×Meierara

×Meierara P.V.Heath ()
🌵 Author(s)
🌵 Replacement of ×Heliaporocryptus
Etymology

Nothogenus for intergeneric hybrids between Aporocactus, Cryptocereus and Heliocereus.

The names of nothogenera for trigeneric hybrids are formed either by combining the names of the parental genera "into a single word not exceeding eight syllables, using the whole or first part of one, followed by the whole or any part of another, followed by the whole or last part of the third (but not the whole of all three) and, optionally, one or two connecting vowels" or "from a personal name to which is added the termination ‑ara" (article H.6.4, International Code of Nomenclature). The suffix -ara to denote a multigeneric hybrid was introduced by the Orchid Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society for orchid hybrids in 1909 (Elliott in Occ. Pap. RHS Lindley Libr. 2: 28. 2010) and has been included in the International Code of Nomenclature since 1952 (article H.4, Stockholm Code).

Named for German epicactus hybridizer Eckhard Meier, who had published the invalid name ×Heliaporocryptus for the same hybrid combination in 1981. ×Meierara was the first cactus nothogenus with the –ara suffix.

According to Mottram (Cactician 4. 2014), Heath told him in 1993 that he now was “certain that ×Meierara P.V.Heath does not exist”, but this has no bearing on the validity of the name. A nothogeneric name is only invalid if the author knows at the time of publication that the hybrid in question does not (yet) exist (article H.9.1, Note 2).


How to cite

Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2022 Feb 05). ×Meierara. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/meierara