Eriosyce curvispina var. mutabilis

Eriosyce curvispina var. mutabilis (F.Ritter) Katt. (1994)

🌵 Author(s)	Fred Kattermann
🌵 Basionym	Pyrrhocactus horridus var. mutabilis (1980)
🌵 Basionym author(s)	Friedrich Ritter
🌵 Basionym published in	Kakteen Südamerika 3: 946 (1980)

Etymology

Latin mūtābĭlis ‘changeable’. Ritter: “This variety tends to transition from short spines to long spines. Both varieties [Pyrrhocactus horridus var. horridus (= Eriosyce curvispina var. curvispina) and Pyrrhocactus horridus var. mutabilis] grow in a coastal climate, but while the var. horridus did not show any changes in spine growth when cultivated by me in a semi-inland climate, the adjacent specimens of var. mutabilis growing in the same soil exhibited extensions of the central spines, doubling in length and changing from straight to highly curved.”