GENUS ACANTHOCALYCIUM
Subfamilia Cactoideae, tribus Trichocereae
Acanthocalycium spiniflorum is the type species of the genus. Acanthocalycium distribution is in Argentina.
Curt Beckeberg (1935) described nine species for the genus Acanthocalycium, most previously included in Echinopsis.
The name comes from the Greek, akantha, prickly and kalyx, thus referring the spiny buds.
The species of the genus Acanthocalycium has been included or excluded in & out to the genus Echinopsis several times. Nowadays, they heve been lumped to the Echinopsis totaly by International Cactaceae Systematics group, (The New Cactus Lexicon, 2006).
I display them separately in this album, cause the broadly based genus Echinopsis is apparently polyphletic.
Plants' stems are usually solitary, globose to somewhat elongate, very spiny, 10-15 cm in diameter with many ribs. Diurnal pink to white to red flowers are funnelform or bell shaped, to 4 cm long.
Here, my Acanthocalycium naming partly follow the older classifications and in part with the help of Anderson's monumental book, The Cactus Family, 2001.
As to this book, there are 3 species in the genus Acanthocalycium: A.ferrari/syn. A.variiflorum (Beckeberg), A.klimpelianum (Beckeberg), A.spiniflorum (Beckeberg).
In older classifications, there are 6 main species: A.catamarcense, A.glaucum, A.klimpelianum (Beckeberg), A.peitscherianum (Beckeberg), A.spiniflorum (Beckeberg), A.violaceum (Beckeberg), and varieties/forms of the previous ones: A.auranthiacum, A.brevispinum, A.chionanthum, A.griseum.
I cited their accepted names and synonymes as to The New Cactus Lexicon (2006), in the captions.

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