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Acanthocereus tetragonus

(L.) Hummelinck (1938)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-CoreEudicot Order: Caryophyllales Family: Cactaceae Genus: Acanthocereus

barbed wire cereus

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs, clambering or arching–reclining, branched near base, sometimes with well–developed trunks.

Stems: Stems dark green, triangular or 3-winged in cross section, growing to 200 cm per season, ribs from base to rib crest 3–5 cm, less than 1 cm thick, with small scales and usually 3–5 diverging spines per areole.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves modified into spines. Spines abruptly thickened at base, extremely variable. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in lateral to terminal on stems 1 or more years old, at adaxial edge of areoles. Flowers bisexual (perfect), 14–20 cm; flower tube 8–15 cm, ± tuberculate, areoles few, usually 1 spine per areole. Outer tepals narrowly lanceolate to linear, 3.5–4 cm, apex acuminate; inner Tepals broadly linear, 3.5–4.5 cm, apex acuminate. Stamens numerous. Ovary inferior.

Fruit: Fruit bright red; ovoid to oblong; 30–80(–100) mm; slightly tuberculate; shiny; edible; sweet. Seeds black; broadly obovoid; to 4.8 mm; smooth and shiny; seed coat cells flat.

Ploidy: 2n = 22 [as <i>A. pentagonus</i> (L.) Britton & Rose]

Habitat: Sandy soils of dense thickets; hammocks; bottomlands of coastal areas.

Elevation Range: 0–10 m.

Historical Distribution

Synonyms (36)

Acanthocereus baxaniensis (Karw. ex Pfeiff.) Borg (1937)
Acanthocereus colombianus Britton & Rose (1920)
Acanthocereus floridanus Small ex Britton & Rose (1923)
Acanthocereus horridus Britton & Rose (1920)
Acanthocereus occidentalis Britton & Rose (1920)
Acanthocereus pentagonus (L.) Britton & Rose (1909)
Acanthocereus pitajaya (DC.) Dugand ex Croizat (1943)
Acanthocereus princeps (Pfeiff.) Backeb. (1963)
Acanthocereus subinermis Britton & Rose (1920)
Acanthocereus tetragonus var. micracanthus Dugand (1966)
Cactus pentagonus L. (1753)
Cactus pitajaya Jacq. (1763)
Cactus prismaticus Willd. (1814)
Cactus reptans Salm-Dyck ex DC. (1828)
Cactus tetragonus L. (1753)
Cereus baxaniensis Karw. ex Pfeiff. (1837)
Cereus baxaniensis f. pellucidus (Otto) Schelle (1926)
Cereus baxaniensis var. ramosus Salm-Dyck ex Walp. (1843)
Cereus dussii K.Schum. (1897)
Cereus horribilis A.Berger (1929)
Cereus nitidus Salm-Dyck (1850)
Cereus pellucidus Pfeiff. (1837)
Cereus pentagonus (L.) Haw. (1812)
Cereus pitajaya DC. (1828)
Cereus pitajaya var. variabilis Weing. (1906)
Cereus princeps Pfeiff. (1837)
Cereus prismaticus (Willd.) Haw. ex Steud. (1840)
Cereus ramosus Karw. ex Pfeiff. (1837)
Cereus reptans Haw. ex Steud. (1840)
Cereus tetragonus (L.) Mill. (1768)
Cereus tetragonus var. major Salm-Dyck ex Walp. (1843)
Cereus tetragonus var. minor Salm-Dyck (1834)
Cereus tetragonus var. ramosior Link & Otto (1830)
Cereus undulatus Pfeiff. (1837)
Cereus variabilis Engelm. (1856)
Cereus vasmerii Young (1873)

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Kaua'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents

Birds

Vegetative Reproduction

Pollinators

Specimens

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Bibliography

Name Published In: Succulenta (Netherlands) 20: 165 (1938)

Other References

Lorence et al. 1995:27 (NEWNAT/K, DESCR)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
1 Acanthocereus tetragonus Koloa, Poipu, along Kapili Rd. ~0.25 miles S of Lawai Rd dry secondary scrubland of Leucaena leucocephala, Acacia farnesiana and Cereus uruguayanus Preserved_Specimen Lorence, D.H. 6277 Kauai BISH 1988-09-12
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