• ETYMOLOGY
“Echlnopsls with bristles”, because the genus has a floral tube covered with characteristic bristles. • DESCRIPTION
A monotypic genus of small plants with a short life cycle (3-5 years, not much more), usually solitary (sometimes branched), with a short, thick taproot and fine secondary roots. Stem cylindrical, strongly pigmented, brownish or purplish green towards blackish. 11-12 low, straight ribs, areoles covered with white wool. 9-14 straight radial spines, 1 longer and stiffer central spine, finely pubescent.
Flowers nocturnal, self-fertile, appearing around the apex, closely funnel-shaped, with a very long and fine scaly floral tube, covered with hairs and bristles, petals acuminate, white, strongly scented, pollinated by moths with a long proboscis (Manduca sexta). Fruits fusiform (spindle-shaped), longitudinally dehiscent, drying when ripe, floral remains persistent. Seeds globose more or less elongated, dull, tuberculate, dark brown, covered with mucilage. • HABITAT
The monotypic genus Setiechinopsis grows in an atypical area for cacti: saline areas, brackish lands, under low shrubs (Atriplex), in grasslands, at the foot of mountains, from 200 m up to 1250m in altitude. • DISTRIBUTION
Argentina (Catamarca, La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, Santiago del Estero).
Currently only one recognised species:
– Setiechinopsis mirabilis* (Spegazzini) De Haas (1940)
• ETYMOLOGY
≪Cereus of Selene≫, because Selene was the Greek moon goddess, and the flowers of this genus open only at night. • DESCRIPTION
A genus of epiphytic or more often epilithic or terrestrial plants, with long and slender climbing stems, densely branched, exceeding 5 m long, finely ribbed, with aerial roots. Areoles with short hairs; spines small, setose or hairy, rarely aciculate, sometimes absent.
Flowers nocturnal, self-sterile, funnel-shaped up to 40 cm long and 20 cm in diameter, inner tepals white, outer tepals yellow, pink to brownish, the pericarpel and floral tube covered with scales, hairs, bristles or spines, intensely fragrant, often smelling of vanilla, pollinated by bats (Monophyllus redmani, Phyllonycteris poeyi) and by Sphingideae. Fruits globose to oblong, fleshy, usually red, edible, hairy and with persistent spines. Seeds egg-shaped to kidney-shaped, shiny black, covered with mucilage. • HABITAT
The genus Selenicereus has an extensive geographic range in tropical areas, and grows rather like a climbing terrestrial plant, obtaining its sustenance from the ground, using the surrounding vegetation for support, also epiphytic and pendulous, very ciose to the water, from sea level up to 2400 m in altitude. It is sometimes found in swampy areas, hanging in the trees (Pachira aquatica) and mangroves (Rhizophora mangle), together with Strophocactus testudo. • DISTRIBUTION
Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia (La Paz), Cayman Islands, Colombia (Caldas, Magdalena, Santander), Costa Rica (Alajuela, Cartago, Guanacaste, Heredia, Puntarenas), Cuba, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guatemala (Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Izabal, Peten), Guyana, Haiti, Honduras (Atlantida, Colon, Comayagua, Copan, Yoro), Jamaica, Mexico (Campeche, Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Queretaro, Quintana Roo,
San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatan), Nicaragua (Atlantico Norte), Panama (Darien), Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Surinam, USA (Florida), Venezuela (Aragua, Bolivar, Carabobo, Distrito Federal, Falcon, Miranda, Monagas, Sucre, Tachira, Vargas), Virgin Islands.
