CF > Encyclopédie > Acanthocereus > colombianus

Acanthocereus colombianus Britton & Rose 1920

Publication The Cactaceae 2: 122 (-123) (1920).
Type : Pennell & Rusby 23, Colombie, près de Calamar, 10 juillet 1917, conservé dans le United States National Herbarium du Smithsonian Institution (US : holotype).

Synonyme de

Acanthocereus tetragonus (Linné) Hummelinck 1938

Commentaires

Description originale:
"2. Acanthocereus colombianus sp. nov.
Erect, branching dichotomously, 2 to 3 meters high; joints about 9 cm. wide, strongly 3-winged; areoles large, 5 cm. apart; radial spines 5 to 8, very short, less than 5 mm. long; central spines 1 or 2, very stout, 4 to 5.5 cm. long; flower 25 cm. long, white, with a rather stout tube 12 cm. long, the gradually expanded throat 5 to 6 cm. long.
Collected by Francis W. Pennell and Henry H. Rusby near Calamar, Colombia, July 10, 1917 (No. 23, type), and by Herbert H. Smith near Bonda, Colombia, in 1898-1899 (No. 2423). According to Mr. Smith this species grows in dry forests and thickets at low altitudes; here it is known as pitahaya.* His plant comes from near the type locality of Cactus pitajaya Jacquin, but we refer that species to A. pentagonus, also found in northern Colombia.
The species is near A. horridus, but has a much longer flower-tube.
*Pitahaya is a well-known name in tropical America for many species of cacti, especially of Cereus and its relatives, of which there are various spellings, such as pitajaya, pitajuia, pitalla, pitaya, and pithaya. Several suffixes are sometimes used with it, as pitahaya agre, pitahaya agria, pitahaya de San Juan, and pitahaya dulce, and it has the diminutives pitayita and pitahayita."