Acanthocereus Colombianus on:
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''Acanthocereus'' is a genus of
The plants form bushes which later usually overhanging or spreading and are rarely tree-shaped. Stems have 3 to 5 ribs, typically thin, with stout spines. The large, white, funnel-shaped flowers are night-opening, long and in diameter and open at night. The little scaly pericarpel and the long, stiff, upright flower tube are covered with a few thorns that soon decay and little wool. The fruits are spherical to ovoid or pear-shaped red or green, bare or thorny, tear-open or non-tear-open and contain broadly oval, shiny black seeds of up to 4.8 millimeter.
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cacti
A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...
. Its species take the form of shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
s with arching or climbing stems up to several meters in height. The generic name is derived from the Greek word ''άκανθα'' (''acantha''), meaning spine, and the Latin word ''cereus'', meaning candle. The genus is native to the mostly tropical Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
from Texas and the southern tip of Florida to the northern part of South America (Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and Venezuela), including islands of the Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
.
Description
The plants form bushes which later usually overhanging or spreading and are rarely tree-shaped. Stems have 3 to 5 ribs, typically thin, with stout spines. The large, white, funnel-shaped flowers are night-opening, long and in diameter and open at night. The little scaly pericarpel and the long, stiff, upright flower tube are covered with a few thorns that soon decay and little wool. The fruits are spherical to ovoid or pear-shaped red or green, bare or thorny, tear-open or non-tear-open and contain broadly oval, shiny black seeds of up to 4.8 millimeter.
Taxonomy
The name was first used byGeorge Engelmann
George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; he was particu ...
in 1863, although he did not describe its characters, leaving it to Alwin Berger
Alwin Berger (28 August 1871 – 20 April 1931) was a German botanist best known for his contribution to the nomenclature of succulent plants, particularly agaves and cacti. Born in Germany he worked at the botanical gardens in Dresden and Fran ...
in 1905 to define it as a subsection of '' Cereus''. In 1909, Nathaniel Britton
Nathaniel Lord Britton (January 15, 1859 – June 25, 1934) was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York.
Early life
Britton was born in New Dorp in Staten Island, New York to Jasper ...
and Joseph Nelson Rose elevated ''Acanthocereus'' to a genus.
Species
,Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...
accepted the following species:
Species formerly placed in the genus that have been moved to other genera include:
*''Acanthocereus brasiliensis'' Britton & Rose → ''Strophocactus brasiliensis
''Strophocactus brasiliensis'', synonym ''Pseudoacanthocereus brasiliensis'', is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae. It is endemic to Brazil. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and hot deserts. It is threatened b ...
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*''Acanthocereus sicariguensis'' Croizat & Tamayo → ''Strophocactus sicariguensis
''Strophocactus sicariguensis'', synonym ''Pseudoacanthocereus sicariguensis'', is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae. It is native to Colombia and Venezuela. It has often sprawling thin stems and white funnel-shaped flowers that open at ...
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Distribution
''Acanthocereus tetragonus
''Acanthocereus tetragonus'', is a species of cactus that is native to Florida and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. The species is invasive in New Cal ...
'', commonly known as Barbed-wire Cactus, Chaco, Nun-tsusuy, or Órgano, is the most widespread of the genus and the largest, reaching tall.
References
External links
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q133872 Hylocereeae Cactoideae genera Cacti of North America Cacti of South America Flora of the Caribbean Flora of Central America Taxa named by Alwin Berger Taxa named by George Engelmann Taxa named by Nathaniel Lord Britton Taxa named by Joseph Nelson Rose