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| The genera of Cactaceae |
~ Lemaireocereus, cf. Hunt (1967)
Including Chichipia Backeb. (nom. inval.), Heliabravoa Backeb.
The plants cerioid; not ‘low and very compacted’. The stems spiny; elongate cylindric. The plants stoutly branched (and sometimes re-branching); robust, erect; tree-like; with well formed trunks (often), or not developing conspicuous trunks; to 3–5 m high. The stems columnar to not columnar. The branches differing in form from the main stem to resembling the main stem. The main stem more or less cylindrical. The branches cylindrical; to 1–2 cm long; with yellowish flesh, 5–7 cm in diameter. The stems not segmented; ribbed and grooved. The ribs 7–12; longitudinal; sharply triangular in section. The grooves wide. The plants not conspicuously tuberculate, or conspicuously tuberculate to not conspicuously tuberculate (in that the ribs are more or less thickened or raised around the areoles). The tubercles if so interpreted, connected by the ribs; borne in longitudinal series. The areoles more or less associated with tubercles, or not tubercle-associated; distant; borne in longitudinal series; shield-shaped, 3–4 mm wide, simple. The flowering areoles resembling the non-flowering ones. The areoles with spines. The spines clustered; (3–)5–10; 0.3–1.5 cm long (the central longest, when present); with radials and centrals differentiated, or showing little or no difference between radials and centrals (with only one central, or this lacking). Central spines 0, or 1. Radial spines 3–8. The spines straight, or curved (?). The mature stems leafless.
Flowering at night and during the day. The flowers lateral (towards the stem tips); one per areole; urceolate to campanulate; sessile; medium-sized to large; 3–6.5 cm in diameter; fragrant; regular to somewhat irregular (? - the perianth sometimes recurved obliquely downwards). The receptacle scarcely produced beyond the ovary. The pericarpel with long golden bristles and hairs, lacking spines. The hypanthial tube spineless. The perianth yellowish green, or white to cream, or red. The perianth segments relatively short, broad; pointed. Stamens adnate to the perianth (?); in groups (? - ‘in erect clusters’).
The mature fruit 2–4 cm long; globose; red, or purple (inside and out); not naked; spiny (the spines short, in distant bundles); edible fleshy; indehiscent (?). The seeds small, black; ovoid, or pyriform; not encased in bony arils. The testa dull. Cotyledons reduced or vestigial.
Natural Distribution. Southern Mexico.
Classification. 2 species (P. chichipe and Heliabravoa chende). Subfamily Cactoideae. Tribe Pachycereeae.
Images. • Polaskia chende (as Lemaireocereus): 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’.
