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Acanthocereus

Acanthocereus
Family: Cactaceae
Acanthocereus image
  • FNA
  • Resources
Bruce D. Parfitt & Arthur C. Gibson in Flora of North America (vol. 4)
Shrubs, erect to arching, clambering, or climbing, often sparingly branched, sometimes forming impenetrable thickets. Roots diffuse, adventitious where arching stems touch soil. Stems segmented or unsegmented, green, greatly elongate, angled, 30-400[-700] × (4-)6-10 cm; ribs 3-5[-7], narrowly triangular to winglike, very prominent, 3-5 cm deep, less than 1 cm thick, rib crests undulate; areoles widely spaced, located next to sinuses, 2-5 cm apart along ribs, circular to oval, short woolly. Spines [0-]4-10 per areole, diffusely spreading, brown or reddish [white, yellowish, or black], aging gray, ± straight, acicular to subulate, terete or somewhat flattened, longest spines 10-40[-70] mm, hard; radial spines [0-]6-8 per areole, 5-25 mm; central spines [0-]1-2[-4] per areole, 0-40 mm. Flowers nocturnal, lateral to terminal on stems 1 or more years old, at adaxial edge of areoles, funnelform, [11-]14-20[-25] cm; outer tepals green or purple tinged, lanceolate-linear, 3-5 × 1 cm; inner tepals white, broadly linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 5-15 × 1-4 cm, margins entire or minutely denticulate; ovary minutely scaly, spiny [spineless], with short wool; stigma lobes 10-15, white, to 12 mm. Fruits indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent longitudinally, red to red-purple, spheric, ovoid, ellipsoid, oblong, or pyriform, 30-80[-120] mm, fleshy or juicy [tough in A. columbianus], scaly, spiny [or spineless]; scales deciduous; pulp red; floral remnant persistent. Seeds black, broadly obovoid, to 4.8 mm, smooth and shiny; testa cells flat. x = 11.

Acanthocereus needs critical taxonomic study. E. F. Anderson (2001) followed W. Barthlott and D. R. Hunt (1993) in recognizing six species; other accounts have recognized up to twelve species or as few as two (A. tetragonus and A. occidentalis Britton & Rose).

Species within checklist: Western Rangeland Plant Identification List
Acanthocereus atropurpureus
Media resource of Acanthocereus atropurpureus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus castellae
Media resource of Acanthocereus castellae
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus chiapensis
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus columbianus
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus cuixmalensis
Media resource of Acanthocereus cuixmalensis
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus horridus
Media resource of Acanthocereus horridus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus maculatus
Media resource of Acanthocereus maculatus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus oaxacensis
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus occidentalis
Media resource of Acanthocereus occidentalis
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus paradoxus
Media resource of Acanthocereus paradoxus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus pentagonus
Media resource of Acanthocereus pentagonus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus subinermis
Media resource of Acanthocereus subinermis
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus tepalcatepecanus
Media resource of Acanthocereus tepalcatepecanus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus tetragonus
Media resource of Acanthocereus tetragonus
Map not
Available
Acanthocereus undulosus
Media
not available
Map not
Available
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