Copyright © Claude Bourleau. All rights reserved.
The genus Sulcorebutia has always been the subject of many discussions !
These days, thanks to the great progress of science, the discussion might be over.
In 2005, the S.S.K. (Studiengemeinschaft Südamerikanische Kakteen) held a study to
investigate the phylogenetic relationships between different south-
1°) The genus Rebutia is not monophyletic, because Rebutia s.s. is clearly separated from Aylostera and Mediolobivia.
2°) The genera Sulcorebutia, Weingartia and Cintia are very closely related.
The S.S.K. went on with the research and a progress report was presented at a poster on the congress of the German Botanical Society (Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft) in September 2007 in Hamburg :
"Previous studies demonstrated that the rigorous lumping of many genera in Rebutia
s.l. is not supported by molecular data. The genera Cintia, Sulcorebutia and Weingartia
constitute a well-
At the biginning of 2008, Hentzschel & Augustin published their revision of the genus
Weingartia in the journal Gymnocalycium [21(2) 2008 pp 767-
Afterwards, the S.S.K. said about that article :
"The authors united Weingartia, Sulcorebutia, and Cintia into one genus. As many experts before, they have been emphasising the morphological proximity between Weingartia and Sulcorebutia in the first part of their revision in 2002. Based upon our molecular data from 2005, we have confirmed their hypothesis in our research report: "Sulcorebutia and Weingartia should be united into one genus, because neither molecular nor morphological data reveal a distinction between these genera." American Journal of Botany 94(8): p1330.)"
Classification
The website of the S.S.K. : http://www.ssk-
The latest news about the studies about the genera Sulcorebutia, Weingartia et Cintia
herei : http://ssk-
The report of the 2005 Project has been published in the "American Journal of Botany".You can read the entire article here : http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/94/8/1321
