Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 CACCACEAE~ANELLACEAE 59
Cactus tetragonus Linnaeus, 1753:466.
Cactus pentagonus Linnaeus, 1753:467.
Acanthocereuspentagonus sensu auctt., non (Lhnaeus) Britton & Rose.
Plants arching or clambering, to 3 m tall; juvenile stems
6-8-ribbed, mature plants with stems 3-5-ribbed, 5 cm broad
spines 10-12, to 3 cm, gray; flowers white, 2.2 dm long, closed
by mid-morning, style included.
Native along coasts of the Caribbean; in Dominica on cliffs
of dry west coast near sea level: Tarou Cliffs (Ernst 1707).
Flowering in mid-June.
Emst’s 1964 collection seems to be a new record for
Dominica.
Howard (1.c.) neotypified Cactus tetragonus Linnaeus but
gave no reason why he accepted Hummelinck’s combination.
So far as I can determine, the basionym (Cactus pentagonus
Linnaeus) of Acanthocereus pentagonus is not a synonym but
has been excluded as a nomen dubium of uncertain application
(typification).
Melocactus Link & Otto, nom. cons.
Melocactus intortus
Melocactus intortus (Miller) Urban, 1919b:35.-Marshall& Bock, 1941:165-
166.-Liogier. 1965:341.-Howard, 1989, 5:408.
Cactus intortus Miller, 1768.
Unbranched barrel cacti to 1 m tall and 4 dm wide,
surmounted by a flat or cylindric cephalium to 3 dm; flowers
pinkish.
Bahamas through Guadeloupe (incl. Saintes); cited for
Dominica by Britton and Rose (1922, 3:231) based on a
Kew-grown specimen from Dominica (Rose 17247, flowers
only).
This genus is very distinctive and the fact that it has not been
collected recently on Dominica makes one wonder if the record
of the Dominican origin at Kew was correct or, if correct, was
actually from cultivated material introduced to Dominica from
somewhere else.
Opuntia Miller
1. Areoles spineless (ours); flowers scarlet; stamens exserted
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0. cochinelltfera
1. Areoles with 1-10 spines; flowers yellow; stamens shorter
than petals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0. stricta
Opun tia cochen illVera
Opuntia cochenillifera (Linnaeus) Miller, 1768.-Howard, 1989,5:411.
Cactus cochenillyer Linnaeus, 1753:468.
Nopalea cochenillifera (Linnaeus) Salm-Dyck, 1850:64.
Tall shrubs with flattened branches; joints oblong, 50 cm x
25 cm; spines none or minute; flower to 7 cm, scarlet; stamens
exserted 1-1.5 cm.
Originally Mexican or Jamaican but now widespread in
tropics; a single plant observed in Dominica in “thickets south
of Salisbury” (Hodge 3813 at GH).
Opuntia stricta
Opunria srricta (Haworth) Haworth, 1812:191.-Howard, 1989,5412.
Cactus sfricfus Haworth, 1803:188.
Cactus dillenii Ker, 1817b.
Opuntia dillenii (Ker) Haworth, 1819:79.
Opuntia stricta var. dillenii (Ker) L. Benson, 1%9:126.
Prickly pear, raquette, bata, pata (Carib).
Much-branched, spreading plants to 2 m tall; branches (pads)
flattened, obovoid or oblongoid, spines yellow, k banded;
flowers yellow.
Neotropics, now widespread: common coastal species in
Dominica on the west coast: Pointe Ronde (Hodge 2702),
Grand Savanne (Hodge 3814), sine loc. (Lloyd [Rose?] 21850,
w.
The Caribs use the fleshy joints to treat an enlarged spleen
(Hodge and Taylor, 1957591).
This is a widespread and serious pest in some parts of the
world, such as Australia.
Adjanohoun et al. (198561, pl. 27) reported medicinal usage
of apparently cultivated Opuntia ficus-indica (Linnaeus)
Miller. It would key here to 0. stricta, but it is like 0.
cocheniUz$era in that it is essentially spineless.
Pilosocereus Byles & Rowley
Pilosocereus royenu
Pilosocereus royenii (Linnaeus) Byles & Rowley, 1957:67 “royd’.-
Howard, 1989,5419.
Cactus royenii Linnaeus, 1753:467, “royeni.”
Cereus nobilis Haworth, 1812179.
Pilocereus nobilis (Haworth) K. Schumann in Engler & Prantl, 1894,
III(6a): 181.
Cephalocereus nobilis (Haworth) Britton & Rose, 1909:418.
Cephalocereus royenii (Linnaeus) Britton & Rose, 1909:419 “royeni“.-
VClez, 1957:78.
Pilosocereus nobilis (Haworth) Byles & Rowley, 1957:67.
Long-branched, columnar plants to 8 m; stems 5-7 cm thick;
flowers yellowish purplish; fruit purple-black at maturity.
Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands to Grenada: apparently the
most common columnar cactus in Dominica on rocky outcrops
of the dry west coast: above Colihaut (Whitefoord 5966), Grand
Savanne (Hodge 3815), Spanish Mountain (Hodge 2771), cult.
Kew from Dominica (Rose 17246). In bud in mid-May.
CANELLACEAE
Canella winterana
Canella winterana (Linnaeus) Gaenner, 1788, 1 :373.-Little & Wadsworth,
1964:362, pl. 168.
Lourus winterana Linnaeus, 1753:371.