Borzicactus sepium

Borzicactus sepium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae
Subfamily: Cactoideae
Genus: Borzicactus
Species:
B. sepium
Binomial name
Borzicactus sepium
(Kunth) Britton & Rose
Synonyms
  • Cactus sepium Kunth 1823
  • Cereus sepium (Kunth) DC. 1828
  • Cleistocactus sepium (Kunth) F.A.C.Weber 1904

Borzicactus sepium is a species of Borzicactus found in Ecuador.

Description

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Borzicactus sepium grows as a shrub with mostly little or no branches from the base, lying to ascending, light to dark green shoots and reaches heights of 0.5 to 2 meters with diameters of 3 to 10 centimeters. There are 6 to 18 low, blunt, grooved ribs. The white or light brown areoles are far apart. The bristly to needle-like thorns are brown, yellowish or blackish and turn gray with age. The 1 to 3 strong central spines are up to 4 centimeters long, the 8 to 10 marginal spines are up to 1 centimeter long.

The slightly zygomorphic, bright red flowers are up to 7.5 centimeters long and have a diameter of 3 centimeters. Their flower bracts are spread out. The spherical, brownish green to yellowish green fruits reach a diameter of up to 5 centimeters.[2]

Subspecies

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Accepted supbspecies:[3]

  • Borzicactus sepium subsp. morleyanus (Britton & Rose) Lodé
  • Borzicactus sepium subsp. sepium
  • Borzicactus sepium subsp. ventimigliae (Riccob.) Lodé
  • Borzicactus sepium subsp. websterianus (Backeb.) Lodé

Distribution

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Borzicactus sepium is widespread in northern and central Ecuador at altitudes of 1500 to 3500 meters.

Taxonomy

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The first description as Cactus sepium was in 1823 by Karl Sigismund Kunth.[4] The specific epithet sepium comes from Latin and means 'fence'. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Borzicactus in 1920.[5] Further nomenclature synonyms are Cereus sepium (Kunth) DC. (1828) and Cleistocactus sepium (Kunth) F.A.C.Weber (1904).

References

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  1. ^ "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2011-05-03. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  2. ^ Anderson, Edward F.; Eggli, Urs (2005). Das grosse Kakteen-Lexikon (in German). Stuttgart (Hohenheim): Ulmer. p. 124–125. ISBN 3-8001-4573-1.
  3. ^ "Borzicactus sepium (Kunth) Britton & Rose". Plants of the World Online. 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  4. ^ Bonpland, Aimé; Humboldt, Alexander von; Kunth, Karl Sigismund (1815). Nova genera et species plantarum :quas in peregrinatione ad plagam aequinoctialem orbis novi collegerunt /descripserunt, partim adumbraverunt Amat. Bonpland et Alex. de Humboldt ; ex schedis autographis Amati Bonplandi in ordinem digessit Carol. Sigismund. Kunth ... Antverpiae: Ex officina Christophori Plantini. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.640.
  5. ^ Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Eaton, Mary E.; Rose, J. N.; Wood, Helen Adelaide (1919). The Cactaceae : descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.46288.
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