LYONSII  Kimnach, 2007  (engl./ fr.)

Series Angulatae

Etymology : Named for Gary Lyons, Curator at the Desert Garden at the Huntington, and the first having spotted this plant.

Distribution : Mexico (Tamaulipas)

First Description by Myron Kimnach in Cacus and Succulent Journal US 79(5): 2007 :

Plant proliferous.

Stem to 6 cm tall or more, 8 – 10 mm thick, with brown, horizontal, lenticular leaf-scars.

Rosette 11 – 14 cm wide.

Leaves ascending to horizontal, spatulate, acute, 6 – 7 cm long, 17 – 19 mm wide at widest part 2 – 2.5 cm from apex, 17 mm wide at middle, ca. 7 mm wide near base, mostly 2 – 2.5 mm thick, ca. 4 mm thick near base, convex and bluntly keeled on lower surface, concave along upper half of upper surface, purplish gray, lightly glaucous.

Flowering stems 2 – 5 parted, sometimes with up to three additional secondary branches, peduncle ca. 25 – 45 cm long, ca. 5 mm thick near base, ca. 4 mm thick just below first cincinnus, pinkish gray, lightly glaucous, bracts 22 – 24, attached ca. 1.5 – 3 cm apart, ascending, the lower ones slightly recurving on apical half, narrowly elliptical-linear, acute, 22 – 35 mm long, 5 – 7 mm wide, 3 – 4 mm thick, cincinni 2 – 8 per flowering stem, 4 – 16 cm long, unbranched, 3 – 17 flowered, rachis 1.2 – 2 mm thick, flowers ca. 5 – 10 mm apart, bracteoles 1 between each pair of flowers, oblong-elliptical, acute, 6 – 10 mm long, 3 – 4 mm wide, 1.5 – 2 mm thick, colored like the leaves and bracts, pedicels less than 2 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm thick.

Flowers : Sepals ascending, ovate-elliptical, acute, 2 – 5 mm long, 1 – 2 mm wide, 0.5 – 1.75 mm thick, corolla ± straight-sided, strongly angled, petals linear-lanceolate, acute, ca. 9 mm long, pinkish orange, darker near apex, the apex expanding to 45°, anthers pale yellow.

Cytology : n = 12  

Link to a French translation of the above description.

First published in  CSJ US 79(5), 2007.