Peniocereus is a genus of vining cacti, comprising about 18 species, found from the southwestern United States and Mexico. They have a large underground tuber, thin and inconspicuous stems. Its name comes from the prefix penio- (from the Latin penis, meaning ‘tail’) and Cereus, the large genus from which it was split.[1]

Peniocereus
Peniocereus greggii flower
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Cactoideae
Tribe: Echinocereeae
Genus: Peniocereus
(A.Berger) Britton & Rose
Synonyms

Known as the desert night-blooming cereus, it also shares its common names of "night-blooming cereus" and "queen of the night" with many other similar cacti.

Taxonomy

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Peniocereus was first described in 1905 by Alwin Berger as a subgenus of Cereus with a single species, Cereus greggii. This taxon was elevated to the genus level as Peniocereus greggii by Britton and Rose in 1909. Later in 1974 an infrageneric classification was constructed based on morphological features that split Peniocereus into two subgenera: Peniocereus and Pseudoacanthocereus. In 2005 a molecular phylogenetic study of the genus supported this split and showed that Peniocereus is not monophyletic.[2]

Species

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Species include:[3]

Subgenus Peniocereus

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Molecular phylogeny supported the position of this subgenus within Echinocereeae.[2]

Image Scientific name Distribution
  Peniocereus greggii – desert nightblooming cereus United States (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas), Mexico
Peniocereus johnstonii Mexico (Baja California Sur)
Peniocereus lazaro-cardenasii Mexico (Guerrero, Michoacan de Ocampo)
  Peniocereus viperinus Mexico (Morelos, Puebla)
Peniocereus zopilotensis Mexico (Guerrero)
Peniocereus marianus Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora)
Peniocereus striatus – gearstem cactus Mexico (Baja California, Sinaloa, and Sonora) and United States (Arizona)

Nyctocereus

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The 2005 molecular study showed that P. serpentinus is in Echinocereeae along with subgenus Peniocereus, but suggests resurrecting the monotopic Nyctocereus as it is sister to Bergerocactus.[2]

Image Scientific name Distribution
  Peniocereus serpentinus Mexico (Michoacan de Ocampo, Morelos, Oaxaca)

Subgenus Pseudoacanthocereus

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Molecular phylogeny and morphological evidence suggests this subgenus is more closely related to Acanthocereus.[2]

Image Scientific name Distribution
Peniocereus hirschtianus Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua
Peniocereus maculatus Mexico ( Guerrero)
Peniocereus oaxacensis Mexico (Oaxaca)
  Peniocereus cuixmalensis Mexico (Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan de Ocampo)
Peniocereus fosterianus Mexico (Chiapas, Colima, Guerrero, Oaxaca)
Peniocereus castellae Mexico (Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan de Ocampo)
Peniocereus macdougallii Mexico (Oaxaca)
Peniocereus rosei Mexico (Jalisco, Sinaloa)
Peniocereus tepalcatepecanus Mexico (Michoacan de Ocampo)

References

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  1. ^ A. Michael Powell; James F. Weedin (2004). Cacti of the Trans-Pecos & Adjacent Areas. Texas Tech University Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-89672-531-7.
  2. ^ a b c d Vázquez-Sánchez, Monserrat (2005). "Phylogenetic relationships in Peniocereus (Cactaceae) inferred from plastid DNA sequence data". Journal of Plant Research. 118 (5): 317–328. Bibcode:2005JPlR..118..317A. doi:10.1007/s10265-005-0225-3. PMID 16143879. S2CID 5617876.
  3. ^ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species". Retrieved 20 January 2014.