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Stenocereus

Stenocereus
Family: Cactaceae
Stenocereus image
Anthony Mendoza
  • FNA
  • VPAP
  • Resources
Bruce D. Parfitt & Arthur C. Gibson in Flora of North America (vol. 4)


During the nineteenth century, the ribbed columnar cacti, numbering in the hundreds, were generally classified as species of Cereus. In the early twentieth century, however, Cereus, in the broadest sense, was subdivided into many smaller and more homogeneous units, initially by N. L. Britton and J. N. Rose (1909, 1919-1923). The phylogenetic relationships of North American columnar species were clarified by studies of silica bodies in the epidermis and hypodermis covering the stems of certain Mexican species, distinctive pigment cells, called pearl cells, in the fruit pulp, and sugar-bearing oleanane triterpenes in stem tissues (A. C. Gibson and K. E. Horak 1978). Species possessing all three derived characters were removed from Lemaireocereus, Machaerocereus, Rathbunia, Hertrichocereus, Ritterocereus, and Marshallocereus and placed into the genus Stenocereus, which was further emended by removing species without the shared characters.

Several of the Central American species assigned to Stenocereus by E. F. Anderson (2001) are too poorly studied to know whether or not they have the diagnostic characters for the genus. A carefully done DNA phylogeny for all taxa with possible inclusion in Stenocereus is needed, especially to define more precisely the phylogenetic lineages and patterns of speciation (R. S. Wallace and A. C. Gibson 2002).

JANAS 29(1)
PLANTS: Columnar trees or shrubs, to 15+ m tall. STEM: erect, arching or procumbent to prostrate, usually branched, the trunk, when present, to 40 cm in diameter, glabrous; ribs 4-20, rounded and vertically continuous to strongly tuberculate. LEAVES: of long shoots minute or obsolete. AREOLES: circular to elliptic, 0.5-4 cm apart on rib. SPINES terete to angular, divergent, to 28 per areole; central-most spines stout or absent, but sometimes flattened and deflexed, to 7.5 cm long; peripheral spines weaker, to 3.5 cm long. FLOWERS: nocturnal or diurnal, solitary, subterminal or lateral, perfect, actinomorphic to zygomorphic, campanulate, funnelform to salverform, (4-)6-12 cm long, (3-)5-10 cm wide; ovary cylindric, ovoid to globose, bearing fleshy bracts, usually green with reddish apices, triangular, subtending axillary trichomes and up to 18 spines per areole; floral tube scaly; inner tepals white to rose, rarely yellow or red, oblong to obovate, obtuse; stamens many, included to strongly exserted, the filaments slender; style white; stigma lobes up to 15, white. FRUITS: green to red, glabrous, scaly, often spiny (spine clusters deciduous from ripe fruits), glabrous, globose to ovoid, 3-8 cm long, indehiscent or splitting irregularly; pulp white, red to purplish, fleshy, mostly edible. SEEDS: numerous, brownish, dull, verrucose, or less commonly, black glossy, finely pitted, 0.7-3 mm long. NOTES: 18-20 spp.; sc AZ, Mex., coastal C. Amer., n S. Amer. and W. Ind. (Greek: Steno = narrow, with reference to stems + Cereus = an old generic name for columnar cacti). REFERENCES: Pinkava, Donald J. 1995. Cactaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 29(1): 2, 6.
Species within checklist: NAU-Yuma BSC 414
Stenocereus alamosensis
Media resource of Stenocereus alamosensis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus alamosensis x thurberi
Media
not available
Map not
Available
Stenocereus aragonii
Media resource of Stenocereus aragonii
Map not
Available
Stenocereus beneckei
Media resource of Stenocereus beneckei
Map not
Available
Stenocereus chacalapensis
Media resource of Stenocereus chacalapensis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus chrysocarpus
Media resource of Stenocereus chrysocarpus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus dumortieri
Media resource of Stenocereus dumortieri
Map not
Available
Stenocereus eichlamii
Media resource of Stenocereus eichlamii
Map not
Available
Stenocereus eruca
Media resource of Stenocereus eruca
Map not
Available
Stenocereus fimbriatus
Media resource of Stenocereus fimbriatus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus fricii
Media resource of Stenocereus fricii
Map not
Available
Stenocereus griseus
Media resource of Stenocereus griseus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus gummosus
Media resource of Stenocereus gummosus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus huastecorum
Media resource of Stenocereus huastecorum
Map not
Available
Stenocereus humilis
Media resource of Stenocereus humilis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus hystrix
Media resource of Stenocereus hystrix
Map not
Available
Stenocereus kerberi
Media resource of Stenocereus kerberi
Map not
Available
Stenocereus littoralis
Media resource of Stenocereus littoralis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus marginatus
Media resource of Stenocereus marginatus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus martinezii
Media resource of Stenocereus martinezii
Map not
Available
Stenocereus montanus
Media resource of Stenocereus montanus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus pruinosus
Media resource of Stenocereus pruinosus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus queretaroensis
Media resource of Stenocereus queretaroensis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus quevedonis
Media resource of Stenocereus quevedonis
Map not
Available
Stenocereus standleyi
Media resource of Stenocereus standleyi
Map not
Available
Stenocereus stellatus
Media resource of Stenocereus stellatus
Map not
Available
Stenocereus thurberi
Media resource of Stenocereus thurberi
Map not
Available
Stenocereus treleasei
Media resource of Stenocereus treleasei
Map not
Available
Stenocereus yunckeri
Media resource of Stenocereus yunckeri
Map not
Available
Stenocereus zopilotensis
Media resource of Stenocereus zopilotensis
Map not
Available
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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MG-70-19-0057-19].

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