• ETYMOLOGY
Genus native of the province of Yungas, La Paz, Bolivia, where it was first found.
• DESCRIPTION
Monotypic genus of shrubby to treelike plants, branched, columnar, 4-5 m in height, ribs 6-10, little marked, straight, weakly tuberculate and transversely grooved over the areoles. 4-12 spines, centrals and radiais not differentiated, short and aciculate.
Flowers nocturnal remaining open during the day, self-sterile, rather small, appearing near the stem tips, floral tube with imbricated fluffy scales, narrowly funnel-shaped, slightly zygomorphic, white, pollinated by bats. Fruits small, broad at the base, scales numerous and fleshy, retaining more or less the remains of the dried perianth. Seed elongated, shiny, blackish brown.
• HABITAT
The monotypic genus Yungasocereus is endemic to Bolivia, and grows from approximately 1450 m up to 2550 m in altitude, in a hot and humid tropical area, in forests, the Yungas, which, in Aymara, means “Hot Lands”.
• DISTRIBUTION
Bolivia (La Paz).
Currently only one recognised species:
– Yungasocereus inquisivensis* (Cardenas) F.Ritter 1980
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus native of Yavi, department of Jujuy province in Argentina, near the Bolivian border. • DESCRIPTION
Monotypic genus of dwarf plants (3 cm. in diam.), geophytic, solitary (caespitose in cultivation when grafted), usually subterranean with a long napiform root, the aerial part of the stem depressed with the apex umbilicate. Ribs numerous (up to 40), hardly visible, tubercles low. Areoles and spines tiny, pectinate.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, apical, bell-shaped, white to more or less intense pink, pollinated by insects. Fruits turbinate, sunk into the plant, basally dehiscent, remains of the perianth deciduous. Seeds few (4-25), dark brown to black, finely tuberculate, with a prominent hilum. • HABITAT
The monotypic genus Yavia grows in northern Argentina and southern Bolivia, in desert areas, usually in full sun, sometimes in the shade, at ground level on rocky slopes with almost no vegetation, on very friable sedimentary or metamorphic rocks, between 3600 and 3800 m in altitude, sometimes together with Aylostera pygmaea. It is a very mimetic plant that takes the colour of the surrounding rocks. In Argentina, the analyzed soil presented a pH of 6.5. • DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Jujuy), Bolivia (Santa Cruz).
Currently only one recognised species:
– Yavia cryptocarpa* R.Kiesling & J.Piltz 2001
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus honouring Dr Ira Loren Wiggins (1899-1987), North American botanist and specialist of the flora of Baja California, Mexico (see portrait above, cCSSA). • DESCRIPTION
A genus of low-growing plants, usually solitary, globose or depressed with a central pseudocephalium formed by a cluster of trichomes that arise from the flowering areoles. Ribs acute, usually deep. Areoles spaced out and few, densely covered with white wool close to the apex, but stripping off with age, spines subulate, short, sturdy, very few.
Flowers diurnal, usually self-fertile, funnel-shaped to almost rotate, more or less pale yellow, with sensitive stamens, red stigma lobes, appearing at the apex from the modified central areoles, without spines but very woolly, forming a pseudocephalium, with a pericarpel and floral tube covered with strongly woolly scales in axils, pollinated by bees: Andrenidae (Acamptopoeum prinii, Anthrenoides micans, Arhysosage cactorum, Callynochium petuniae, Psaenythia annulata, P. superba), Anthophoridae (Ancyloscelis fiebrigii, Lanthanomelissa completa, Ceratina asunciana, C. hyemalis, C. rupestris, C. volitans, Ptilothrix fructifera), Apidae (Plebeia emerina, P. wittmannii), Colletidae (Cephalocolletes rugata), Halictidae (Augochlora amphitrite, A. semiramis, Augochloropsis euterpe, Dialictus sp.), Megachilidae (Lithurgus rufiventris) (Schlindwein & Wittmann, 1995, 1997). Fruits soft, elongated and somewhat flattened, naked, pink or red, appearing from the pseudocephalium when ripe, sometimes hidden, not retaining the remains of the dried perianth. Seeds large, bell-shaped, black, finely tuberculate, covered by a brown and wrinkled aril. Dispersion of seeds assured by ants (myrmecochory), also by rainwater (hydrochory). • HABITAT
The genus Wigginsia usually grows in small colonies in the pampa, on hills or rocky outcrops, on rocky, gravelly soils between stones, among grasses and bushes, in the shade or in full sun, mostly at low altitudes from 25 m, more rarely up to 2600 m in altitude in Bolivia [W. erinacea). • DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Cordoba, Corrientes, Entre Rios, La Pampa), Bolivia (Chuquisaca), Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Colombia (Cundinamarca), Uruguay (Cerro Largo, Canelones, Colonia, Durazno, Florida, Lavalleja, Maldonado, Paysandu, Rio Negro, Rivera, Rocha, San Jose, Soriano, Tacuarembo, Treinta y Tres).
