''Consolea corallicola'' is a species of

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Gre ...

known by the common names Florida semaphore cactus and semaphore pricklypear. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

in the United States, where it is limited to the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral island, coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of ...

.''Consolea corallicola''.
Center for Plant Conservation.

Description

This cactus is a species of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

''Consolea corallicola''.
Flora of North America. which grows up to eight feet/2.4 meters tall. The stem segments are up to 40 centimeters long and are "copiously armed" with pink spines which can exceed 12 centimeters in length. The spines on the trunk all point downward and are the largest spines on the plant. The flowers, which have a scent reminiscent of rotting meat, have fleshy outer

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

s and red-colored inner tepals that reach 2.5 centimeters in length. Flowering occurs year-round, with a peak season in December through April. This cactus is

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 a ...

, forming colonies of "trunked" plants and several "pups".''Opuntia corallicola''.
The Nature Conservancy. This species' common name refers to its resemblance to

railway semaphore signal Railway semaphore signal is one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore ...

Distribution

It has been extirpated from several of the Keys, including Big Pine Key, the island where it was first discovered in 1919. Today there are two populations, one on

Little Torch Key Little Torch Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys. U.S. Route 1 (also known as the Overseas Highway), crosses the key at about mile markers 28–29. It is immediately preceded to the northeast by Big Pine Key, and is followed by Middle ...

and one on Swan Key. There is also a patch of plants growing where several fragments were planted on

North Key Largo North Key Largo is a census-designated place (CDP) in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,244 at the 2010 census. It includes two private clubs, the Ocean Reef Club and the Key Largo Anglers Club and is reached from the m ...

. Because the plant is colonial, with what appear to be several plants actually being parts of one genetic individual, populations are very small, sometimes containing fewer than five true individuals. One population is composed of only male plants and cannot reproduce sexually. There are a total of under 20 distinct individuals living in the wild today. It is listed by the IUCN as "critically endangered."

Habitat and ecology

The habitat for this species is bare rock with thin pockets of

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

located in hardwood hammocks or the

ecotone An ecotone is a transition area between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. It may be narrow or wide, and it may be local (the zone between a field and forest) or regional (the transition between forest and gras ...

between hammock and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

habitat. The substrate is Key Largo

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

with a covering of sand. The habitat is near

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Associated species include '' Sporobolus virginicus'', ''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. Range Locations it is known from in ...

'', ''

Maytenus phyllanthoides ''Maytenus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indi ...

'', '' Manilkara bahamensis'', '' Hippomane mancinella'', and ''Opuntia stricta'' var. ''dillenii''.

Conservation

This "is an extremely rare species" that is "near extinction", according to many conservation sources, considering that it "may very well be the most endangered plant in the United States". The worst immediate threat to the species today is '' Cactoblastis cactorum'', an

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

, non-native species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

which eats cacti.Life History of the Cactus Moth.
USDA APHIS. It is also threatened by

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depe ...

activity and sea-level rise, which can affect it because it lives near sea level. It has trouble reproducing because one population is all male and can only reproduce vegetatively. It is also suffering from a

rot Rot(s) or rotting may refer to: Decay Organic matter * Rot, decomposition of organic matter ** Dry rot, of wood ** Root rot ** Wet rot, of wood * Necrosis, of tissue Technology * Bit rot, data degradation ** Software rot, a form of bit rot * Di ...

disease. Other threats include scale insects,

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set ag ...

and habitat destruction and degradation.

References

External links

CalPhotos Photo Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1127462 Opuntioideae Endemic flora of Florida Plants described in 1930