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| The genera of Cactaceae |
Unless indicated otherwise, the following attributes are implicit throughout the descriptions, except where the characters concerned are inapplicable.
The plants non-laticiferous; succulent; 'cactoid'. The plants’ appearance dominated neither by crowded areolar structures nor by tubercles covering the areoles. The plants not vegetatively reduced to tubercles; not as in Blossfeldia. The stems neither cephaliate nor pseudocephaliate. The plants terrestrial and self supporting; not producing aerial roots; without cladodes; not developing conspicuous trunks. The stems not columnar. The shoots formed conventionally (externally). The branches resembling the main stem. The tubercles neither grooved nor ridged adaxially. The areoles without glochids. Central spines not forming a cross. The spines without sheaths; never hooked.
The receptacle and the ovary free. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium. The hypanthial tube not S-shaped. The scales of the hypanthial tube not spine-tipped. The androecium without staminodes. Stamens adnate to the perianth; not separated from the perianth by a ring of hairs; not grouped; free of one another. Gynoecium inferior. Placentation parietal. The funicles not circinate.
The mature fruit without the persistent style characteristic of Cereus (q.v.); without watery and translucent pulp. The seeds not hairy; wingless; without a strophiole hiding the hilum; without a mucilage sheath.
General anatomy. Laticifers without laticifers.
Physiology. CAM.
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’.