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus honouring Wilhem Weingart (1856-1936), German botanist and cactus specialist. • DESCRIPTION
A genus of globose plants with the apex flattened, becoming sometimes elongated to shortly columnar (up to 30 cm high), usually solitary but also caespitose, with more or less napiform roots. Ribs strongly tuberculate, tubercles distinctly spiralled in Sulcorebutia; areoles close to the apex strongly woolly (linear in Sulcorebutia)-, radial spines spread out, stiff, subulate (pectinate, interlaced, appressed in Sulcorebutia, central spines sturdier.
Flowers diurnal remaining opened during night, usually self-sterile, with a very short tube (Weingartia s.s.) or elongated (Sulcorebutia), appearing near the apex, sometimes several in the same areole, sometimes fragrant, yellow, orange to red more or less purple, rarely white, also carmine red to scarlet, purple, violet, sometimes bi-coloured and even different colours within a population (Sulcorebutia), pollinated by bees. Fruits rather small, with naked scales,spherical to oboval, juicy at the beginning, then drying when ripe, basally dehiscent, floral remains persistent. Seeds variable, egg-shaped or helmet-shaped, black, usually dull or sometimes shiny, with a prominent hilum. • HABITAT
The genus Weingartia (including Sulcorebutia) has a wide distribution range and grows in the high mountains of the Andes, on high-plateaus, often mimetically, almost completely buried, among grasses, on rocky soils, on rocks or in crevices, from 1600 m up to 3600 m in altitude. We often find the species associated with mosses and lichens.
• DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Jujuy), Bolivia (Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Potosi, Santa Cruz, Tarija).
• ETYMOLOGY
≪Weber’s cereus≫, genus honouring Frederic Albert Constantin Weber (1830-1903), French botanist who described several species during the French military expedition in Mexico in which he took part from 1864 until 1867. • DESCRIPTION
A genus of epiphytic or epilithic plants, reaching up to 2 m long; stems first flattened and hanging, variable, thin, then having 3-6 angles or cylindrical and often aerial roots. Spines usually setose to finely aciculate.
Flowers nocturnal, self-sterile, appearing laterally, generally rather large (3-6 cm long), funnel-shaped, nectariferous glands under the areoles, with a hairy pericarpel, white, outer segments of the perianth greenish, with a sweet fragrance reminiscent of plum, or very unpleasant, pollinated by bats (Glossophaga soricina, G. commissarisi, Hylonycteris underwoodi, Lichonycteris obscura). Fruits spherical to ovate, pink to red or yellow to greenish, having or not having hairs or fine spines, with white or purplish red pulp. Seeds roughly egg-shaped to pear-shaped, more or less shiny, black or brownish, sometimes with an envelope of mucilage. • HABITAT
The genus Weberocereus grows mostly in tropical rainforests, from the sea level (W. bradei), often very close to rivers or to the ocean ( W. tunilla), up to 2500 m in altitude (W. tonduzii). Despite a significant disjunction, the genus was apparently not found in Colombia. • DISTRIBUTION
Costa Rica (Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Limon, Puntarenas, San Jose), El Salvador (Ahuachapan), Ecuador (Chimborazo), Guatemala (Chimaltenango, Quiche, Sacatepequez, Suchitepequez), Mexico (Chiapas), Panama (Bocas del Toro, Colon, Darien).
