraileeae B. P. R. Chéron is understood as included in the subfamily Cactoideae*, which is of course itself nested in the family Cactaceae.
This tribe includes a single genus (monogeneric tribe): Frailea N. L. Britton & J. N. Rose (1922).

* Cactoideae is an autonymum (autonyme). It works as explained in article 6.8 of the Melbourne Code.

Especially and to keep it monophyletic, this tribe excludes de facto the genera Astrophytum C. Lemaire (1839), Blossfeldia E. Werdermann (1937), Copiapoa N. L. Britton & J. N. Rose (1922),Notocactus (K. M. Schumann) A. V. Fri? (1928) and Parodia C. L. Spegazzini (1923) to which genus Frailea was subservient, partly merged, or even put into various synonymy levels in the past (BARTHLOTT 1988, EGGLI & NYFFELER 1998, BRUMMITT 2000, HALDA & MALINA 2005).

Thus, we get the following systematic classification:
CACTACEAE
       Cactoideae
              Fraileeae
                     Frailea.

V°) Acknowledgements
My thanks go to my small collection of Frailea which suffered from several sorts of torture for carrying out this article and to serve science.
With equal sincerity, I greatly thank Joël Lodé for his several bibliographic investigations and suggestions, for reading the manuscript, as well as having accepted to publish an absolutely unknown person.
I am deeply grateful to professor John J. Lavranos for having had the patience to correct my Latin and to Steven A. Hammer for having corrected my English version.
My frank acknowledgements are finally addressed to professor Len E. Newton for the checking of typifying processes and conformity to the International Code of Nomenclature (Melbourne Code).

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES:
ANDERSON Edward (2001) : The Cactus Family. Portland : Timber Press. 776 p.
ANDERSON Edward & EGGLI Urs (2011) : Das Große Kakteen Lexikon. 2 (korrigierte) Auflage [Seconde édition corrigée]. Stuttgart : Verlag Eugen Ulmer. 744 p.
BARTHLOTT Wilhelm (1988) : Über die systematischen Gliederungen der Cactaceae. Beiträge zur Biologie der Pflanzen n°63 : p. 17-40.
BARTHLOTT Wilhelm & HUNT David R. (1993) : Cactaceae. In KUBITZKI Klaus, ROHWER J. G. & BITTRICH V. [Éditeurs] : The families and genera of vascular plants. Volume II. Berlin : Springer Verlag. p. 161-197.
BRITTON Nathaniel L. & ROSE Joseph N. (1922) : The Cactaceae. Volume III. Washington : The Carnegie Institution. VII + 257 p. + XXIV planches.
BRUMMITT Richard K. (2000) : Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta : 49. Taxon, vol. 49, n°2 : p. 261-278.
BUXBAUM Franz (1958) : The phylogenetic division of the subfamily Cereoideae, Cactaceae. Madroño, vol. 14, n°6 : p. 177-206.
CROZIER Bonnie S. (2005) : Systematics of Cactaceae Juss. : phylogeny, cpDNA evolution, and classification, with emphasis on the genus Mammillaria Haw. Austin : The University of Texas. XVI + 155 p.
DAMS Erich (1904) : Echinocactus cataphractus n. sp. Monatsschrift für Kakteenkunde, Vierzehnter Band [vol. 14] : p. 172-173.
EGGLI Urs & NYFFELER Reto (1998) : (1352) Proposal to conserve the name Parodia against Frailea (Cactaceae). Taxon, vol. 47, n°2 : p. 475-476.
ENDLER Johannes & BUXBAUM Franz (1979) : Die Pflanzenfamilie der Kakteen. 3 Auflage. [Troisième édition]. Minden : Albert Philler Verlag. 168 p.
GIBSON Arthur C. & NOBEL Park S. (1986) : The Cactus Primer. Cambridge (U.S.A.) : Harvard University Press. 286 p.
HALDA Josef J. & MALINA Miroslav (2005) : Nové t?íd?ní skupiny Astrophytum – Frailea ; A new taxonomy of the Astrophytum – Frailea group. Acta Mus. Richnov. Sect. Natur., vol. 12, n°1 : p. 11-15.
HERNÁNDEZ-HERNÁNDEZ Tania, HERNÁNDEZ H. M., DE-NOVA J. A., PUENTE R.,
EGUIARTE L. E. & MAGALLÓN S. (2011) : Phylogenetic relationships and evolution of growth form in Cactaceae (Caryophyllales, Eudicotyledoneae). American Journal of Botany, vol. 98, n°1 : p. 44-61.
HUNT David R., TAYLOR N. P. & CHARLES G. J. (2006) : The New Cactus Lexicon. Volume I. Milborne Port : dh Books. 373 p.
LODÉ Joël (2015) : Taxonomie des Cactaceae. Tomes I & II. Cuevas del Almanzora : Éditions Cactus-Aventures. 1388 p. + XLIV p.
MAC NEILL John, BARRIE F. R., BUCK W. R., DEMOULIN V., GREUTER W., HAWKSWORTH D. L., HERENDEEN P. S., KNAPP S., MARHOLD K., PRADO J., PRUD’HOMME VAN REINE W. F., SMITH G. F., WIERSEMA J. H. & TURLAND N. J. (2012) : International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code). Königstein : Koeltz Scientific Books. 238 p.
NYFFELER Reto (2002) : Phylogenetic relationships in the Cactus family (Cactaceae) based on evidence from trnK/matK and trnL-trnF sequences. American Journal of Botany, vol. 89, n°2 : p. 312-326.
NYFFELER Reto & EGGLI Urs (2010) : A farewell to dated ideas and concepts : molecular phylogenetics and a revised suprageneric classification of the family Cactaceae. Schumannia, vol. 6 : p. 109-149.
TAKHTAJAN Armen L. (2009) : Flowering Plants. Second Edition. Dordrecht : Springer Science+Business Media B.V. XLV + 871 p.
WIERSEMA John H., MAC NEILL J., TURLAND N. J., BARRIE F. R., BUCK W. R., DEMOULIN V., GREUTER W., HAWKSWORTH D. L., HERENDEEN P. S., KNAPP S., MARHOLD K., PRADO J., PRUD’HOMME VAN REINE W. F. & SMITH G. F. (2015) : International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (Melbourne Code) ; Appendices II-VIII. Königstein : Koeltz Scientific Books. 492 p.

Consultations Webpages on Internet :
DOWELD Alexander B. (2003) : Phylogenetic relationships within Notocactus – Parodia – Puzzle. Cultivar, issue 3, n°19. [Version en ligne]. (Consultée en mars 2016).
LANEY Paul C. (2012) : Frailea, Hidden Treasures. Online Texts. (Consultée en mars 2016).
MACHADO Marlon C. (2007) : Fascinating Frailea, Part 1 : General impressions. [Version en ligne]. (Consultée en avril 2016).
MACHADO Marlon C. (2007) : Fascinating Frailea, Part 2 : Review of the species from Rio Grande do Sul. [Version en ligne]. (Consultée en avril 2016).
STEVENS Peter F. (2013) : Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 13. (Consultée en mars 2016).