''Cereus hexagonus'' or lady of the night cactus is a species of columnar cactus found in northern South America.
Description
''Cereus hexagonus'' grows like a tree with erect shoots that branch out from near the base and can reach heights of growth of up to 15 metres. The cylindrical, segmented, glaucous light green shoots have a diameter of up to 12 centimeters and more. There are four to seven thin, wavy ribs that are 3 to 5 centimeters high. The areoles on it are small. The thorns are missing on young shoots or there are only a few. Older shoots have 8 to 10 or more unequal spines per areole. The initially brown thorns become lighter later. They are 5 to 6 centimeters long.
The white flowers are 20 to 25 centimeters long. The 5.5 to 13 centimeters long, egg-shaped fruits are light red. They contain white or pink flesh.
Distribution
''Cereus hexagonus'' is distributed in
Guyana
Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...
,
French Guiana
French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
,
Suriname
Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
,
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
and northerm
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
.
The species is classified as Least Concern (LC) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Taxonomy
The first description as ''Cactus hexagonus'' was published in 1753 by Linnaeus in his work ''Species Plantarum''.
Philip Miller placed the species in the genus Cereus in 1768.
References
External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q1055079
hexagonus
Taxa named by Philip Miller
Flora of Guyana
Flora of Suriname
Flora of Venezuela