Autor: Britton & Rose
• ETYMOLOGY
Genus honouring Antonio Raimondi (1825-1890), Italian naturalist and geographer who dedicated his life travelling and studying Peru: “neo”, because the genus Raimondia already existed, to designate a genus of Annonaceae (1913).
• DESCRIPTION
A genus of bushy to treelike candelabra-shaped plants, sturdy, branched from the base, with erect stems usually greyish-green, reaching up to 15 m high, with few well defined ribs. Large areoles close-set in outgrowths continuing their development, with brown felt, spiny. Very long spines, up to 25 cm, in variable number, flexible.
Flowers diurnal, self-sterile, funnel-shaped, relatively small compared to plants, appearing on the outgrowths of areoles along stems, more or less intense pink or off-white, pollinated by bats (Glossophaga soricina, Platalina genovesium) and insects: hymenoptera (Camponotus sp. Crematogaster spp., Pseudomyrmex spp.), Diptera, Lepidoptera (Strymon jacqueline). The pericarpel and the floral tube bear scales and felted areoles, sometimes with
bristles. Fruits subglobose to egg-shaped, juicy (pink pulp in N. herzogiana, edible), with felted areoles bearing short spines. Seeds brownish to black, elongated and curved, rough or ruminate, finely foveolate, encased in a mucilage, scattered by birds (Phyllotis darwinii), bats (Platalina genovesium, Sturnira lilium) and ants.
• HABITAT
The genus Neoraimondia grows in scattered colonies in rocky open desert spaces, on mountain and hillslopes, among rocks, from 50 m up to approximately 2800 m in altitude.
• DISTRIBUTION
Bolivia (Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Tarija), Peru (Ancash, Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Huancavelica, lea, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Lima, Moquegua, Piura, Tacna, Tumbes).
Currently 2 recognised species + 2 subspecies:
– Neoraimondia arequipensis* (Meyen) Backeb. 1936
– Neoraimondia arequipensis subsp. gigantea (Werderm. & Backeb.) Ostolaza 1998
– Neoraimondia arequipensis subsp. roseiflora (Werderm. & Backeb.) Ostolaza 1998
– Neoraimondia herzogiana* (Backeb.) Buxb. 1967
References: "TAXONOMY of the CACTACEAE" - ISBN 978-84-617-3692-8 (Vol. 2)