Pterocereus is a monotypic genus of cactus containing the sole species Pterocereus gaumeri.[2]

Pterocereus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Cactoideae
Tribe: Echinocereeae
Genus: Pterocereus
T.MacDoug. & Miranda
Species:
P. gaumeri
Binomial name
Pterocereus gaumeri
(Britton & Rose) T.MacDoug. & Miranda
Synonyms
  • Anisocereus gaumeri (Britton & Rose) Backeb. 1960
  • Cereus yucatanensis Standl. 1930
  • Pachycereus gaumeri Britton & Rose 1920

Description

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Pterocereus gaumeri grows tree-shaped with long, slender shoots, has little or no branches and reaches heights of up to 8 meters. It forms a trunk up to 1.5 meters high. The three to four very sharp-edged ribs look wing-like. The areoles on it are far apart from each other. The approximately ten thorns are gray or reddish black and up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long.

The cylindrical to funnel-shaped, greenish white flowers exude a foul-smelling scent. They open at night and are 8.5 to 9.5 cm (3.3 to 3.7 in) long. Its pericarpel and floral tube are covered with fleshy, leaf-like scales that have recurved tips, as well as some wool and a few bristles. The spherical fruits are light red.[3]

Subspecies

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  • Pterocereus gaumeri subsp. foetidus (T.MacDoug. & Miranda) S.Arias & Terrazas
  • Pterocereus gaumeri subsp. gaumeri

Distribution

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Pterocereus gaumeri is distributed in the Mexican states of Yucatán, Chiapas and Veracruz.

Taxonomy

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The first description was made in 1920 by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose.[4] The specific epithet gaumeri honors the American botanist and naturalist George Franklin Gaumer (1850–1929), who discovered the species. Nomenclature synonyms are Anisocereus gaumeri (Britton & Rose) Backeb. (1942) and Pachycereus gaumeri Britton & Rose (1920). Taxonomic synonyms are Cereus yucatanensis Standl. (1930), Pterocereus foetidus T. MacDoug. & Miranda (1954), Anisocereus foetidus (T.MacDoug. & Miranda) W.T.Marshall (1957), Pachycereus foetidus (T.MacDoug. & Miranda) P.V.Heath (1992).[5]

References

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  1. ^ "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  2. ^ "Pterocereus T.MacDoug. & Miranda". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2023-10-29.
  3. ^ Anderson, Edward F.; Eggli, Urs (2005). Das grosse Kakteen-Lexikon (in German). Stuttgart (Hohenheim): Ulmer. pp. 489–490. ISBN 3-8001-4573-1.
  4. ^ Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Eaton, Mary E.; Rose, J. N.; Wood, Helen Adelaide (1919). The Cactaceae : descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.46288.
  5. ^ Korotkova, Nadja; Aquino, David; Arias, Salvador; Eggli, Urs; Franck, Alan; Gómez-Hinostrosa, Carlos; Guerrero, Pablo C.; Hernández, Héctor M.; Kohlbecker, Andreas; Köhler, Matias; Luther, Katja; Majure, Lucas C.; Müller, Andreas; Metzing, Detlev; Nyffeler, Reto; Sánchez, Daniel; Schlumpberger, Boris; Berendsohn, Walter G. (2021-08-31). "Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org – a dynamic online species-level taxonomic backbone for the family". Willdenowia. 51 (2). Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Freie Universitaet Berlin. doi:10.3372/wi.51.51208. ISSN 0511-9618. S2CID 237402311.
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