Currently 13 recognised species + 3 subspecies:
– Selenicereus atropilosus* Kimnach 1978
– Selenicereus dorschianus R.Bauer 2009
– Selenicereus grandiflorus* (L.) Britton & Rose 1909
– Selenicereus grandiflorus subsp. donkelaarii* (Salm-Dyck) Bauer 2003
– Selenicereus grandiflorus subsp. hondurensis* (K. Schum. Ex Weing.) R.Bauer 2004
– Selenicereus grandiflorus subsp. lautneri R.Bauer 2003
– Selenicereus hamatus* (Scheidw.) Britton & Rose 1909
– Selenicereus inermis* (Otto) Britton & Rose 1920 (= S. wercklei)
– Selenicereus macdonaldiae (Hook.) Britton & Rose 1909
– Selenicereus nelsonii (Weing.) Britton & Rose 1923 (non Disocactus nelsonii)
– Selenicereus pteranthus* (Link & Otto) Britton & Rose 1909 (= 5. boekmannii)
– Selenicereus spinulosus* (DC.) Britton & Rose 1909
– Selenicereus urbanianus (Gurke & Weing.) Britton & Rose 1913
– Selenicereus vagans* (K.Brandegee) Britton & Rose 1920
– Selenicereus validus S.Arias & U.Guzman 1995
– Selenicereus wercklei (Weber) Britton & Rose 1920
• ETYMOLOGY
“Hard, cruel cactus”, according to the authors, “referring to the formidable hooked spines which hold on in a most aggravating manner”. • DESCRIPTION
A genus of solitary plants, or forming clumps from the base, globose to elongated more or less cylindrical, the apex usually depressed, with a strongly fleshy and branched or napiform root. Ribs distinctly tuberculate, with dense spination, sometimes completely covering the epidermis, sometimes papery (S. papyracanthus); radial spines spread, the longest central spine almost always hooked.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, usually rather large, funnel-shaped, some fragrant (S. polyancistrus), yellow, greenishyellow, pink lavender, magenta, purple to purplish violet, sometimes white, pollinated by hymenoptera (Andrena spp., Halictus spp., Tetralonia spp.). Fruits cylindrical more or less elongated, greenish, then reddish when ripe, with longitudinal dehiscence (S. pubispinus), lateral (S. mesae-verdae) or indehiscent. Seeds large, finely tuberculate, shiny, black, with the hilum sunken. Seed dispersal through myrmecochory and hydrochory. • HABITAT
The genus Sclerocactus grows in grasslands, in pine and juniper woods, on limestone, gravelly, alluvial soils (pH 7 to 7.5), in extremely dry areas (Mojave desert) with clayey, powdery sedimentary soils, but also among pebbles of old fossil rivers (San Juan), in the cracks of rocks, in mountains and on hillslopes, sometimes on volcanic rocks (Agathla Peak in Arizona or Mexican Hat in Utah), from 500 m (S. polyancistrus) up to 2350 m in altitude. S. papyracanthus is almost invisible in its habitat, becoming confused with the surrounding grasses (Bouteloua gracilis). Some species of the genus can withstand severe frost: -26°C (Steven Brack, pers. comm.). • DISTRIBUTION
USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah).
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus dedicated by Charles Lemaire to Frederic Schlumberger (1823-1893), French manufacturer, collector of cacti in Chateau d’Authieux (now Anthieux) near Rouen, author of several articles on cacti in Revue Horticole. However, Schlumberger neither collected nor discovered the plant. In fact, it was collected by Allan Cunningham (1791-1839), British explorer and botanist. • DESCRIPTION
A genus of epiphytic or epilithic plants, with numerous pendulous or slightly ascending stems, densely branched, segmented, flattened, compressed, two-sided, more rarely three, elongated to obovate, in some species, like cladodes of Opuntia (S. opuntioides), acrotonic branching, with the epidermis becoming purple in the sun. Areoles arranged in the angles and at the end of stems, these being dissimilar on segments producing new stems, or everywhere on stems. Spines short, setose or absent.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, almost actinomorphic to strongly zygomorphic, appearing at the end of stems, mostly pink to purple, but also white, yellow, orange or red, especially in cultivars, with a well defined floral tube and tepaloid scales, pollinated by hummingbirds. Fruits berry-like, globose, angled or rounded, pear-shaped to turbinate, pink red or greenish yellow, floral remains persistent or deciduous according to species. Seeds ovate to kidney-shaped, shiny, dark brown, smooth or finely pitted. Seed dispersal ensured by birds and small primates. • HABITAT
The genus Schlumbergera grows as an epiphyte and is endemic to the mountains of southern Brazil parallel to the Atlantic coast, in ombrophilous rainforests, in hollows of trees, in pockets of humus, sometimes on the ground (S. russelliana), also epilithic on rocks, in crevices, from 100 m up to 2790 m in altitude (S. microsphaerica). • DISTRIBUTION
Brazil (Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro).
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus native of the region of Samaipata, in Bolivia, hence the name. • DESCRIPTION
Monotypic genus of treelike, columnar plants, with a trunk and heavily branched. Stems cylindrical, erect, not segmented, dark green, up to 4-6 well-defined ribs, with brown areoles well-separated and regularly arranged. Usually 5 spines, undifferentiated, short, subulate, one of them longer than the others and pointing downwards.
Flowers nocturnal, but remaining open during the next day, numerous, self-fertile, appearing often far under the apex, funnel-shaped with a long tube covered with scales, hairs and bristles, white, pollinated by bats (Anoura caudifer, A. geoffroyi, Glossophaga soricina) and hummingbirds. Fruits globose, truncate and tuberculate, pink-red with longitudinal dehiscence, exposing a lively orange pulp, floral remains persistent, dispersal ornithophilous. Seeds ovate, dark brown, shiny, with little marked relief. • HABITAT
The monotypic genus Samaipaticereus grows endemically in the province of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, on rocky steep slopes, always in quebradas (valleys), from 1150 m up to 2500 m in altitude. • DISTRIBUTION
Bolivia (Santa Cruz).
Currently only one recognised species:
– Samaipaticereus corroanus* Cardenas 1952
