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| The genera of Cactaceae |
Including Neoabbottia Britton & Rose
The plants cerioid; not ‘low and very compacted’. The stems spiny; cephaliate, or neither cephaliate nor pseudocephaliate. The plants terrestrial and self supporting, or scrambling, or climbing; not producing aerial roots; much branched (often at angles); prostrate, or erect; shrubby, or tree-like (Neoabbottia); with well formed trunks, or not developing conspicuous trunks; to 8–10 m high (when erect). The stems columnar, or not columnar. The branches usually more or less cylindrical, or angled (or winged). The stems segmented; ribbed and grooved (or winged). The ribs 3–8; longitudinal; thin, high, prominent. The grooves wide. The plants not conspicuously tuberculate, or conspicuously tuberculate to not conspicuously tuberculate (the ribs sometimes distinctly notched, or the areoles clearly raised). The tubercles if so interpreted, connected by the ribs; borne in longitudinal series. The areoles associated with tubercles (sometimes, in the rib notches), or not tubercle-associated; distant; borne in longitudinal series; simple. The flowering areoles differing in form from the non-flowering ones (associated with cephalia), or resembling the non-flowering ones. The areoles without glochids; with spines. The spines clustered; 6–25; 0.1–9 cm long; with radials and centrals differentiated, or showing little or no difference between radials and centrals. Central spines when differentiated, 1–4(–6). Radial spines 6–16. The spines usually persisting, straight; terete (acicular). The mature stems leafless.
Flowering at night (Neoabbottia), or during the day. The flowers lateral (usually), or terminal and lateral (in Neoabbottia); one per areole to more than one per areole; funnelform to campanulate, or tubular (e.g., in Neoabbottia); sessile; small to large; 2–7.2 cm long; regular. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium to scarcely produced beyond the ovary. The pericarpel usually with scales and spines. The hypanthial tube usually with decurrent scales with spiny or bristly axils; not naked; usually with scales. The axils of the scales of the hypanthial tube usually not naked. The hypanthial tube with spines, or spineless (then bristly). The perianth exposed during bud development; white, or yellow, or red, or pink; limb relatively large. The perianth segments relatively short, broad. Stamens numerous; adnate to the perianth (inserted in the tube or throat); and style scarcely exserted; with the lowermost on a rim partially covering the nectar chamber.
The mature fruit 1.5–10 cm long; globose, or ovoid, or ellipsoidal; naked, or naked to not naked (spiny in Leptocereus s. str., ‘turgid and nearly naked’ in Neoabbottia); spiny (usually), or without spines; without persistent floral remains; without the persistent style characteristic of Cereus (q.v.); fleshy; dehiscent. The seeds black; not encased in bony arils; without a mucilage sheath. Cotyledons reduced or vestigial.
Natural Distribution. Hispaniola (Neoabbottia), West Indies.
Classification. 15 species. Subfamily Cactoideae. Tribe Pachycereeae.
Cf. Hunt (1967).
Images. • L. assurgens, with Pilosocereus catingicola, P. rogenii (as brooksianus, and Brasilicereus phaeacanthus (all as Cephalocereus): Britton & Rose (1920). • L. arboreus, with Stenocereus griseus and Selenicereus setaceus (as Lemaireocereus and Mediocactus): Britton & Rose (1920).
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’.
