Acanthocereus

Acanthocereus subinermis

Taxonavigation

Taxonavigation: Caryophyllales

Classification System: APG IV Superregnum: Eukaryota Cladus: Orthokaryota Cladus: Neokaryota Cladus: Photokaryota Cladus: Diaphoretickes Cladus: CAM Regnum*: Archaeplastida Regnum: Plantae Regnum*: Viridiplantae Cladus: Streptophyta Cladus: Phragmoplastophyta Cladus: Embryophyta Cladus: Polysporangiophyta Divisio*: Tracheophyta Cladus: Eutracheophyta Cladus: Euphyllophytina Cladus: Megaphylla Cladus: Radiatopses Cladus: Lignophyta Cladus: Metalignophyta Diviso*: Spermatophyta Classis*: Angiospermae Cladus: Mesangiospermae Cladus: Eudicota Cladus: Core eudicots Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Cactaceae
Subfamilia: Cactoideae
Tribus: Hylocereeae
Genus: Acanthocereus
Species: A. atropurpureus – A. canoensis – A. castellae – A. chiapensis – A. cuixmalensis – A. fosterianus – A. haackeanus – A. hesperius – A. hirschtianus – A. lempirensis – A. macdougallii – A. maculatus – A. oaxacensis – A. paradoxus – A. rosei – A. tepalcatepecanus – A. tetragonus

Name

Acanthocereus (Engelm.) Britton & Rose (1909)

• Lectotype species:  Acanthocereus baxaniensis (Karwinsky ex Pfeiffer) Borg, vide Hunt (1991). (Cereus baxaniensis Karw. ex Pfeiff.) vide Acanthocereus tetragonus (L.) Humm. (1938)

Synonyms

• Basionym
  • Cereus subg. Acanthocereus Engelm., Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 2: 202–204 (1863).
• Homotypic
  • Cereus subsect. Acanthocereus (Engelm.) A.Berger, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 16: 77 (1905)
• Heterotypic
  • Cereus subsect. Acutanguli Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849: 49. (1850).
    • Type species: Cereus acutangulus Pfeiff.
  • Cereus [infragen.unranked] Articulati Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. (1841): 29 (1841), p.p.
    • Type species: non design.
  • Cereus [infragen.unranked] Extensi Pfeiff., Enum. Diagn. Cact. 107 (1837), nom. illeg. (Art. 53.1)
  • Cereus [infragen.unranked] Variabiles Salm-Dyck, Cact. Hort. Dyck. 1849: 49 (1850).
    • Type species: Cereus variabilis Pfeiff.
  • Peniocereus subg. Pseudoacanthocereus Sanchez-Mej., Cact. Suc. Mex. 19(2): 38 (1974).
    • Type species: Peniocereus maculatus (Weing.) Cutak

Notes

• The genus is sometimes treated as monotypic (citation required).

References

• Britton, N.L. & Rose, J.N. (1909) Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 12: 432.

Additional references

• Doweld, A.B. 2005. Adjustments in the nomenclature of the genera Acanthocereus, Heliocereus and Nyctocereus (Cactaceae). Sukkulenty 8(1–2): 13–15. Reference page. 
• Arias, S. & al. 2005 Phylogenetic relationships in Peniocereus (Cactaceae) inferred from plastid DNA sequence data. Journal of Plant Research 118 (5): 317–328.
• Hunt, D. 1991. Bradleya 9: 82.
• Hunt, D. 1998. Further notes on Acanthocereus (Engelmann ex Berger) B. and R. Cactaceae Consensus Initiatives 5: 15–17.
• Hunt, D. 2000. Notes on miscellaneous genera of Cactaceae subfam. Cactoideae. Acanthocereus. Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives 9: 13–15.
• Korotkova, N., Aquino, D., Arias, S., Eggli, U., Franck, A. , Gómez-Hinostrosa, C., Guerrero, P.C., Hernández, H.M., Kohlbecker, A., Köhler, M., Luther, K., Majure, L.C., Müller, A., Metzing, D., Nyffeler, R., Sánchez, D., Schlumpberger, B. & Berendsohn, W.G. 2021. Cactaceae at Caryophyllales. org–a dynamic online species-level taxonomic backbone for the family. Willdenowia 51(2): 251–270. DOI: 10.3372/wi.51.51208 Reference page. 

Links

• Korotkova, N. et al. 2021. Acanthocereus in Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org. A global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Dec 21. Reference page. 
• Govaerts, R. et al. 2025. Acanthocereus in Kew Science Plants of the World Online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2025 May 11. Reference page. 
• International Plant Names Index. 2025. Acanthocereus. Published online. Accessed: May 11 2025. Reference page.
• Tropicos.org 2021. Acanthocereus. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 21 Dec 2021. Reference page.
• Hassler, M. 2021. Acanthocereus. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2021 Dec 21. Reference page. 

Vernacular names

• English: Barbed-wire cactus, sword-pear, triangle cactus
• lietuvių: Sijūnas
• русский: Акантоцереус
• svenska: Snårpelarkaktussläktet

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