To clarify the origin of Dyckia goehringii E. Gross & Rauh, by Pierre J. Braun & Eddie Esteves Pereira in Die Brom. 3: 64-5. 2004
Summary: Dyckia goehringii E. Gross & Rauh is a succulent bromeliad originated from Brazil. The holotype was not collected in eastern Brazil (Minas Gerais) as originally mentioned by Rauh, but in western Brazil in the state of Goias.
In the middle eighties Professor Dr. Werner Rauh visited Eddie Esteves Pereira living in Goiania (Brazil). His farm was outside the city, where he cultivated a multiplicity of newly found and unknown succulent bromeliads and Cactus. Rauh immediately recognized these peculiarities and asked for permission to have examples of these plants so he could describe them. Thereupon he took some plants for further studies as well as for depositing the Holotype in the University of Heidelberg (HEID) and in the herbarium Bradeanum, Rio de Janeiro (HB). In the following years, he described that of Dyckia beateae E. Gross & Rauh, Dyckia braunii Rauh, Dyckia estevesii Rauh, Dyckia lindevaldae Rauh and also Dyckia goehringii E. Gross & Rauh, 1991. The last was named after the Gardener Adalbert Gohring, who in that year had taken care of the xerophytic Bromaliads in the botanical garden of Heidelberg.
We now know that Rauh made a crucial mistake in Dyckia goehringii which should be corrected. Finding the type species in the quoted place is not possible. Rauh stated that it came from Diamantina (in quartz-sand) from the State of Minas Gerais. The type was not found there by Esteves however.
Dyckia goehringii does not grow in South east Brazil but very much further west in the west of the state of Goias, close to the border with Mato Grosso do Sul. In later years Esteves found the species in the area of the border-town Ponte Branca as well further west.
The statement for the Holotype (HB Rauh 67 622), therefore must be corrected as follows:
“ leg. E. Esteves Pereira s.n. 1979, Brazil, west Goias, in vicinity of Portelandia “
Dyckia goehringii is a very attractive rosette, that can be up to 50 cm wide and 30 cm high in habitat. The strong leaves are succulent, on the upper side whitish, on the underside maroon. The inflorescence has up to 25 single flowers and up to 50 cm long.
The species is an inhabitant of the so called Campo Cerrado, as the gigantic savanna landscape in central and west Brazil is named. The place of discovery is below the higher, dominated by the rich rather closed forest, Cerrado. There are open flat areas with rocks and burnt or loose Iron oxide crusts; this gravelly material is named Pedra Canga. Such habitat with a high water loss is where you expect xerophytes, such as cactus,( Discocactus crassispinus P. J. Braun & Esteves ssp. araguaiensis P. J. Braun & Esteves, Pilosocereus densivillosus P. J. Braun & Esteves, Cereus bicolor Rizzini & Mattos f.). In the dry period the temperatures are hardly under 15 °C, in the rain period of October to April these “dry-locations” awake particularly with lichens, weeds and grasses. —SeeRauh 1973-1991
