| | The genera of Cactaceae |
The plants succulent; cerioid; not ‘low and very compacted’. The stems densely spiny; elongate cylindric. The plants basally much branched; erect; more or less shrubby; densely clustering; to 0.4–0.6 m high (the clusters to 2 m wide). The main stem more or less cylindrical. The branches cylindrical. The stems not segmented; low 16–22 ribbed and grooved. The ribs longitudinal. The plants not conspicuously tuberculate. The areoles not tubercle-associated; borne in longitudinal series (closely set along the ribs); simple; woolly (cushioned); with spines. The spines clustered; 35–45 ("about 40"); 0.5–3(–5) cm long; radiating, showing little or no difference between radials and centrals; stiff to flexible; straight; yellowish, darkening with maturity. The mature stems leafless.
Flowering during the day. The flowers lateral; more than one per areole; narrowly funnelform, or tubular; sessile; large; 6–11 cm long; regular. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium. The pericarpel scaly and spiny like the tube. The hypanthial tube not naked; with scales (these small). The axils of the scales of the hypanthial tube not naked (subtending numerous large areoles). The hypanthial tube with spines. The perianth exposed during bud development; white to cream; limb relatively large. Stamens adnate to the perianth (inserted in the throat).
The mature fruit 1.5–3.5 cm long; sub- globose; not naked; densely spiny (the spines yellow); with persistent floral remains; fleshy; indehiscent. The seeds 1–1.5 mm long; small, brown to black; rounded-ellipsoidal or obovate; not encased in bony arils. The testa smooth, without ornamentation. Cotyledons reduced or vestigial.
Natural Distribution. Galapagos Is.
Classification. 1 species (B. nesioticus). Subfamily Cactoideae. Tribe Trichocereeae.
Cf. Hunt, 1967.
Images. • Brachycereus nesioticus: wwwfoundation.org.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2018 onwards. The genera of Cactaceae: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 14th November 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
