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| The genera of Cactaceae |
~ (E.g.) Pilosocereus
Including Floribunda F. Ritter
The plants cerioid; not ‘low and very compacted’. The stems spiny (usually), or not spiny; elongate cylindric; neither cephaliate nor pseudocephaliate. The plants some much branched; erect; shrubby; clustering; to 3.5 m high. The stems columnar. The main stem not remaining dominant; woody, more or less cylindrical. The branches cylindrical. The stems segmented, or not segmented; ribbed and grooved. The ribs 4–21; longitudinal (thickened around the areoles). The grooves wide to deep and narrow. The plants more or less conspicuously tuberculate (the ribs often thickened under the areoles, or transversely furrowed between them), or not conspicuously tuberculate. The tubercles connected by the ribs; borne in longitudinal series. The areoles associated with tubercles to not tubercle-associated; closely approximating, or distant; borne in longitudinal series; simple (round, white or brown). The flowering areoles differing in form from the non-flowering ones to resembling the non-flowering ones (sometimes with more wool). The areoles without glochids; with spines (few to many), or without spines. The spines when present, solitary to clustered; 2–25; 0.3–3.5 cm long; with radials and centrals differentiated (the radials shorter). Central spines 1–9; conspicuously forming a cross, or not forming a cross. Radial spines 3–16. The spines straight. The mature stems leafless.
Flowering at night, or at night and during the day (i.e., sometimes remaining open). The flowers lateral; one per areole; tubular; sessile; medium-sized, or large; 1.6–7.5 cm long; regular. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium. The hypanthial tube ribbed, with thick blue wax; not naked; with scales (these small, widely spaced). The axils of the scales of the hypanthial tube more or less naked, or not naked (then subtending a litle wool). The hypanthial tube spineless. The perianth sequentially intergrading from sepals to petals; members short; yellow. The perianth segments short, relatively short, broad.
The mature fruit 1.6–5.5 cm long; globose to ovoid; glaucous purple to blue, or greenish with violet sheen; with persistent floral remains; fleshy; with characteristically watery and translucent pulp; indehiscent. The seeds not encased in bony arils; with hilum and micropyle conjunct. Cotyledons reduced or vestigial.
Natural Distribution. Brazil.
Classification. 5 species. Subfamily Cactoideae. Tribe Cereeae.
Images. • Cipocereus minensis: www.wikiwand.com. • Cipocereus minensis: www.pinterest.com.
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’.
