Stenocereus
Stenocereus thurberi flower
Stenocereus is a genus in the cactus family ( Cactaceae ). The botanical name derives from the Greek adjective " στενός " ( stenos ) for tight, narrow and refers to the relatively narrow ribs of the plants.
Description
The species of the genus Stenocereus grow tree-like or shrubby, sometimes lengthwise streches or crawl and form thickets or sometimes have well trained tribes. The green, vigorous shoots are cylindrical and have numerous ribs with clearly pronounced, woolly areoles from which spring from strong thorns. Warts may be present or absent.
The funnel-shaped or bell-shaped flowers open mostly at night. Your Perikarpell is covered with numerous, usually thorny, areoles.
On the ball to egg-shaped, more or less fleshy fruit sit thorns. They are up to 7.5 inches long and tear irregularly. The flowers rest is persistent and falls in most species until shortly before maturity. The fruits contain large, shiny black and smooth usually seeds.
Systematics and distribution
Stenocereus is common in the arid regions in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Venezuela and Colombia.
Alwin Berger presented Stenocereus 1905 as a subgenus of Cereus ( Cereus subg. Stenocereus ) on. Vincenzo Riccobono raised the subgenus then in 1909 to the rank of genus. The type species of the genus Cereus stellatus.
Paul V. Heath made in 1992 points out that the by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose also in 1909 published genus name Rathbunia have priority over the generic name Stenocereus since it was released earlier. However, since the generic name Stenocereus in botanical and horticultural literature was much better known, Nigel Paul Taylor and Arthur Charles Gibson submitted in 1994 the generic name to preserve the proposal Stenocereus and reject the genus name Rathbunia. This proposal was confirmed at the International Botanical Congress in St. Louis in 1999 and was included in the published in 2000 revision of the International code of botanical nomenclature.
Belong to the genus of the following types:
- Stenocereus alamo sensis
- Stenocereus aragonii
- Stenocereus beneckei
- Stenocereus chacalapensis
- Stenocereus chrysocarpus
- Stenocereus eichlamii
- Stenocereus eruca
- Stenocereus fimbriatus
- Stenocereus fricii
- Stenocereus griseus
- Stenocereus gummosus
- Stenocereus kerberi
- Stenocereus laevigatus
- Stenocereus martinezii
- Stenocereus montanus
- Stenocereus pruinosus
- Stenocereus queretaroensis
- Stenocereus quevedonis
- Stenocereus standleyi
- Stenocereus stellatus
- Stenocereus thurberi Stenocereus thurberi subsp. thurberi
- Stenocereus thurberi subsp. littoralis
Synonyms of the genus are Rathbunia Britton & Rose, Machaerocereus Britton & Rose, Ritterocereus Backeb. , Hertrichocereus Backeb. and Marshallocereus Backeb.