Autor: Britton & Rose
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus whose name is an anagram of Bolivia, where the first species were discovered.
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of usually small plants, solitary or caespitose, globose, becoming elongated with age, some forming cushions. Spines highly variable. Ribs usually low, ortuberculate.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, shortly funnel-shaped or bell-shaped, highly variable in colours, white, yellow, orange, red, magenta, carmine, mauve, purple, sometimes bi-coloured, pollinated by bees (Brachyglossula ancasti), sphingideae or hummingbirds. Fruits rather small, hairy and scaly, some (L. ferox) fleshy, juicy and edible, floral remains persistent. Seeds also variable, subglobose or elongated, smoother or papillose, matt or shiny, black. Dispersion assured by Rheas (Pterocnemia pennata).
• HABITAT
The genus Lobivia shows an extreme variability in habitat, and grows essentially on the Andean high-plateaus, often at ground level, among grasses, on the rocks, in areas of plains, valleys, on gravelly soils, from 1000 up to 4600 m in altitude (Lobivia maximiliana). They are mainly mountain plants.
• DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Catamarca, Cordoba, Jujuy, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman), Bolivia (Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija), Chile (Antofagasta, Tarapaca), Peru (Apurimac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cuzco, Huancavelica, lea, Junin, Lima, Moquegua, Puno, Tacna).
Currently 34 species to debate, plus 4 likely (or more) subspecies:[(5.) = ex Soehrensia s.s.]
– Lobivia arachnacantha* Burning & F.Ritter 1956
– Lobivia aurea* (Britton & Rose) Backeberg 1934
– Lobivia aurea subsp. fallax* (Oehme) J.Lode 2013
– Lobivia aurea subsp. shaferi* (Britton & Rose) J.Lode 2013
– Lobivia backebergii* (Werdem. ex Backeb.) Backeb. 1935
– Lobivia (S.) bruchii* Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia caineana* cardenas 1952
– Lobivia callochrysea* (F.Ritter) J.Lode 2013
– Lobivia calorubra* (Cardenas) Rausch 1987
– Lobivia cardenasiana* Rausch 1972
– Lobivia chrysantha* (Werderm.) Backeb. 1935
– Lobivia chrysochete* (Werderm.) Wessner 1938
– Lobivia cinnabarina* (Hook.) Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia ferox* Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia (S.) formosa* (Pfeiff.) Dodds 1937
– Lobivia haematantha* (Speg.) Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia haematantha subsp. densispina*(Werderm.) Rausch & G.D.Rowley 1982
– Lobivia hertrichiana* Backeb. 1933
– Lobivia jajoana* Backeberg 1934
– Lobivia (S.) kieslingii* Rausch 1977
– Lobivia lateritia* (Gurke) Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia marsoneri* (Werderm.) Backeb. 1935
– Lobivia maximiliana* (Heyd. ex A.Dietrich) Backeb. 1937
– Lobivia minutiflora (Rausch) Schlumpberger & Lowry 2013
– Lobivia obrepanda* (Salm-Dyck) Schlumpb. 2012
– Lobivia ollgotricha* Cardenas 1963
– Lobivia pampana* Britton & Rose 1922 (= L. mistiensis)
– Lobivia pentlandii* (Hook.) Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia pugionacantha* (Rose & Boed.) Backeb. 1935
– Lobivia pugionacantha subsp. haemantha (Rausch) Guiggi 2012
– Lobivia rauschii* Zecher 1974 (= Lobivia pojoensis Rausch 1968)
– Lobivia saltensis* (Speg.) Britton & Rose 1922
– Lobivia schieliana* Backeb. 1957
– Lobivia silvestrii* (Speg.) G.D.Rowley 1967
– Lobivia stilowiana Backeb. 1949
– Lobivia tegeleriana* Backeb. 1936
– Lobivia hegeliana* Wessner 1939
– Lobivia winterana F.Ritter 1970
– Lobivia wrightiana Backeb. 1937
References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" - ISBN 978-84-617-3723-9 (Vol. 1)