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A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word cactus derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word κάκτος (káktos), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Although some species live in quite humid environments, most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. For example, almost all cacti are succulents, meaning they have thickened, fleshy parts adapted to store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. In the absence of true leaves, cacti's enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis. Cacti are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north—except for Rhipsalis baccifera, which also grows in Africa and Sri Lanka.
Boyce Thompson Arboretum is the oldest and largest botanical garden in the state of Arizona. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions west of the Mississippi River. Founded in 1924 as a desert plant research facility and “living museum”, the arboretum is located in the Sonoran Desert on 392 acres (159 ha) along Queen Creek and beneath the towering volcanic remnant, Picketpost Mountain. Boyce Thompson Arboretum is on U.S. Highway 60, an hour's drive east from Phoenix and 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Superior, Arizona.
Nathaniel Lord Britton was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York.
Mammillaria is one of the largest genera in the cactus family (Cactaceae), with currently 200 known species and varieties recognized. Most of the mammillaria are native to Mexico, but some come from the southwest United States, the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala and Honduras. The common name "pincushion cactus" refers to this and the closely related genus Escobaria.
Stenocereus is a genus of columnar or tree-like cacti from the Baja California Peninsula and other parts of Mexico, Arizona in the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela and the ABC islands of the Dutch Caribbean. The genus has been enlarged by the addition of species from several other genera. A close relative is the peculiar chinoa or chende cactus, Polaskia chende.
Pereskia is a small genus of about four species of cacti that do not look much like other types of cacti, having substantial leaves and non-succulent stems. The genus is named after Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, a 16th-century French botanist. The genus was more widely circumscribed until molecular phylogenetic studies showed that it was paraphyletic. The majority of species have since been transferred to Leuenbergeria and Rhodocactus. Although Pereskia does not resemble other cacti in its overall morphology, close examination shows spines developing from areoles, and the distinctive floral cup of the cactus family. Pereskia is believed to resemble the ancestor of all cacti.
In 1984, the International Organization for Succulent Plant Study set up a working party, now called the International Cactaceae Systematics Group, to produce a consensus classification of the cactus family, down to the level of genus. Their classification has been used as the basis for systems published since the mid-1990s. Treatments in the 21st century have generally divided the family into around 125–130 genera and 1,400–1,500 species, which are then arranged in a number of tribes and subfamilies. However, subsequent molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that a very high proportion of the higher taxa are not monophyletic, i.e. they do not contain all of the descendants of a common ancestor. As of March 2017, the internal classification of the family Cactaceae remained uncertain and subject to change. A classification incorporating many of the insights from the molecular studies was produced by Nyffeler and Eggli in 2010.
Turbinicarpus is a genus of very small to medium-sized cacti, which inhabit the north-eastern regions of Mexico, in particular the states of San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.
Hylocereus is a former genus of epiphytic cacti, often referred to as night-blooming cactus. Several species previously placed in the genus have large edible fruits, which are known as pitayas, pitahayas or dragonfruits. In 2017, a molecular phylogenetic study confirmed an earlier finding that the genus Hylocereus was nested within Selenicereus, so all the species of Hylocereus were transferred to Selenicereus.
Parodia is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, native to the uplands of Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. This genus has about 50 species, many of which have been transferred from Eriocactus, Notocactus and Wigginsia. They range from small globose plants to 1 m (3 ft) tall columnar cacti. All are deeply ribbed and spiny, with single flowers at or near the crown. Some species produce offsets at the base. They are popular in cultivation, but must be grown indoors where temperatures fall below 10 °C (50 °F).
Rhipsalis is a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the cactus family, typically known as mistletoe cacti. They are found in parts of Central America, the Caribbean and northern regions of South America. They also inhabit isolated locations in Africa and Asia, and are the only cactus group naturally occurring in the Old World. This is the largest and most widely distributed genus of epiphytic cacti.
David Richard Hunt was an English botanist and taxonomist. He was a specialist in cacti and the spiderwort family. He notably compiled the 1999 CITES Cactaceae Checklist.
The Desert Garden Conservatory is a large botanical greenhouse and part of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, in San Marino, California. It was constructed in 1985. The Desert Garden Conservatory is adjacent to the 10-acre (40,000 m2) Huntington Desert Garden itself. The Garden houses one of the most important collections of cacti and other succulent plants in the world, including a large number of rare and endangered species. The 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) Desert Garden Conservatory serves The Huntington and public communities as a conservation facility, research resource and genetic diversity preserve. John N. Trager is the Desert Collection curator.
Mammillaria spinosissima, also known as the spiny pincushion cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, endemic to the central Mexican states of Guerrero and Morelos, where they grow at elevations of approximately 1,600 to 1,900 metres. The species was described in 1838 by James Forbes, gardener of the Duke of Bedford. Botanist David Hunt collected a specimen in 1971, when he located one near Sierra de Tepoztlan, Mexico.
Echinocactus horizonthalonius is a species of cactus known by several common names, including devilshead, turk's head cactus, blue barrel cactus, eagle's claw, horse maimer, horse crippler, and visnaga meloncillo. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it occurs in Chihuahuan Desert and Sonoran Desert habitats, particularly on limestone substrates. One of its varieties is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Hatiora salicornioides, the bottle cactus, dancing-bones, drunkard's-dream, or spice cactus, is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family. A member of the tribe Rhipsalideae, it often grows as an epiphyte. It is native to eastern Brazil. It is sometimes grown both indoors and outdoors as an ornamental.
Heinrich Poselger was a German botanist who specialized in studies of succulent plants.
Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich, literally succulent plant collection of the city of Zürich, is a botanical garden in the Swiss municipality of Zürich. It also houses a botanic library, a herbarium and the International Organizations for Succulent Plant Research (IOS).
Helia Bravo Hollis was a Mexican botanist who did research in the Faculty of Science at UNAM.
Edward Frederick Anderson was an American botanist who conducted extensive explorations in Mexico.
References
- ↑ International Organization for Succulent Plant Study, Introduction , retrieved 2012-02-08
- ↑ Anderson, Edward F. (2001), The Cactus Family, Pentland, Oregon: Timber Press, ISBN 978-0-88192-498-5 , pp. 99–103
- 1 2 "About Us | IOS" . Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- 1 2 "Executive Board | IOS" . Retrieved 2022-03-31.
- 1 2 "Cactus D'Or Award | IOS" . Retrieved 2022-03-31.
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