Scientific taxonomy article
Accepted name and nomenclatural record
Kew POWO accepts Maihueniopsis molfinoi with the author citation Speg.; IPNI confirms the first-publication record as “Anales Soc. Ci. Argent. 99: 86 (1925)”.12 The native distribution is Bolivia to north-west Argentina. The native range lies in desert or dry shrubland; cultivation may reproduce drainage and seasonal dryness, but cold tolerance must not be tested with wet roots.
Classification and production boundary
The live lineage is species → Maihueniopsis → Cactaceae → Caryophyllales → Plantae. This package owns only the existing species node and its direct Maihueniopsis genus relationship; it creates or updates no genus, family, order or kingdom node. Low clustering segments, substantial underground organs, areole and spine pattern, flowers, seeds and reliable provenance should be evaluated together.
Identification cannot be reduced to one product photograph, body colour or segment dimensions altered by cultivation. Underground organs, segment form, areoles and spines, flowers, seeds, range and documented provenance should be evaluated together.
Synonymy and canonical boundary
The current Kew surface maintains 6 nomenclatural synonym records. Kew lists six synonyms; Opuntia molfinoi is the homotypic combination. Historical names around hypogaea and leptoclada are heterotypic source opinions. 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 Maihueniopsis species are not mixed, and accepted ancestor names are never inserted as synonyms.
Range and conservation scope
The native distribution is recorded as Bolivia to north-west Argentina.1 Commercial inventory, nursery origin and retail price are not measures of wild-population status.
The global field is NE.1 No maintained official species-level global assessment was found, so NE is retained without inference.
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. “Maihueniopsis molfinoi Speg.” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed: 2026-08-06. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A149475-2 ↩
- International Plant Names Index. “Maihueniopsis molfinoi.” Accessed: 2026-08-06. https://www.ipni.org/n/149475-2 ↩
