Autor: Buxbaum
• ETYMOLOGY
“Similar to Espostoa”, referring to the similarities of this genus with Espostoa.
• DESCRIPTION
Monospecific genus of shrubby plants with erect, columnar stems branching from the base, covered with white hairs protecting the epidermis. Ribs low, numerous (22-28), with hairy areoles. 2-3 aciculate central spines, 10 radial spines, short and fine, hidden in the hairs of areoles. Lateral cephalium on the adult and reproductive stems, densely woolly, in which appear flowers.
Flowers nocturnal, self-sterile, shortly tubular to bell-shaped, whitish, pollinated by bats. Fruits egg-shaped, fleshy, indehiscent, pale pink, keeping the remains of the dried perianth. Seeds rough, tuberculate, shiny, brown. Dispersion assured by birds and bats.
• HABITAT
The monotypic genus Espostoopsis is endemic to the state of Bahia (Brazil), and grows in the caatinga, Brazilian spiny dry forest, in the barren hills of the Northeast, between 250 m and 750 m in altitude, among rocks, in crevices, forming dense but disjunct populations forming the dominant plant of the landscape. The genus grows north of Bahia on quartzic rocky outcrops, while the populations of the South present minor morphological differences and are found on gneissic inselbergs.
• DISTRIBUTION
Brazil (N. Bahia).
Currently only one recognised species:
– Espostoopsis dybowskii* (Gosselin) Buxb. 1968
References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" - ISBN 978-84-617-3723-9 (Vol. 1)