Abstract
Form reflects the problems that plants face throughout their life, and the way these problems are solved. We discuss the development and form of a globose cactus, Coryphantha werdermannii, endemic to the Cuatro Ciénegas area, Coahuila, Mexico. Its spheroidal form reduces the surface of the plant, diminishing the amount of water lost through it. Nevertheless, in a small plant, water loses are larger compared with the exiguous amounts of stored water, leading to huge mortality rates. As the plant develops, white spines that may reflect sunlight cover the plant, modulating the extreme temperatures of the desert. Form changes again as adulthood approaches. A spiny pouch lined in wool that will protect reproductive organs is formed in the plant’s apex. This shady pouch, altogether with other spines, reduces photosynthesis and growth rates. Every year, flowers are produced and open almost exactly on the same day for a few hours. The large numbers of seeds produced allow at least some of them to reach safe sites. Unlike other cacti that require the shade of shrubs to survive, seedlings prefer growing below loose gravel. Gravel is more common in eroded areas, such as those produced by livestock, so this plant’s populations are denser where people are active. Nevertheless, extreme livestock rates kill large plants, which would cause population decline.
The waves of the sea, the little ripples on the shore, the sweeping curve of the sandy bay between its headlands, the outline of the hills, the shape of the clouds, all these are so many riddles of form, so many problems of morphology.
D’Arcy W. Thomson, 1917.
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We are indebted with D Montañana, D Rábago, C Almaza, D García-Meza, A Martínez-Blancas and MA Romero.
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Martorell, C., Portilla-Alonso, R.M. (2020). The Ages of Life: The Changing Forms and History of Coryphantha werdermannii Throughout Its Development. In: Mandujano, M., Pisanty, I., Eguiarte, L. (eds) Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert. Cuatro Ciénegas Basin: An Endangered Hyperdiverse Oasis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44963-6_10
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