cactusclassification – Page 11 – THE LAST CACTUS CLASSIFICATION

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

PERESKIA

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Autor: Miller

• ETYMOLOGY
Genus honouring Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637), French astronomer, botanist and naturalist (misspelled).
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of shrubby to treelike plants, much branched, with sometimes tuberous roots. Branches cylindrical, hardly succulent, non-segmented, non-ribbed and not tuberculate, with stoma present on stems, with persistent green epidermis, delaying making bark (periderm). Leaves present, wide, little or non succulent, deciduous or subpersistent. Areoles having often many spines, glochids absent.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, solitary or in groups, arranged in panicles or in corymbs, rotate, pedunculate or sessile, white, pink or red, pollinated by bees, flies or hummingbirds. Fruits bacciform (berry-like) or pear-shaped, juicy, indehiscent, pulp present or absent. Seeds large, brown to black, rounded, oboval or reniform (kidney-shaped), shiny. The dispersal of fruits fallen on the ground is ensured by frugivorous mammals.
• HABITAT
The genus Pereskia grows in South America, and in the Carribbean islands (P. aculeata, introduced), from sea level up to 2180 m in altitude, in very localized populations, in the shade among shrubs, often on sloping areas, in deciduous dry forests, spiny thickets or in wetter areas, where the temperatures vary little during the year and are moderate (mesothermic area). It composes a part of the treeline of dry forests, and often goes unnoticed as a cactus, except
Vol. 2 Taxonomy of the Cactaceae 127 when flowering. Most of the species have been taken into cultivation as hedge plants in the regions where they are native.
• DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Catamarca, Chaco, Formosa, Jujuy, Salta), Bolivia (Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Tarija), Brazil (Bahia, Ceara, Espirito Santo, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo), Paraguay (Alto Paraguay, Alto Parana, Amambay, Boqueron, Caazapa, Canindeyu, Central, Concepcion, Cordillera, Itapua, Guaira, Paraguari, San Pedro), Peru (Amazonas, Cajamarca, La Libertad), Uruguay. Pereskia horrida subsp. rauhii, El Platanillo, Cajamarca, Peru. c Olivier Klopfenstein

Currently 9 recognised species plus 2 subspecies:
– Pereskia aculeata* Miller 1768
– Pereskia bahiensis* Gurke 1908
– Pereskia diaz-romeroana* Cardenas 1950
– Pereskia grandifolia* Haworth 1819
– Pereskia grandifolia subsp. violacea* (Leuenberger) Taylor & Zappi 1997
– Pereskia horrida* (Kunth) D.c. 1828
– Pereskia horrida subsp. rauhii* (Backeberg) Ostolaza 1998
– Pereskia nemorosa* Rojas Acosta 1897
– Pereskia sacharosa* Grisebach 1879
– Pereskia stenantha* Ritter 1979
– Pereskia weberiana* K.Schumann 1898

References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" -  ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

PENIOCEREUS

Autor: (Berger) Britton & Rose

• ETYMOLOGY
≪Tail cactus≫, referring to the characteristically thin and elongated stems of the genus.
• DESCRIPTION
Genus of shrubby plants with fine and long prostrate or semi erect stems, usually little branched, using the surrounding vegetation for support. Stems slender and ribbed, reaching up to 4 m long, with papillose or tomentose epidermis. They are monomorphic, juveniles and adults identical (dimorphic in Acanthocereus). Roots usually tuberous or napiform, sometimes enormous. Spines finely aciculate, mostly tiny, sometimes appressed against the stem.
Flowers diurnal or nocturnal according to species, self-sterile, rather large, with long and fine floral tube with bristles or spines, mostly whitish to off-white, sometimes red or pale pink to purple, pollinated by Sphingideae and hummingbirds. Fruits egg-shaped, elongated or pear-shaped, juicy, scarlet with red pulp, with bristles and deciduous spines. Seeds ovate, black, of rough appearance.
• HABITAT
Often difficult to see in its natural environment except when flowering or fruiting, the genus Peniocereus often grows on limestone or sandy soils, alluvial plains, also on limestone outcrops, shady cliffs, hills, in deciduous woodlands, among shrubs and bushes, in coastal areas near oceans (P. marianus), from sea level up to 1500 m in altitude. It often uses the surrounding vegetation (Larrea divaricata, Prosopis glandulosa) as protection and support.
• DISTRIBUTION
Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacan, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora, Zacatecas), USA (Arizona, S. New Mexico, S. Texas).

Currently 9 recognised species:
– Peniocereus diguetii (F.A.C.Weber) Backeb. 1951
– Peniocereus greggii* (Engelm.) Britton & Rose 1909
– Peniocereus hoockeanus Backeb. 1963 (nom. invai. = Acanthocereus?)
– Peniocereus johnstonii* Britton & Rose 1922
– Peniocereus lazaro-cardenasii* (J.L.Contr. & al.) D.R.Hunt 1991
– Peniocereus marianus* (Gentry) Sanchez-Mejorada 1962
– Peniocereus striatus* (T.Brandegee) Buxbaum 1975
– Peniocereus viperinus* (F.A.C.Weber & Rol.-Goss.) Kreuz. 1935
– Peniocereus zopilotensis* (J.Meyran) Buxbaum 1976

References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" -  ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

PELECYPHORA

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Autor: Ehrenberg

• ETYMOLOGY
≪bearing axes≫, in reference to the typical form of axe heads that the tubercles have in the first described species of this genus.
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of dwarf plants, solitary or caespitose, globose flattened, geophytic living at ground level, not ribbed, with tubercles arranged spirally, with spindle-shaped root; areoles rudimentary, dimorphic, producing spines on the outer part and the flowers at the base of tubercles. Tiny spines, numerous in P. aselliformis (up to 60), more or less pectinate.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, appearing at the base of tubercles near the apex, pericarpel naked, pink, purple to magenta, exceptionally white, pollinated by insects. Fruits dried when ripe, soon disintegrating. Seeds small, cochleariform (spoon-shaped) brown, matt, striate.
• HABITAT
The genus Pelecyphora grows at ground level, almost completely buried, on limestone rocky hills, in gravel, mimetic, cryptic, hidden in stones among the surrounding vegetation, between 1600 m and 2200 m in altitude.
• DISTRIBUTION
Mexico (Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas).

