''Stenocereus'' (
Gk. ''stenos'', narrow,
L. ''cereus'', candle) is a
genus of columnar or tree-like
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 ...
from the
Baja California Peninsula and other parts of
Mexico,
Arizona in the
United States,
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 ...
,
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
,
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
,
Venezuela and the ABC islands of the
Dutch Caribbean. The genus has been enlarged by the addition of species from several other
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
. A close relative is the peculiar
chinoa or chende cactus, ''
Polaskia chende''.
Description
The
flowers are mostly borne near the
apex of the stems and mostly nocturnal. They are considered easy to grow and generally grow slowly.
''
Stenocereus thurberi'' (the organ pipe cactus) is a well-known member of this
genus and is widely distributed in
Arizona and northern Mexico.
The fruit is similar to a
dragon fruit. Those of ''
Stenocereus gummosus
''Stenocereus gummosus'' is a flowering plant in the family Cactaceae
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 Caryophy ...
'', acidic and very refreshing, are highly favored by the
Seris of northwestern Mexico who call the cactus ''ziix is ccapxl''
- "thing whose fruit is sour". It is commonly known in
Spanish as ''pitaya agria'', or by the English translation
Sour Pitaya
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...
. ''
S. griseus'' (
Dagger Cactus) fruits, locally known as ''iguaraya'', are relished by the
Wayuu from the
La Guajira Peninsula
The Guajira Peninsula ( es, Península de La Guajira, links=no, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, guc, Hikükariby) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the norther ...
of
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 ...
.
[Villalobos ''et al.'' (2007)]
''Stenocereus'' are often used as
ornamental plants in hot and arid regions, and as noted above, some species can double as a fruit crop.
The interior of ''Stenocereus'' trunks often grows to form tough, cane-like stakes suitable for certain kinds of construction. The
Wayuu use those of Dagger Cactus for building
wattle and daub walls, a technique they call ''yotojoro'', after their name for the cactus wood "canes".
Species
File:Sguaro1.jpg, Close-up of organpipe cactus ('' S. thurberi'') spines
File:Fruto de Stenocereus queretaroensis.jpg, Fruit of '' Stenocereus queretaroensis'' prepared for eating
File:Stenocereus gummosus Huntington Desert Garden.jpg, ''Stenocereus gummosus
''Stenocereus gummosus'' is a flowering plant in the family Cactaceae
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 Caryophy ...
'' at the Huntington Desert Garden.
Footnotes
References
*Anderson, Edward F. (2001): ''The Cactus Family''
*Felger, Richard & Moser, Mary B. (1985): ''People of the desert and sea: ethnobotany of the Seri Indians''. University of Arizona Press, Tucson
*Innes, C. & Wall, B. (1995): ''Cacti, Succulents and Bromaliads''. Cassell & The Royal Horticultural Society.
* Villalobos, Soraya; Vargas, Orlando & Melo, Sandra (2007): Uso, manejo y conservacion de ''"yosú", Stenocereus griseus'' (Cactaceae) en la Alta Guajira colombiana
sage, Management and Conservation of ''yosú, Stenocereus griseus'' (Cactaceae), in the Upper Guajira, Colombia panish with English abstract''Acta Biológica Colombiana'' 12(1): 99–112
PDF fulltext
External links
*
cactiguide.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q133435
Cactoideae genera
Cacti of North America
Taxa named by Alwin Berger
Taxa named by Vincenzo Riccobono