CPC National Collection Plant Profile
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CPC National Collection Plant Profile
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Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus
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Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus is Not Sponsored |
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Primary
custodian for this plant in the CPC National Collection of Endangered
Plants is: |
Kathleen C. Rice contributed to this Plant Profile. |
| Peniocereus greggii var. transmontanus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| One of the threats to this species comes from its popularity--this is a plant with a history of religious, medicinal, and ornamental use. Both private and commercial collectors have had a serious impact on the abundance of this species in its natural habitat by digging entire plants up. Ironically, the plant itself is relatively easy to propagate, so there is no need to dig entire plants up. (New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council 1999) Peniocereus greggii is a slender-stemmed cactus with a large underground tuber that can reach the size of a basketball, and weigh as much as 15 pounds. Occasional specimens are known to weigh as much as 87 pounds. It is reported that native Americans utilized the tuber for food. The gray stems are four to six ribbed, to 12 mm in diameter, and resemble the stems of the shrubs that often support them. The stems are armed with short dark spines along the ribs. The white, scented flowers are large and beautiful and bloom for only one night. Fruits are red, ovoid, sparsely spiny, fleshy and many-seeded.
State Range
Distribution
Number Left
State/Area Protection
Ecological Relationships
Threats
Current Research Summary
Current Management Summary
Research Management Needs
Ex Situ Needs |
References |
Benson, L. 1982. The Cacti of the United States and Canada. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 1044p. |
Kartesz, J.T. 1993. Species distribution data for vascular plants of 70 geographical areas, from unpublished data files at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. |
Kartesz, J.T. 1996. Species distribution data at state and province level for vascular plant taxa of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (accepted records), from unpublished data files at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. |
Phillips, S.J.; Comus, P.W. 2000. A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert. Tucson, AZ: Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum Press. |
Winkelman, M.J.; Nabhan, G.P. 1992. Pharmacological properties of some Piman (O'Odham) medicinal plants for the treatment of diabetes. Tucson, Ariz: 20p. |
Kartesz, J.T. 1999. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In: Kartesz, J.T.; Meacham, C.A., editors. Synthesis of the North American Flora, Version 1.0. North Carolina Botanical Garden. Chapel Hill, NC. |
(1999). New Mexico Rare Plants Information. New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council: Albuquerque, NM. Version 15. http://nmrareplants.unm.edu/nmrptc/rarelist.htm. Accessed: 2002. |
(2000). Center for Plant Conservation's National Living Collection--Profiles. Desert Botanical Garden. http://www.dbg.org/Collections/cpc.html. Accessed: 2002. |
Daley, R. 2000. The Sonoran Desert: A Case for Conservation. World Conservation. |
Gibson, A.C.; Horack, K.E. 1978. Systematic anatomy and phylogeny of Mexican columnar cacti. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 65: 999-1057. |
| This profile was updated on 3/4/2010 |