View source for Acanthocereus

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Acanthocereus
|accepted_authority=(Engelmann ex A. Berger) Britton & Rose
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb.
|place=12: 432. 1909
|year=1909
}}
|basionyms={{Treatment/ID/Basionym
|name=Cereus subsect. Acanthocereus
|authority=Engelmann ex A. Berger
|rank=subsection
|publication_title=Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard.
|publication_place=16: 77. 1905
}}
|synonyms=
|hierarchy=Cactaceae;Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae;Acanthocereus
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Cactaceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>subfamily</small>[[Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Acanthocereus]]</div></div>
|etymology=Greek akantha, thorn, and Cereus, a genus of cacti
|volume=Volume 4
|mention_page=page 96, 152
|treatment_page=page 154
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Shrubs,</b> erect to arching, clambering, or climbing, often sparingly branched, sometimes forming impenetrable thickets. <b>Roots</b> diffuse, adventitious where arching stems touch soil. <b>Stems</b> segmented or unsegmented, green, greatly elongate, angled, 30–400[–700] × (4–)6–10 cm; ribs 3–5[–7], narrowly triangular to winglike, very prominent, 3–5 cm deep, less than 1 cm thick, rib crests undulate; areoles widely spaced, located next to sinuses, 2–5 cm apart along ribs, circular to oval, short woolly. <b>Spines</b> [0–]4–10 per areole, diffusely spreading, brown or reddish [white, yellowish, or black], aging gray, ± straight, acicular to subulate, terete or somewhat flattened, longest spines 10–40[–70] mm, hard; radial spines [0–]6–8 per areole, 5–25 mm; central spines [0–]1–2[–4] per areole, 0–40 mm. <b>Flowers</b> nocturnal, lateral to terminal on stems 1 or more years old, at adaxial edge of areoles, funnelform, [11–]14–20[–25] cm; outer tepals green or purple tinged, lanceolate-linear, 3–5 × 1 cm; inner tepals white, broadly linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 5–15 × 1–4 cm, margins entire or minutely denticulate; ovary minutely scaly, spiny [spineless], with short wool; stigma lobes 10–15, white, to 12 mm. <b>Fruits</b> indehiscent or irregularly dehiscent longitudinally, red to red-purple, spheric, ovoid, ellipsoid, oblong, or pyriform, 30–80[–120] mm, fleshy or juicy [tough in A. columbianus], scaly, spiny [or spineless]; scales deciduous; pulp red; floral remnant persistent. <b>Seeds</b> black, broadly obovoid, to 4.8 mm, smooth and shiny; testa cells flat. <b>x</b> = 11.</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|distribution=se United States;Mexico;West Indies;Central America;n and e South America.
|discussion=<p>Species 6 (1 in the flora).</p><!--
--><p><i>Acanthocereus</i> needs critical taxonomic study. E. F. Anderson (2001) followed W. Barthlott and D. R. Hunt (1993) in recognizing six species; other accounts have recognized up to twelve species or as few as two (<i>A. tetragonus</i> and <i>A. occidentalis</i> Britton & Rose).</p>
|tables=
|references={{Treatment/Reference
|id=hunt1991a
|text=Hunt, D. R. 1991. Acanthocereus. Bradleya 9: 82–83.
}}
}}<!--

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-->{{#Taxon:
name=Acanthocereus
|author=Bruce D. Parfitt;Arthur C. Gibson
|authority=(Engelmann ex A. Berger) Britton & Rose
|rank=genus
|parent rank=subfamily
|synonyms=
|basionyms=Cereus subsect. Acanthocereus
|family=Cactaceae
|distribution=se United States;Mexico;West Indies;Central America;n and e South America.
|reference=hunt1991a
|publication title=Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb.
|publication year=1909
|special status=
|source xml=https://bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation/src/2e0870ddd59836b60bcf96646a41e87ea5a5943a/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V4/V4_298.xml
|subfamily=Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae
|genus=Acanthocereus
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae]]