Scientific taxonomy article
Accepted name and publication history
The accepted name in the current Kew backbone is Gymnocalycium anisitsii (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose. Britton and Rose transferred Karl Schumann’s earlier species to Gymnocalycium in 1922 in The Cactaceae 3: 159. IPNI supplies nomenclatural authorship and place of publication, while current acceptance, synonymy, and native distribution follow POWO's taxonomic opinion.12
The basionym is Echinocactus anisitsii K.Schum., published in 1900.
Taxon boundary and infraspecific treatment
In the Kaktüs Doktoru backbone, the species is a child of the genus Gymnocalycium. Kew recognizes two accepted subspecies: subsp. anisitsii and subsp. damsii. This package updates only the canonical species node and its linked botanical-dictionary record; it does not collapse accepted subspecies into species synonyms, rewrite the genus node, or alter the product.
Diagnostic characters
A stem varying from depressed-globose to short-cylindrical, green to olive-brown epidermis, ribs divided into chin-like projections, and usually pale flowers are evaluated within a broad species concept. These characters must be assessed together. A single commercial photograph is not an herbarium voucher, and colour, spine length, or stem form may shift with cultivation conditions.
Phylogenetic context
A broad plastid-DNA study recovered Gymnocalycium as monophyletic but found that several older morphology-only infrageneric groups were not natural: Microsemineum was polyphyletic and Macrosemineum paraphyletic. The study recommends reading seed morphology together with molecular evidence.3 This does not by itself change the accepted name of this species; it warns against inferring close relationship from one conspicuous surface character.
Native distribution and conservation
Kew records the native range as Bolivia, west-central Brazil, and Paraguay.1 Its broad subtropical range produces population-level variation in stem colour and spination, helping explain the historical proliferation of subspecies and varietal names. The stored conservation category is LC.4 The WFO/IUCN layer reports Least Concern. This is a global category for a broadly distributed species; it does not imply that local habitat loss or illegal collection is absent.
Synonymy and retrieval
Kew accepts 1 synonym under this species node: Echinocactus anisitsii K.Schum. is the homotypic synonym and basionym. These are not canonical routes; they document nomenclatural history and support retrieval of older literature.1
References
- Plants of the World Online. “Gymnocalycium anisitsii (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose.” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed: 2026-08-04. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:133295-1 ↩
- International Plant Names Index. “Gymnocalycium anisitsii (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose.” Accessed: 2026-08-04. https://www.ipni.org/n/133295-1 ↩
- Demaio, P. H. et al. “Molecular phylogeny of Gymnocalycium (Cactaceae).” American Journal of Botany 98(11): 1841–1854. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1100054 ↩
- World Flora Online. “Gymnocalycium anisitsii (K.Schum.) Britton & Rose.” Accessed: 2026-08-04. https://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000712362 ↩
