Cereus mortensenii

Cereus mortensenii is a species of plant found in Venezuela. It is the only Cereus species with a cephalium.

Cereus mortensenii
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Cactaceae
Subfamily:	Cactoideae
Genus:	Cereus
Species:	C. mortensenii
Binomial name
Cereus mortensenii (Croizat) D.R.Hunt & N.P.Taylor[1]
Synonyms
Pseudopilosocereus mortensenii Pilosocereus mortensenii Pilosocereus gruberi

Description

Cereus mortensenii is a treelike plant, growing up to 8 metres (26 ft) tall. The bluish stems are up to 8 cm (3.1 in) wide and have woolly areoles. Each areole has 1 or 2 central spines up to 4 cm (1.6 in) long and 5-7 radial spine up to 1.5 cm (0.59 in) long. Cream colored flowers up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long emerge from the white cephalium on mature plants.^[2]

Taxonomy

This plant is sometimes placed in the genus Pilosocereus because of its cephalium.

etymology

This plant is named for Russell H. Mortensen who helped with the discovery and collection of this species ^[3]