Copiapoa tenuissima SOUTH OF ANTOFAGASTA (CHILE) 00101

Copiapoa is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, from the dry coastal deserts particularly the Atacama desert of northern Chile.

It comprises 32 morphologically defined species and 5 heterotypic subspecies. The species in the genus Copiapoa forms dense cushions of hundreds of large individual plants or produce only solitary plants. The shoots are spherical or elongated-cylindrical. The spines, which are usually present, are variably shaped. On the apex, the species are usually densely woolly-haired. The ribs are clearly developed. These species vary in form from spherical to slightly columnar and in colour from a brownish to blue-green body. They have warty ribs and spiny areolas, and they usually produce tubular yellow flowers which grow from woolly crowns on the apex in summer. They are bell- to funnel-shaped and open during the day. The short, circular pericarp is glabrous. The flower tube is short and broad. The small, smooth fruits contain large, shiny black seeds.