Harrisia adscendens

{{Short description|Species of cactus}}

{{Speciesbox

| image =

| image_caption =

|status = LC

|status_system = IUCN3.1

|status_ref ={{cite journal | last=Kew) | first=Nigel Taylor (RBG | last2=Assessment) | first2=Pierre Braun (Global Cactus | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | date=2010-08-09 | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/152146/121523840 | access-date=2023-11-27 | page=}}

| genus = Harrisia (plant)

| species =adscendens

| authority = (Gürke) Britton & Rose

| synonyms =

  • Cereus adscendens {{au|Gürke 1908}}
  • Eriocereus adscendens {{au|(Gürke) A.Berger 1929}}
  • Cereus platygonus {{au|Salm-Dyck 1850}}
  • Eriocereus platygonus {{au|(Salm-Dyck) Riccob. 1909}}
  • Harrisia platygona {{au|(Salm-Dyck) Britton & Rose 1920}}

}}

Harrisia adscendens is a species of cactus found in Brazil.

Description

Harrisia adscendens grows as a shrub with rich, sparsely branched, initially upright, later overhanging or spreading shoots and forms a striking trunk. The shoots have a diameter of 2 to 5 centimeters and are 5 to 8 meters long. There are seven to ten low, rounded ribs that form elongated tubercles. The four to ten strong, yellowish to grayish thorns, thickened at their base, have a darker tip and are 1 to 3 centimeters long.

The flowers reach a length of 15 to 18 centimeters. Its pericarpel and flower tube are covered with scales and long hairs. The spherical, tearing, red fruits are slightly tuberous. They have a diameter of 5 to 6 centimeters.{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Edward F. | last2=Eggli | first2=Urs | title=Das grosse Kakteen-Lexikon | publisher=Ulmer | publication-place=Stuttgart (Hohenheim) | date=2005 | isbn=3-8001-4573-1 | language=de | pages= 337–338}}

Distribution

Harrisia adscendens is widespread in northeastern Brazil from the state of Bahia to the south of Ceará and Paraíba at altitudes of 50 to 700 meters.{{cite web | last=Franck| first=Alan R.| title=MONOGRAPH OF HARRISIA | url=http://www.phytoneuron.net/2016Phytoneuron/85PhytoN-HarrisiaPt1.pdf | publisher=Phytoneuron| date=2016| access-date=2023-11-25}}

Taxonomy

The first description as Cereus adscendens was made in 1908 by Max Gürke.{{cite web | title=Monatsschrift für Kakteenkunde | publisher=J. Neumann | volume=Bd.18-19 (1908-1909) | date=1908 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35674535 | access-date=2023-11-27}} The specific epithet adscendens comes from Latin, means 'ascending' and refers to the growth habit of the species.{{cite book | last=Britton | first=Nathaniel Lord | last2=Eaton | first2=Mary E. | last3=Rose | first3=J. N. | last4=Wood | first4=Helen Adelaide | title=The Cactaceae : descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family | publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington | publication-place=Washington | year=1919 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.46288 | page=}} Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Harrisia in 1920. Another nomenclature synonym is Eriocereus adscendens (Gürke) A.Berger (1929).

References

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