Melocactus
Link & Otto, nom. cons. (1827)
Etymology
| 🌵 Author(s) | Christoph Friedrich OttoJohann Heinrich Friedrich Link | 🌵 Published in | Verh. Vereins Beföd. Gartenbaues Königl. Preuss. Staaten 3: 417 (1827) |
| 🌵 Type | Melocactus communis |
Greek melon ‘melon’ + Greek kaktos, a prickly plant found in Sicily, possibly the cardoon or artichoke thistle (Cynara cardunculus). For the spiny, round plant body, but primarily an abbreviation of the pre-Linnaean name Echinomelocactus (‘hedgehog melon-thistle’). Link & Otto split this genus, whose name was abbreviated to Cactus by Linnaeus, into Echinocactus and Melocactus.
The fungus Phomopsis melocacticola (Henn.) Died. was named after this genus (Melocactus + Latin –cŏla ‘inhabitor’). It was described from the “rotting body of Melocactus sp.” in a greenhouse (Hennings in Verh. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg 40: 165. 1898).
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2023 Jul 14). Melocactus. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/melocactus