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''Acanthocereus'' is a
The plants form bushes which later usually overhanging or spreading and are rarely tree-shaped. Stems have 3 to 5 ribs, typically thin, with stout spines. The large, white, funnel-shaped
''
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of cacti
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 Gree ...
. Its species take the form of shrubs with arching or climbing stems up to several meters in height. The generic name is derived from the Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
word ''άκανθα'' (''acantha''), meaning spine, and the Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
word ''cereus'', meaning candle
A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time.
A person who makes candl ...
. The genus is native to the mostly tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
Americas from Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and the southern tip of 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 ...
to the northern part of South America ( Colombia and Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...
), including islands of the Caribbean.
Description
The plants form bushes which later usually overhanging or spreading and are rarely tree-shaped. Stems have 3 to 5 ribs, typically thin, with stout spines. The large, white, funnel-shaped flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...
s are night-opening, long and in diameter and open at night. The little scaly pericarpel and the long, stiff, upright flower tube are covered with a few thorns that soon decay and little wool. The fruits are spherical to ovoid or pear-shaped red or green, bare or thorny, tear-open or non-tear-open and contain broadly oval, shiny black seeds of up to 4.8 millimeter.
Taxonomy
The name was first used byGeorge Engelmann
George Engelmann, also known as Georg Engelmann, (2 February 1809 – 4 February 1884) was a German-American botanist. He was instrumental in describing the flora of the west of North America, then very poorly known to Europeans; he was particu ...
in 1863, although he did not describe its characters, leaving it to 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 Fr ...
in 1905 to define it as a subsection of ''Cereus
Cereus, waxy in Latin, may refer to:
* ''Cereus'' (anemone), a genus of sea anemones in the family Sagartiidae
* ''Cereus'' (plant), a genus of cacti (the family Cactaceae)
* Ceroid cactus, any of a number of cacti with very elongated bodies, ...
''. In 1909, Nathaniel Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose elevated ''Acanthocereus'' to a genus.
Species
,Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...
accepted the following species:
Species formerly placed in the genus that have been moved to other genera include:
*''Acanthocereus brasiliensis'' Britton & Rose → '' Strophocactus brasiliensis''
*''Acanthocereus sicariguensis'' Croizat & Tamayo → '' Strophocactus sicariguensis''
Distribution
''Acanthocereus tetragonus
''Acanthocereus tetragonus'', is a species of cactus that is native to Florida and the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. The species is invasive in N ...
'', commonly known as Barbed-wire Cactus, Chaco, Nun-tsusuy, or Órgano, is the most widespread of the genus and the largest, reaching tall.
References
External links
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q133872 Hylocereeae Cactoideae genera Cacti of North America Cacti of South America Flora of the Caribbean Flora of Central America Taxa named by Alwin Berger Taxa named by George Engelmann Taxa named by Nathaniel Lord Britton Taxa named by Joseph Nelson Rose