Currently 2 recognised species:
– Pelecyphora aselliformis* Ehrenb. 1843
– Pelecyphora strobiliformis* (Werderm.) Fric & Schelle 1935

References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" -  ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

PEDIOCACTUS

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Autor: Britton & Rose

• ETYMOLOGY
≪Plain Cactus≫, referring to the characteristic habitat of the genus, the Great Plains of the United States.
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of small low growing plants, subglobose to cylindrical, solitary or caespitose, not ribbed but tuberculate with the apex depressed. Spines hiding the epidermis, variable in number, radial sometimes pectinate; central spines straight or curved, aciculate, setose or suberous according to species.
Flowers diurnal, remaining open during night, self-sterile, apical, with a short floral tube, bell-shaped, whitish, yellow or pale pink to intense magenta, pollinated by bumblebees (Bombus spp.), other hymenoptera and moths of the Sphingideae family. Fruits globose to cylindrical, naked or with some scales, with a longitudinal dehiscence when ripe, eventually opening at the top like a lid. Seeds obovoid to pear-shaped, wrinkled or papillose, blackish brown, dispersal myrmecophilous.
• HABITAT
The genus Pediocactus grows endemically in the United States, mainly on high-plateaus, high desert plains, on rather mineral light soils, powdery, gravelly, even slate, limestone or gypsum, also in woodlands of pinyon pines and juniper trees, grasslands, on rocky, gravelly, alluvial calcareous soils, sometimes of volcanic origin (P. peeblesianus subsp. fickelsenianus, pers. obs. 1992), in cracks of rocks, in very small localized colonies, from 400 m (P. nigrispinus) up to 3300 m in altitude. Species are typically found in extremely cold regions in winter and undergoing significant diurnal and nocturnal temperature ranges (nycthemeral amplitude, or difference of temperature between day and night). P. simpsonii can withstand temperatures down to -26°C.
• DISTRIBUTION
USA (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming).

Currently 9 recognised species + one subspecies:
– Pediocactus bradyi L.D. Benson 1962
– Pediocactus despainii S.L.Welsh & Goodrich 1980
– Pediocactus knowltonii L.D.Benson 1960
– Pediocactus nigrispinus (Hoch.) Hoch. 1992
– Pediocactus paradinei B.W.Benson 1957
– Pediocactus peeblesianus (Croizat) L.D.Benson 1962
– Pediocactus peeblesianus subsp. fickeiseniorum (Benson) Luthy 1999
– Pediocactus sileri (Coulter) Benson 1961 (not Sclerocactus sileri)
– Pediocactus simpsonii* (Engelm.) Britton & Rose 1913
– Pediocactus winkleri* K.D.Heil 1979

References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" -  ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)

May 23, 2016May 23, 2016

PARODIA

http://www.cactusinhabitat.org/images/uploads/106/b_06-3386.JPG

Autor: Spegazzini

• ETYMOLOGY
Genus honouring Lorenzo Raimundo Parodi, Argentine agricultural engineer and botanist (1895-1966).
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of small globose to shortly columnar, solitary or caespitose plants, with the apex depressed, with ribs defined or divided into tubercles. Spines straight, curved or hooked.
Flowers diurnal, usually self-sterile, funnel-shaped to bell-shaped, appearing near the apex, with a scaly pericarpel and receptacle, having woolly hairs and bristles in axils, yellow, orange or intense red, pollinated by insects, usually hymenoptera (Schlindwein & Wittmann 1995, in Emerson 2007). Fruits rather small, globose to more or less cylindrical, fine, hollow and dry or semi-dry, woolly, basally dehiscent, floral remains persistent. Seeds rather small, tiny in some species, black or brown, matt, spherical, reticulate, sometimes with a large aril. Dispersal of seeds, according to their structure, ensured by ants (myrmecochory), also by rainwater (hydrochory).
• HABITAT
The genus Parodia s.s. grows in very different biotopes, on arid rocky grounds, masses of fallen rocks, from plains up to high mountains, around quebradas (deep valleys), among bushes, in hollows of rocks, including on compact clumps of Abromeitiella, a Bromeliad (P. chrysacanthion), from 1000 m up to 2500 m in altitude. Some species like P. microsperma withstand heavy nocturnal frosts during winter.
• DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Catamarca, Jujuy, Salta, Santiago del Estero, Tucuman), Bolivia (Cochabamba, Tarija).

Currently 8 proposed species:
– Parodia ayopayana* Cardenas 1951
– Parodia chrysacanthion* (K.Schum.) Backeb. 1935
– Parodia formosa F. Ritter 1964
– Parodia gibbulosoides F.H.Brandt 1971
– Parodia horrida F.H.Brandt 1979
– Parodia microsperma* (F.A.C.Weber) Speg. 1923
– Parodia nivosa Backeb. 1934
– Parodia penicillata Fechser & Steeg 1960

References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" -  ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)