COPPII Moran ex Gideon F.Sm. & Bischofberger, 2020
Series Occidentales
Type : D.E. Breedlove s.n., collected 18 Feb. At 7800 feet 6 miles SE of Los Hornos, NE face of Sierra Surutato, Sinaloa. ?Near 25° 50’ N, 107° 30’ W. Moran 14 823.
Etymology : Named for Joe Copp, La Jolla, who was cultivating this plant.
Distribution : Sierra Surutato, Sinaloa.
Description from a plant in cultivation in San Diego by Reid Moran (18 August 1968) :
Caudex 17 mm thick, whitish or pale green, ± flattened at leafbase sites (in old plants decumbent to ca 6 dm long x 4 cm).
Rosette to 12 cm wide, of 20+ leaves, all crowded at apex of caudex.
Leaves elliptic to oblong, broadly acute to broadly subacuminate, apiculate, to 5.5 cm long, 20 - 24 mm wide, 7 - 8 mm thick, ca 12 mm wide at the base, light yellowish green below, reddish brown above, shiny, obscurely keeled dorsally, slightly concave ventrally, the margins narrowly rounded.
Floral stem 32 cm tall incl. Inflorescence, ca 9 mm thick at base, 5 mm thick 3 cm above base, green below, bright red in inflorescence, bare below, with 7 – 11 bracts above (below inflorescence). Bracts (12-) 22 – 25 mm long, (4-) 5 – 7 mm wide, 2.5 – 3.5 mm thick, elliptic-lanceolate, subappressed, acute and apiculate, spurred, the spurs shortly and irregularly 1 – 2-toothed.
Inflorescence 6 – 16 x 3.5 – 8 cm, 16 – 30 branches plus terminal flower, the branches 1 – 2 (-3) flowered, lower pedicels 10 – 15 x 1.5 – 2 mm, upper pedicels 5 x 1 mm.
Calyx reddish to dark red, disk 3 – 3.5 mm wide, the segments erect and appressed in bud and late anthesis but for a time upcurved with tips ca 1mm from corolla, slightly unequal in width, (4-) 5 – 8 mm long, (1-) 2 – 3 mm wide, triangular-lanceolate, acute.
Corolla red, 6 – 8 mm long, 4 mm wide at base, 9 – 12 mm wide at the outcurved tips, pentagonal with slightly convex to flattened sides, petals connate ca 0.5 mm, imbricate in bud but open at anthesis, oblong, acute, apiculate, 8.5 – 9 mm long, 2.5 – 3 mm wide, with tip outcurved, slightly cupped at base but scarcely excavate. Filaments white to pink below, red above, the antesepalous 6 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, the epipetalous 5.5 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, adnate ca 1.5 mm. Anthers yellow, oblong, apiculate, 1.8 - 2.5 x 0.6 – 0.8 mm. Nectar glands whitish, 1.2 mm wide, the secretory face oval, ± perpendicular to axis. Gynoecium 6 – 7 mm high, 3 mm thick, whitish at base to pink above, the pistils erect, appressed, connate ca 1.25 mm, tapering to slender styles 2 - 3 mm long, red with green tips. Ovules ca 150, ca 0.5 x 0.15 mm.
Photos Reid Moran