Pachycereus

Pachycereus
Baja California, Mexico
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Core eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Cactoideae
Tribe: Pachycereeae
Genus: Pachycereus
(A.Berger) Britton & Rose
Species

See text

Pachycereus is a genus of 9–12 species of large cacti native to Mexico and just into southern Arizona, USA. They form large shrubs or small trees up to 15 m or more tall, with stout stems up to 1 m in diameter.

Pachycereus comes from the ancient Greek pakhus meaning "thick" and the Latin cereus meaning "torch".

Selected species

P. pringlei is the tallest cactus species in the world, with a maximum recorded height of 19.2 m. [1]

Synonymy

These genera have been brought into synonymy with Pachycereus:

References

  1. Salak, M. (2000). In search of the tallest cactus. Cactus and Succulent Journal 72 (3).

External links