Peniocereus

(A. Berger) Britton & Rose

Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 12: 428. 1909.

Etymology: Greek penios, thread, and Cereus, a genus of cacti
Basionym: Cereus subsect. Peniocereus A. Berger Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 16: 77. 1905
Synonyms: Cullmannia Distefano Neoevansia W. T. Marshall Nyctocereus (A. Berg er) Britton & Rose
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 4. Treatment on page 155. Mentioned on page 96, 174.
 TaxonIllustrator 
FNA4 P27 Peniocereus greggii var transmontanus.jpegPeniocereus greggii var. greggii
Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus
Peniocereus striatus
Echinocereus fendleri
John Myers
John Myers
John Myers
John Myers

Shrubs, low, erect to sprawling, arching, or scrambling, sparingly branched. Roots turnip-shaped or tuberlike and clustered. Stems unsegmented, gray, gray-green, greenish brown, brown, or purplish, columnar, proximally terete, distally terete or angled [or dimorphic with young stems 3–5-angled and adult stems terete in two Mexican species], [12–] 25–300 [–400] × 0.3–2 [–6] cm, rigid, slender, canescent [or papillate]; ribs [3–] 4–9 [–20], often prominent, rib crests usually straight, uninterrupted; areoles (3.5–) 5–20 mm apart along ribs, circular to elliptic, lanose or sometimes glabrate; areolar glands absent; cortex and pith not mucilaginous. Spines 5–15 (–17) per areole, yellowish white, sometimes with black tips, conic, subulate with swollen bases, sometimes acicular to bristlelike, 1.5–4 [–25] mm, puberulent to glabrate, scurfy; radial and central spines similar. Flowers nocturnal (remaining open next day), usually borne laterally along distal portions of ribs, at adaxial edges of areoles, usually fragrant, salverform with long tube flaring abruptly near apex, usually 7–25 cm; tepals lanceolate to oblanceolate, apiculate to attenuate; outer tepals greenish, usually tinged with red, purple, brown, or white, 25–50 × 2–6 mm, margins entire or minutely ciliate; inner tepals commonly white [or red], sometimes lightly tinged cream, rose, red, or green, 25–75 × 8–12 mm, margins entire to slightly undulate; ovary with low tubercles, minutely scaly or scaleless, spiny, areoles woolly; stigma lobes 9–12, white to yellow-white, 10–15 mm. Fruits indehiscent, red to scarlet [carmine to purple], pyriform or ellipsoid [to ovoid], [30–] 40–90 × 25–50 mm, fleshy, low tuberculate, scaleless, spiny; pulp reddish, in some taxa sweet and edible; floral remnant persistent. Seeds black, broadly oblong, 1–4 × 0.8–2.5 mm, shiny or dull; testa rugose, pitted and/or with raised polygonal cells. x = 11.

Distribution

Arid regions, sw United States, nc and w Mexico southward to Chiapas

Discussion

Species ca. 20 (2 in the flora).

Key

1 Stems at midlength 10 mm diam.; ribs 4-6, prominent, widely divergent; flowers 15-25 cm Peniocereus greggii
1 Stems at midlength 6 mm diam.; ribs 6-9, low, rounded, crowded together; flowers 7-10 cm Peniocereus striatus
... more about "Peniocereus"
cushionlike +
circular +  and elliptic +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
deciduous +  and persistent +
woolly +, glabrate +  and lanose +
hourglass--shaped +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br />) +
Donald J. Pinkava +
(A. Berger) Britton & Rose +
hardened +
swollen +
Cereus subsect. Peniocereus +
triangular +
polygonal +
proliferating +
flattened +  and cylindric +
not mucilaginous +
Arid regions +, sw United States +  and nc and w Mexico southward to Chiapas +
not separating +
Greek penios, thread, and Cereus, a genus of cacti +
fragrant +
salverform +
7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br /> (25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br />) +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
red;scarlet +
indehiscent +
persistent +, long +  and deciduous +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (9 cm90 mm <br />0.09 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
ellipsoid +  and pyriform +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
Green (?) +, Red (?) +, Rose (?) +, Tinged cream (?) +  and White (?) +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (7.5 cm75 mm <br />0.075 m <br />) +
deciduous +  and persistent +
rudimentary +
flat +  and terete +
nearly +  and microscopic +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
fluted;spheric;depressed-spheric or club-shaped +
ciliate +  and entire +
entire +  and slightly undulate +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br />) +
scaleless +  and scaly +
deciduous +  and persistent +
not mucilaginous +
ridgelike +  and nipple--shaped +
Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. +
sanchez-m1973a +  and sanchez-m1974a +
prominent +
tuberlike +  and turnip--shaped +
triangular +
arillate +  and strophiolate +
0.4mm;12mm +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
dull +  and shiny +
0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br />) +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
yellowish white +
deciduous +  and persistent +
scurfy +, puberulent +  and glabrate +
5 (?) +  and 15 (?) +
acicular +, subulate +  and conic +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
hard +  and rigid +
decurrent +
unsegmented +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
purplish +, brown +, greenish brown +, gray-green +  and gray +
25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br /> (300 cm3,000 mm <br />3 m <br />) +
angled +, terete +  and columnar +
slender +
0.3cm;2cm +
white +  and yellow-white +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br />) +
tuberculate +
Cullmannia +, Neoevansia +  and Nyctocereus +
adventitious +
tuberlike +
epipetric +  and epiphytic +
Peniocereus +
Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae +
lanceolate;oblanceolate apiculate +
dull +  and glossy +
pitted +  and rugose +
flaring +
shrub +  and scrambling +
epiphytic;epiphytic;epiphytic +
arching +, erect +  and sprawling +
barrel-shaped +  and spheric +