Airampoa tilcarensis

Name and origin

POWO accepts Airampoa tilcarensis as a distinct species occurring naturally in Jujuy, Argentina. Former combinations include Opuntia tilcarensis, Tunilla tilcarensis and Tephrocactus tilcarensis. Platyopuntia soehrensii var. tilcarensis documents historical treatment of the plants at a lower rank under another species. [2-WWW]

Stamen movement

Harald Frisch described the response of a cultivated plant's flower to touching stamens with tweezers. Movement began in less than a second, and after 2–3 seconds stamens bent towards the stigma and released pollen. Return to the previous position took about five minutes. The observation was repeated the next day on another flower of the same specimen. [Frisch 2013, p. 161–164]

This is an example of nastic movement, whose direction results from organ structure rather than stimulus direction. Here, the stimulus was touch. Such a response may change an insect's contact with pollen, but Frisch's account did not measure pollination effectiveness or seed number. The observed response time concerns his plant and greenhouse conditions. [Frisch 2013]

Light, cuttings and overwintering

Silvia Grätz described a collection form with very long spines as requiring abundant light, ventilation and distinct daily temperature changes. She indicated easy propagation from cuttings. The account of tolerating a brief drop below −10°C concerned plants kept dry. Exposure duration and a representative sample were not given, so this is not an established threshold for overwintering the species in Polish soil outdoors. [Grätz 2009, p. 322]