Species commentary The descriptions in this chapter take as their starting poim Britton & Rose's major four-volume work, The Cactaceae, published. as far as this genus is concerned in 1922 (volume 3), in which the genus was set up. and 1923 (volume 4) which includes amendments and the description of F. johnstonianus. Before this, descriptions and references (mainly as Echinocactus) were sparse, and these two pioneers of the modem printed word on cacti, gathered together in the 1.000 pages of this incredible production all that had been hitherto published, ably amplified with the benefit of the cactus exploration which had been proceeding apace in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. We have also taken account of Backeberg's monumental 6 volume work (over 4.000 pages) Die CQÂŁ:taceae. as well as Helia Bravo's 3 volume Las Cactaceas de Mexico, now available to students of these and other Mexican plants, and of course Lindsay's recently published (in 1996) doctoral thesis of 1955. Other sources of information include Benson's Cal:ti of the United States and Canada (J 982); the Cactus and Succulent Journal ofAmerica. published since the early 1930s and including many references and detailed accounts of explorations in the
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field of these plants; Nigel Taylor's papers on this genus published in Bradleya, the yearbook of the British Cactus & Succulent Society. volume I (with lonathan Clark), 1983, volume 2,1984, and volume 5, 1987. We have also referred to the invaluable book by Gottfried Unger on the globular cacti of North America. Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas, published in 1992, and embracing Echinocactus as well as Ferocactus; this book of nearly 500 pages includes a fund of detail by way of descriptions and references. as well as a considerable contribution from the author's wide-ranging studies in the field. Lastly we have included Ted Anderson's thoughts on the acceptance of taxa, as included in his major work, The Cactus Family; these are based on the deliberations of the International Cactaceae Systematics Group of the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study (lOS). Also of interest are the two books by Franziska and Richard Wolf, Baja California und seine Inseln (1999) and Die Ferokakteen der Baja California (2004).
Fig. 4: F. emoryi subsp. emoryi staging its stunning flower display during August in me Maricopa Mountains, Arizona. USA
