Peniocereus
Peniocereus is a genus in the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). Its botanical name ( Latin Penio = thread, rod, generally something long and thin ) refers to the typical thin rung in the genus.
Description
Peniocereen schlanktriebige are shrubs up to 3 m in height with large, succulent roots. They grow upright or with creeping or accompanying vegetation erklimmenden sprouts and branch only slightly. The little succulent and sometimes woody fast, about 0.5 to 2 cm thick shoots are either clearly edged, then usually only three - to five -edged, or with many flat ribs almost cylindrical. In some species the shoots are first -edged and then cylindrical, in other species both scion forms occur separately side by side. Sometimes the plants have easily breaking off branches, which when dropped, roots soon and they multiply as vegetative. The areoles of the rung carry five to 15 bright, rarely more than 4 mm long thorns that often fit snugly and be dropped in old age. The large, highly succulent roots that make up most of the plant volume can (up to 62) are kg in some species over 50. They are tubers or beets and sometimes fingered as dahlias.
The individually appearing from the areoles, 7 to 25 cm long flowers open at night and smell usually intense. As appropriate to their narrow tubular flower pollinators are suspected moth. From the long and narrow, upright bloom cladding the exterior are usually greenish to brownish red, the inner mostly white to cream-colored, rarely pale yellow, pink or green. The stamens are a ring around the pen. After pollination of the flowers form elongate to about 9 x 5 cm large fruits which turn red when ripe. They contain in a red pulp oblong black seeds.
Systematics and distribution
The distribution of the genus extends from the southwestern United States on the north-west to southern Mexico to Central America.
Alwin Berger presented Peniocereus 1905 as a sub-section of Cereus ( Cereus subsect. Peniocereus ) on. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose brought the sub-section in 1909 in the rank of a genus. The type species of the genus Cereus greggii. The genus includes the following species:
- Peniocereus castellae Sanchez- Mej.
- Peniocereus chiapensis ( Bravo) Gómez- Hin. & H.M.Hern.
- Peniocereus cuixmalensis Sanchez- Mej.
- Peniocereus fosterianus Cutak
- Peniocereus greggii ( Engelm. ) Britton & Rose Peniocereus greggii var greggii
- Peniocereus greggii var transmontanus ( Engelm. ) Backeb.
Synonyms of the genus are Neoevansia WTMarshall (1941 ) and Cullmannia Distefano (1956).