''Soehrensia candicans'' is a species of
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, ...
from northern and western
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
(
Monte Desert
The Monte Desert is a South American desert, lying entirely within Argentina and covering approximately the submontane areas of Catamarca, La Rioja, San Juan, San Luis and Mendoza Provinces, plus the western half of La Pampa Province and the ext ...
). It has large fragrant white flowers that open at night.
[, pp. 260–261]
Description
''Soehrensia candicans'' has a shrubby growth habit, with individual stems up to tall. The plant as a whole can be as much as across. The stems are light green, with a diameter of up to and have 9–11 low ribs. The large white
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 are spaced at and produce brownish yellow spines, the central spines being up to long, the radial spines only up to .
[
The fragrant white flowers open at night. They are large, up to across and long.][
File:Echinopsis candicans (3).jpg, Spines
File:Echinopsis candicans (5).jpg, Plants growing in habitat in Mendoza, Argentina
File:Echinopsis candicans Sebastián Bressan Reinhard.jpg, Flower
File:Soehrensia candicans 'Brevispinulosus' (429783727).jpg, ''Soehrensia candicans'' 'Brevispinulosus'
]
Distribution
''Soehrensia candicans'' is widespread in the Argentine provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, Córdoba, La Rioja, La Pampa, Buenos Aires and San Luis in the foothills of the Andes and Sierras of the Pampas at altitudes of 100 to 2000 meters.[
]
Taxonomy
The species was first described in print by Joseph zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck
Joseph Franz Maria Anton Hubert Ignatz Fürst und Altgraf zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck (4 September 1773 at Castle Dyck near Neuss – 21 March 1861 in Nice) was a German aristocrat, amateur botanist and owner of Castle Dyck.
Early life
...
in 1834 in his work ''Hortus Dyckensis'', where he attributed the name ''Cereus candicans'' to Gillies.[, p. 335.] In 1920, Britton and Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
placed the species in ''Trichocereus
''Trichocereus'' is a genus of Cactus, cacti native species, native to South America (Bolivia, northern Chile, Ecuador and Peru).
Species
, Plants of the World Online accepted three species:
References
External links
*
*
Cacti of So ...
''.[ In a 1987 publication, David Hunt transferred the species to the genus ''Echinopsis'', attributing this placement to Frédéric Weber.][
] The broad circumscription
Circumscription may refer to:
* Circumscribed circle
* Circumscription (logic)
*Circumscription (taxonomy)
* Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthr ...
of ''Echinopsis'' remains controversial; the genus is accepted not to be 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 ...
.
Pharmacology
''Soehrensia candicans'' contains 0.5–5.0% hordenine
Hordenine is an alkaloid of the phenethylamine class that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, taking its name from one of the most common, barley (''Hordeum'' species). Chemically, hordenine is the ''N''-methyl derivative of ''N''-methyltyra ...
,
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q205933
Cacti of South America
Flora of Argentina
candicans
Plants described in 1834