''Bergerocactus emoryi'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

cactus 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, ...

, known commonly as the golden-spined cereus, golden snake cactus, velvet cactus or golden club cactus. It is a relatively small cactus, but it can form dense thickets or colonies, with the dense yellow spines giving off a velvety appearance when backlit by the sun. From April to May, yellow, green-tinged flowers emerge, which transform into reddish, globular fruit. This species is native to the

California Floristic Province The California Floristic Province (CFP) is a floristic province with a Mediterranean-type climate located on the Pacific Coast of North America with a distinctive flora similar to other regions with a winter rainfall and summer drought climat ...

, and is found in northwestern

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and a small part of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

and on the southern

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. Where the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

of the California Floristic Province collides with the subtropical

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

near

El Rosario ''El rosario'' is a 1944 Mexican romantic drama film directed by Juan José Ortega. The film is based on a novel by Florence L. Barclay. It stars Andrea Palma, Tomás Perrín, and Tana Devodier Tana may refer to: Places Africa * Lake Tana, a ...

, hybrids with two other species of cacti are found. It is the sole member of the monotypic

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 ...

''Bergerocactus'', named after German botanist

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 Fra ...

Description

This species is a

shrub A shrub or 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 by their multiple ...

-like cactus, forming

thicket A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in th ...

s of columnar to

prostrate Prostrate may refer to:- *Prostration, a position of submission in religion etc. *Prone position, a face-down orientation of the body *Prostrate shrub A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just above the ...

stems. The colonies have a velvety appearance when backlit by the sun. The stems are usually less than long, covered in numerous, interlaced, yellow and needle-like spines. The stems are in diameter, cylindrical, and with 12 to 18 ribs. There are 30 to 45 spines per

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 ...

, and most are less than in diameter. There are 1 to 3 central spines, which are curved downward, the longest less than . The radial spines are straight. The

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s emerge either laterally or at the apex of the stem, at the distal margin of the spine cluster. The flower is long, and in diameter. The

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 ...

is free of hair, and densely spiny. The outer

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower. It is a structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepal ...

parts are yellow, with the tips more-or-less red, and the midveins green, with all of the inner perianth colored yellow. After blooming, a reddish, globular

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

emerges, covered in dense spines, and extruding seeds and pulp at the tip. The seeds are large, shiny and black.

Taxonomy

The cactus has a chromosome count of 2n=44. There is an extensive number of common names, which include the golden cereus, golden-spined cereus, golden snake cactus, velvet cactus, golden club cactus. The plant is also known as snake cactus, though this latter name also applies to ''

Echinocereus ''Echinocereus'' is a genus of ribbed, usually small to medium-sized, cylindrical shaped cacti, comprising about 70 species native to the southern United States and Mexico in very sunny, rocky places. Usually the flowers are large and the fru ...

pensilis''.

Hybrids

The golden cereus is known to hybridize with other species of cacti. Both occur in the vicinity of

. Hybrids include:

× ''Myrtgerocactus lindsayi''

Moran Moran may refer to: Places Antarctica * Moran Bluff, Marie Byrd Land * Moran Buttress, Marie Byrd Land * Moran Glacier, Alexander Island Asia * Moran Town, Assam, India * Moran, Israel, a kibbutz * Moran Hill, North Korea * Moran Station, a s ...

(Lindsay hybrid cactus) A naturally occurring intergeneric hybrid with ''

Myrtillocactus cochal ''Myrtillocactus cochal'', the cochal or candelabra cactus (a name it shares with other plants), is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to the Baja California peninsula. Individuals can reach , and are hardy to USDA zone ...

''. It is a

triploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...

plant, which helps substantiate that it is a hybrid between the diploid ''M. cochal'' and the tetraploid ''B. emoryi''. It has light-yellow flowers, and is known only from a few plants. Its generic name comes from those of its parents (''Mytillocactus'' and ''Bergerocactus'') and its

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

, ''"lindsayi"'', is in honor of the botanist George Lindsay. The cactus was first found by Lindsay near

El Rosario, Baja California is a town in San Quintín Municipality, Baja California, located on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. The census of 2010 reported a population of 1,704 inhabitants. Geography El Rosario is a small town on the west coast of the state of Baja Californ ...

