Armatocereus
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''Armatocereus'' (from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''armatus'', "armed" and ''cereus'', "pliant/soft") is a
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of mostly tree-like
cacti A cactus (: cacti, cactuses, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae (), a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, ...
from
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
(
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
and
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
). These species have a conspicuous constriction at the end of the annual growth. The flowers are mostly white, with a more or less spiny
ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...
. The fruits are mostly spiny.


Description

''Armatocereus'' species are columnar cacti, bushlike or treelike, with cylindrical upright branched stems. The stems have 5–12 distinct ribs, and are made up of sections with a narrower "neck" between them, corresponding to annual growth. The large
areole In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cactus, cacti out of which grow clusters of Thorns, spines, and prickles, spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cactus, cacti, and identify them as a family distinct fr ...
s bear strong spines, rarely few or none. The narrow tubular flowers appear at night, and have a spiny ovary and floral tube and white petals (red in '' A. rauhii''). The red or green fruit is large, globular or ovoid, with strong spines that are lost on maturity. It contains large black seeds, ovoid or kidney-shaped.


Taxonomy

The genus name was first mentioned in print by
Curt Backeberg Curt Backeberg (2 August 1894 in Lüneburg, Germany – 14 January 1966) was a German horticulturist especially known for the collection and classification of cacti. Biography He travelled extensively through Central and South America, and pu ...
in 1934, and again in 1935. However, at the time, the
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...
required a Latin description for a genus name to be accepted, and this was not published until 1938. ''Armatocereus'' means "armed cereus", referring to the spines.


Phylogeny and classification

Classifications based on morphological characters placed ''Armatocereus'' in the subfamily Cactoideae, tribe Browningieae. However,
molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
studies have repeatedly shown that the tribe Browningieae is not
monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
(like most other traditional cactus tribes). A 2011 study places ''Armatocereus'' in a clade called "PHB", as it contains members of the previously defined tribes Pachycereeae, Hylocereeae and Browningieaes; other Browningieae members, including ''
Browningia ''Browningia'' is a genus of cacti, comprising 11 accepted and 3 unresolved species. It is named for Webster E Browning (1869-1942), director of the Instituto Inglés, Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Description The bushy or tree-like, usu ...
'', are placed in a more distantly related BCT clade. The main clades in the resulting phylogeny are shown below.


Species

As of 2025
Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
accept the following species: Other sources, including Anderson (2001), list further species not accepted in The Plant List: *''Armatocereus arduus'' F.Ritter = ''A. rauhii'' *''Armatocereus ghiesbreghtii'' (K.Schum.) F.Ritter – status unresolved in The Plant List *''Armatocereus mataranus'' F.Ritter = ''A. matucanensis'' *''Armatocereus oligogonus'' Rauh & Backeb. = ''A. matucanensis'' *''Armatocereus riomajensis'' Rauh & Backeb. = ''A. matucanensis'' *''Armatocereus rupicola'' F.Ritter = ''A. rauhii''


Distribution and habitat

The genus is found in
Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
and
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, with most species occurring in Peru. (Older sources include '' Stenocereus humilis'' in the genus, which occurs in Columbia.)


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133868 Cactoideae genera Cacti of South America Flora of Ecuador Flora of Peru