Plants of Pilosocereus brevispinus have a tree-like habit, reaching 5m (16ft) in height when mature, with a woody trunk up to 1m (3ft) high and upright branches. The green or greyish green stems are 6–8cm (2–3in) across with 9–11 ribs. The areoles are about 3mm (0.1in) across and about 10mm (0.4in) apart. Flowering areoles have a dense tuft of white hairs 3–4cm (1.2–1.6in) long; non-flowering areoles have shorter hairs that may be lost with age. Both kinds of areole have 15–20 straight spines, generally 4–6mm (0.16–0.24in) long.[3]
The flowers appear at night and have a smell described as "musty". Excluding the style, they are about 70mm (2.8in) long and about 45mm (1.8in) across. The white style is 55mm (2.2in) long. The outer perianth segments are rounded and fleshy, about 10mm (0.4in) long and wide. There are about 16 white inner perianth segments that are about 15mm (0.6in) long and 8mm (0.3in) wide. The fruit is spherical, about 40mm (1.6in) across, with red pulp and shiny black seeds.[3]
Taxonomy
Pilosocereus brevispinus was first described in 2021.[2] The specific epithet brevispinus refers to the shortness of the spines.[3] Previously, all the species of Pilosocereus found on the island of Hispaniola were treated as Pilosocereus polygonus.[4][3]P.brevispinus is distinguished from P.polygonus by generally having a smaller number of spines per areole (12–20 rather than 20-30) that are distinctly shorter (up to 8mm (0.3in) long rather than 15–30mm (0.6–1.2in)). It also has a longer tuft of hairs in flowering areoles than P.polygonus.[3]P.brevispinus has also been considered not to be sufficiently different from P.polygonus to justify treating it as a distinct species, and hence accepted as a subspecies, P.polygonus subsp. brevispinus.[5]
Distribution and habitat
Pilosocereus brevispinus is endemic to the island of Hispaniola.[1] It is found in the centre of the island, in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, at elevations of 300–500m (1,000–1,600ft). Larger specimens are found in open habitats, smaller ones in forests.[3]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hoxey, Paul; Gdaniec, Andrew & Cinea, William (2021), "Notes on Pilosocereus (Cactaceae) from the Island of Hispaniola and the Description of Three New Species", Cactus and Succulent Journal, 93 (2): 98–111, doi:10.2985/015.093.0203
↑ Franck, Alan R.; Barrios, Duniel; Campbell, Keron C. St. E.; Lange, James; Peguero, Brígido; Santiago-Valentín, Eugenio; Rigerszki, Zoltán; Haakonsson, Jane; Gann, George D.; Cinea, William; Howe, Natalie M. M.; St. John, James; Moreno, Juan Sebastián & Clark, Cynthia A. (2019), "Revision of Pilosocereus (Cactaceae) in the Caribbean and northern Andean region", Phytotaxa, 411 (3): 129–182, doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.411.3.1
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