Calymmanthium

A genus with a distinctive flower structure

In POWO's current treatment, Calymmanthium comprises one species. The name C. fertile and the combination C. substerile subsp. fertile are synonyms of C. substerile. [2-WWW]

The plant's stem has several thin, strongly projecting ribs. Similar architecture on a miniature scale is visible on the bud's outer sheath. In the 2025 morphological treatment, the flower initially remains embedded in a short shoot forming the pericarpel. The sheath splits at its apex only shortly before the tepals spread. [de Vos et al. 2025, Section Lymanbensonieae]

Relationship to Lymanbensonia

Chloroplast analyses by Korotkova and colleagues in 2010 showed Calymmanthium and Lymanbensonia to be sister groups. Both genera were placed in the tribe Lymanbensonieae. Their shared lineage includes tree-like terrestrial plants and smaller cacti with flattened or angular stems, some of them epiphytic. [Korotkova et al. 2010, pp. 159–166]

The 2025 classification retains this tribe. Calymmanthium was examined in the new nuclear dataset, while Lymanbensonia was assigned on the basis of earlier results. The history of this finding is presented in the article on the relationship between the two genera. [de Vos et al. 2025] [Korotkova et al. 2010]

Species and subspecies of the genus

Species account

Calymmanthium substerile

A branched, tree-like cactus of northern Peru. Its light-green stems have several thin ribs, and young buds resemble short, spiny growths. The flower itself emerges through the splitting sheath. [de Vos et al. 2025] [2-WWW]

Czytaj profile

Sources for this account

[2-WWW]Source website

Plants of the World Online — Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

https://powo.science.kew.org/

Accepted names, synonyms and distribution. A citation beside a taxon leads to its record.

Accessed 2026-10-08.

Article2025

Phylogenomics and classification of Cactaceae based on hundreds of nuclear genes

de Vos J. M., Eggli U., Nyffeler R., Larridon I., McGinnie C., Epitawalage N., Maurin O., Forest F., Baker W. J., Phylogenomics and classification of Cactaceae based on hundreds of nuclear genes, Plant Systematics and Evolution, 2025, 311(5):28, doi: 10.1007/s00606-025-01948-z

The study analyses hundreds of nuclear genes and their agreement in reconstructing Cactaceae relationships. It presents a revised classification of subfamilies, tribes and genera with morphological descriptions.

GenusPhysiology and anatomyBlossfeldiaCalymmanthiumCopiapoaLeuenbergeriaLymanbensoniaPereskiaSalmonopuntia

DOI ↗Article or source page ↗

Article2010

A phylogenetic analysis of Pfeiffera and the reinstatement of Lymanbensonia as an independently evolved lineage of epiphytic Cactaceae within a new tribe Lymanbensonieae

Korotkova N., Zabel L., Quandt D., Barthlott W., A phylogenetic analysis of Pfeiffera and the reinstatement of Lymanbensonia as an independently evolved lineage of epiphytic Cactaceae within a new tribe Lymanbensonieae, Willdenowia, 2010, 40(2):151-172, doi: 10.3372/wi.40.40201

Analyses of eight plastid regions separate the former Pfeiffera into distinct lineages and indicate a relationship between Lymanbensonia and Calymmanthium. The paper includes comparative stem, flower and fruit descriptions, a key to six Pfeiffera species and new name combinations. It discusses variation in Pfeiffera boliviana and method-dependent differences in the inferred relationship of P. miyagawae.

Physiology and anatomyGenusCalymmanthiumLymanbensoniaPfeiffera

DOI ↗Article or source page ↗