, in 1950 while on a trip to look for '' Pacherocactus''. Specimens were cultivated at the

Desert Botanical Garden Desert Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in Papago Park, at 1201 N. Galvin Parkway in Phoenix, central Arizona. Founded by the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society in 1937 and established at this site in 1939, the garden now ...

, finally blooming in 1961 and formally described the following year.

× ''Pacherocactus orcuttii''

( K. Brandegee) G.D. Rowley (Orcutt hybrid cactus) A naturally occurring intergeneric hybrid with ''

Pachycereus pringlei ''Pachycereus pringlei'' (also known as Mexican giant cardon or elephant cactus) is a species of large cactus native to northwestern Mexico, in the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, and Sonora. It is commonly known as ''cardón'', a ...

'', discovered near

. The plant's generic name is formed from those of its parents (''Pachycereus'' and ''Bergerocactus''). Sometimes it can be found listed as ''Pachycereus'' × ''Bergerocactus''. It can grow to a height of about 3.5 m and a diameter of about 10 cm. The cactus does not thrive below 10 °C. Its flowers are green-brown in color and of about 4 cm in size.

Distribution, habitat, and conservation

The plant is near-endemic to

, with the exception of populations on Santa Catalina Island,

San Clemente Island San Clemente Island (Tongva: ''Kinkipar''; Spanish: ''Isla de San Clemente'') is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. It is administer ...

, and

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. The populations remaining in San Diego are disjunct, located in

Border Field State Park Border Field State Park is a state park of California, United States, containing beach and coastal habitat on the Mexico–United States border. The park is within the city limits of Imperial Beach in San Diego County, next to the suburb of Play ...

Torrey Pines State Park Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park in San Diego, California. The reserve is one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast, covering . It is bordered immediately to the south by Torrey Pines Golf Co ...

, and

Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument () is a U.S. national monument at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event mark ...

, as the urban development in San Diego has relegated many species to these protected areas. Other rare species that inhabit these enclaves of maritime succulent scrub in San Diego include Shaw's Agave, the Torrey Pine, the Tapertip liveforever, cliff spurge, and the San Diego barrel cactus. Aside from urban development, the plant is also threatened by collecting and feral goats. The species is represented on two of the southern

California Channel Islands The Channel Islands () are an eight-island archipelago located within the Southern California Bight in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California. They define the Santa Barbara Channel between the islands and the California mainland. The ...

. On San Clemente Island, the golden cactus is found inhabiting rocky canyon walls. In Baja California, the species continues from the border south into the succulent scrub to

. It occurs on numerous islands off the coast; however,

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and other anthropogenic influences are threatening the insular populations. On Isla San Martin, a

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

island off of the San Quintin Bay, only a single clump of the cactus is left.

Gallery

File:Bergerocactus emoryi 30796037.jpg, A growing stem File:Bergerocactus emoryi 33128251.jpg, Flowers and flower buds File:Bergerocactus emoryi 93230817.jpg, Growing in habitat File:Bergerocactus emoryi 33820754.jpg, The flower File:Bergerocactus emoryi 33128249.jpg, A budding flower

References

External links

CalFlora Database: ''Bergerocactus emoryi '' (Cunyado, Golden spined cereus)

Jepson eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Bergerocactus emoryi ''

USDA Plants Profile for ''Bergerocactus emoryi ''

UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Bergerocactus emoryi ''
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q8174363, from2=Q134367 Echinocereeae Cacti of Mexico Cacti of the United States Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Cactoideae genera Monotypic Cactaceae genera Endangered biota of Mexico Endangered flora of North America Natural history of San Diego County, California Taxa named by Nathaniel Lord Britton Taxa named by Joseph Nelson Rose