Scientific taxonomy article
Accepted name and nomenclatural record
Kew POWO accepts Frailea pygmaea with the author citation (Speg.) Britton & Rose; IPNI confirms the first-publication record as “The Cactaceae 3: 210 (1922)”.12 The native distribution is Northeast Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. A broad subtropical range does not mean every population has identical morphology; Frailea shows high variation between populations.
Classification and production boundary
The live lineage is species → Frailea → Cactaceae → Caryophyllales → Plantae. This package owns only the existing species node and its direct Frailea genus relationship; it creates or updates no genus, family, order or kingdom node. A miniature globose body, spiral or distinct ribs, fine appressed spines, flower and seed characters and reliable provenance should be evaluated together.
Although Frailea species are small-bodied, identification is not simple. Metzing and Kiesling explain that plants may be relatively uniform within a local population while appearance differs strongly between populations, with the reproductive and ecological strategy of the genus contributing to that pattern.3 One product photograph, body colour or a flower that remains closed is therefore insufficient for a definitive identification.
Synonymy and canonical boundary
The current Kew surface maintains 3 nomenclatural synonym records. Kew maintains three synonyms and three accepted subspecies. Accepted subspecies are not synonyms and are neither deleted nor created as nodes by this species-only payload. Homotypic names share a nomenclatural type; heterotypic names represent historical opinions based on other types. None creates a separate accepted product, botanical or taxonomy route.
Synonyms support search and literature retrieval. The synonym sets of the three Frailea species are not mixed, and accepted ancestor names are never inserted as synonyms. Kew's 3 accepted pygmaea subspecies are not synonyms and cannot be changed by this species-only payload.
Range and conservation
The native distribution is recorded as Northeast Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.1 Commercial inventory, nursery origin and retail price are not measures of wild-population status. The global conservation field remains LC.4 The live and sourced target are both LC, so the field is preserved; commercial stock does not measure wild-population status.
Editorial ownership boundary
Product name and copy, price, stock, SKU, images, variants, categories, common names, slugs and the product-to-botanical link are not changed by this taxonomy-only source. Live toxicity, difficulty and light enums are carried forward exactly; watering, temperature and soil metrics are omitted from the curated source and preserved from live data. Legacy pricing research and Google-grounding metadata are not reused as scientific authority.
References
- Plants of the World Online. “Frailea pygmaea (Speg.) Britton & Rose” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed: 2026-08-06. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A105558-2 ↩
- International Plant Names Index. “Frailea pygmaea.” Accessed: 2026-08-06. https://www.ipni.org/n/105558-2 ↩
- Metzing, D. & Kiesling, R. (2006). “Notes on the diversity, biology, and taxonomy of Frailea (Cactaceae).” Bradleya 24: 115–128. https://doi.org/10.25223/brad.n24.2006.a13 ↩
- Kew POWO General Information. “Frailea pygmaea conservation evidence.” Accessed: 2026-08-06. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A105558-2/general-information ↩
