Acanthocereus
Acanthocereus subinermis Plate 16 from Volume 2 of The Cactaceae Britton and Rose
Acanthocereus is a genus of flowering plants of the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The botanical name derives from the Greek noun ἄκανθοζ ( Acanthus ) for Dorn ago and refers to the columnar shape studded with thorns.
Description
The plants form more or less high bushes which are later usually overhanging or spreizklimmend and rarely tree-like. They usually have 3 (rarely 4-5 ) thin, rarely flattened and sometimes wavy ribs, usually with strong spines.
The large, white funnel-shaped flowers are 12 to 25 inches long, have a diameter of 6 to 12 inches and open at night. The little scaly Perikarpell and the long, stiff, erect corolla tube are occupied with some soon frail thorns and little wool.
The red or green, bare or thorny, aufreißenden or not aufaufreißenden fruits are globose to ovoid or pear-shaped and contain wide oval, shiny black seeds up to 4.8 millimeters.
Systematics and distribution
The genus Acanthocereus is widespread in tropical America from Florida through the Caribbean, Mexico and from southern Central America to Colombia.
Nathaniel Lord Britton, 1909 raised and Joseph Nelson Rose the subsection Cereus described in 1905 by Alwin Berger subsect. Acanthocereus Engelm. ex A.Berger the rank of a separate genus. Later Berger treated the genus as a subgenus Cereus subg. Acanthocereus Engelm. ex A.Berger ( 1929). The type species is Cereus baxaniensis Karw. ex Pfeiff.
The genus Acanthocereus include these types:
- Acanthocereus baxaniensis ( Karw. ex Pfeiff. ) Borg
- Acanthocereus colombianus Britton & Rose
- Acanthocereus horridus Britton & Rose
- Acanthocereus occidentalis Britton & Rose
- Acanthocereus subinermis Britton & Rose
- Acanthocereus tetragonus (L.) Humme Linck
A synonym of the genus is Monvillea Britton & Rose (1920).