This article is about the genus. For the town, see: Matucana, Peru

Matucana, Peru

Matucana is a town in Central Peru, capital of the province Huarochirí in the region Lima. It's located to the East of Lima at 2,378 m above sea level, along the Central Road at km 74....

Matucana is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of cacti

Cactus

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...

 (family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Cactaceae), containing approximately 20 species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of mostly globular plants. The genus is only known from Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, mostly along the Marañón River

Marañón River

The Marañón River rises about 160 km to the northeast of Lima, Peru, flows through a deeply-eroded Andean valley in a northwesterly direction, along the eastern base of the Cordillera of the Andes, as far as 5 degrees 36' southern latitude; then it makes a great bend to the northeast, and...

.

The first species was discovered near the town of Matucana

Matucana, Peru

Matucana is a town in Central Peru, capital of the province Huarochirí in the region Lima. It's located to the East of Lima at 2,378 m above sea level, along the Central Road at km 74....

 and described as Echinocactus haynii by Otto

Christoph Friedrich Otto

Christoph Friedrich Otto was a German gardener and botanist. He was born in Schneeberg, Saxony. From 1805 to 1843 he was inspector of the Botanical Garden in Berlin. Together with Albert Gottfried Dietrich he edited the Allgemeinen Gartenzeitung from 1833 until his death in 1856 in Berlin.The...

 in 1849. Matucana was erected by Britton & Rose in 1922. The genus Eomatucana F.Ritter has been brought into synonymy with this genus.

Matucana is rarely cultivated. Yet some species are endangered due to
collection for the specialist market.

Description

Low, globose or shortly cylindrical bodies, either solitary or clustering. The flowers are subapical, more or less zygomorphic, diurnal, in various colours, but mainly red, yellow or pink.