GENUS PARODIA
Subfamilia Cactoideae, Tribus Notocacteae
Type species is Parodia microsperma. The name honors Dr.Domingo Parodi, an early student of the flora of Paraguay.
Parodia are small, mostly globose cacti occuring widely throughout eastern South America, mostly east of the high Andes.
Flowers are borne subapically and brightly coloured.
Parodia is popular among hobbyists and hundreds of species names produced in the time.
Authors like N.Taylor, U.Eggli and Nyfeller believe that Brasilicactus, Brasiliparodia, Eriocactus, Notocactus and Wigginsia have to be in the genus Parodia in broad sense. So, International Cactaceae Systematics Group lumped these genera into the Parodia, (The New Cactus Lexicon,2006). But, instead of some positive findings, many authors opposed this heavy lumping particularly for the genus Notocactus. There is serious suspicion that the genus Parodia of ICSG could be polyphletic.
I believe that untill the progression of DNA sequencing data, the genus Notocactus must be regarded as a good genus.
The core genus Parodia species are from high mountain line. These are found at altitudes ranging from 500 m to 4200 m. The plants grow mostly in the eastern mountains and foot hills of the Cordilleras of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. And the needs of those are different from Notocacti. Notocactus are from Pampas line, means in low altitudes. In NCL, the broad sense genus Parodia has 5 groups : Eriocactus, Wigginsia, Notocactus, Brasilicactus and Parodia. The latter is "Parodia sensu stricto", means it includes the species before the merging and includes 23 species and 1 subspecies.
I treated my Parodias only according to this group, that is to say I follow the old Parodia genus.

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