Pereskia bleo (Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth) DC.
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Authority
Leuenberger, Beat E. 1986. Pereskia (Cactaceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 41: 1-140.
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Family
Cactaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree, 2-8 m; trunk to 15 cm diam., armed or unarmed; bark of trunk and branches smooth, olive-green to brownish-gray; twigs 2-5 mm thick, main shoots and fresh twigs often thicker, dark green to olive when fresh; stomata lacking, periderm formation early. Areoles transversely oblong, 2-5 mm wide on twigs, circular and 8-10 mm diam. on trunk; tomenturn whitish to light brown; hairs uniseriate, ca. 0.5-1 mm long; areoles producing spines but no brachyblast leaves. Leaves narrowly elliptic to oblong or lanceolate, (4-)6-20(-25) x (1-)2-7(-8) cm; average leaves ca. 16 x 6 cm, smaller and narrower at the base of new shoots and on distal twigs; petiole distinct, 0.5-3 cm long, ca. 3 mm wide and to 4 mm thick when fresh, rounded below and slightly grooved above; leafblade fleshy, 0.5-1 mm thick, base gradually narrowed into the petiole, attenuate; margin entire, often undulate when fresh; apex acuminate; venation pinnate; lateral veins 4-6(-7), arching, often bifurcate in the distal third of their length, impressed above in fresh leaves. Spines usually 1-5 on twigs, sometimes lacking, to 40 per areole on trunk, subulate, 5-10(-15) mm long and 0.4-0.6 mm thick on twigs, ca. 20(-50) mm long on trunk, thickened at base, fasciculate to spreading, black or nearly so, with red base in youth, becoming gray with age. Inflorescence condensed racemose, terminal on main shoots and lateral twigs; main shoot narrowed into the indistinct pedicel of the terminal flower; lateral flowers arising in acropetal sequence from the axils of the uppermost leaves and leafy bracts; receptacle not proliferating. Flowers epigynous, 4-6 cm in diam., pedicels 5-10 mm long and ca. 3 mm thick at base, naked; receptacle turbinate, 5-10(-12) mm in diam. at the rim, with ca. five irregular blunt angles, usually ebracteate below its greatest diameter, rarely with 1-2 linear-lanceolate, lower receptacular bracts; upper bracts above the rim of the receptacle, 4-5, erect, lanceolate, up to 18 x 2 mm, the inner ones shorter, triangular, ca. 8 x 5 mm; sepaloids 2-3, ovate, ca. 12-21 x 12-17 mm, with broad base, green or reddish towards the margin; petaloids 10-15, obovate to broadly obovate, 2-3(-4) x 2 cm, the outer with broad base, the inner with narrow base, cuneate, apex broadly rounded and softly mucronate to emarginate, blade thin and delicate, bright red, scarlet, orange-red in bud, also described as salmon, flesh-colored, or (according to Weber, 1898b, p. 93, P. panamensis) yellowish-white with pink margins (unconfirmed); margins sometimes turning pink at high temperatures; venation palmate-flabellate. Stamens ca. 120, 5-13 mm long, filaments erect, clustering around the style, pale at base, conspicuously red in the upper two thirds; anthers 0.9-1.4 x 0.3-0.4 mm, cream; pollen 9-12-colpate, medium-sized, tectum perforate and with spines barely 1 µm long. Ovary inferior but with free, flat ovary roof, locule cup-shaped, unilocular with septal ridges at roof; placentae parietal in the upper half of the locule at the base of the septal ridges; ovules numerous, ca. 1 mm in diam.; style abruptly rising from the flat ovary roof, 10-14 mm long, ca. 1 mm thick, thinner at base; stigma lobes 5-6, 4 mm long, cream. Fruit a turbinate, truncate berry 4-5(-7) cm long and in diam., naked or with 1-2 persistent bracts on the rim; distal end with a broad, flat, and smooth umbilicus formed by the accrescent ovary roof and surrounded by a circular groove along the raised, rounded rim of the receptacle; yellow at maturity, sour; wall ca. 1 cm thick, locule 1.5-2 cm in diameter. Seeds few or to 10-20, mostly obovate, but variable in outline, 6-7.5 mm long, 5-6.5 mm broad and 34 mm thick, smooth, black; hilum subbasal, reniform to subquadrangular, cream-colored, with a low and broad rim formed by spongy tissue and central funicle scar. Seedlings (three weeks old) with hypocotyl ca. 3 cm long and 3 mm thick; cotyledons ovate, ca. 30 x 20 mm, venation pinnate, intercostal areas convex; cotyledons accrescent on older seedlings to ca. 38 x 27 mm; primary leaves like regular leaves but smaller, reddish-olive, areoles with numerous spines 1-5 mm long; juvenile plants with basitonous branching from the lowermost areoles above the cotyledonar areoles. Chromosome number: 2n = 22; cult. hort. Berol. 277-01-80-80 (B). A gametic chromosome number of n = 11 was reported by Ross (1981).
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Discussion
Cactus bleo Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. & sp. pl. 6: 69. 1823. Type. Colombia. Bolívar: nr. Badillas on the Magdalena river, May 1805 (fl), Humboldt & Bonpland 1546 (lectotype, P; isotypes, B-W, P). Rhodocactus bleo (Kunth) F. Knuth in Backeberg & Knuth, Kaktus-ABC 97. 1939. Pereskia panamensis F. A. C. Weber in Bois, Dict. Hort. 939. 1898. Type. “Isthme de Panama.” No specimen cited, but a specimen, probably labeled in Weber's handwriting, may serve as lectotype: “isthme de Panama 1888-89, Geay 27, cult, in caldar. mus. Paris (P).” Pereskia corrugata Cutak, Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 23: 173, figs. 95, 96. 1951. Type. Cultivated at Missouri Bot. Gard., origin unknown, 10 Sep 1951 (fl), Cutak s.n. (MO). Rhodocactus corrugatus (Cutak) Backeberg, Cactaceae 1: 118. 1958. Local names and uses. Panama. Najú de culebra, najii or najú de espinas. Colombia. Bleo, chupa, bleo de chupa (Bolívar), chupa melón (Chocó). In Colombia it is used for hedges. The leaves were used for clarification of water, and the fruits are edible, but sour. Pereskia bleo is probably the most remarkable member of the genus and a most unusual cactus in general because of its large petiolate leaves, the showy bright red flowers, the distinctive turbinate fruit, and the terrestrial rain forest habitat. It is cultivated occasionally outside its natural range, particularly in the West Indies, but until recently was unknown in European collections. Pfeiffer (1837a, 1837b) mentioned P. cruenta Hort. as a synonym, which indicates that the species has been in cultivation earlier, but later reports of P. bleo from cultivation refer to misidentified plants of P. grandifolia. Ever since Schumann (1890, 1898) misapplied the name to plants of P. grandifolia, following earlier illustrations under this name (Edwards, Bot. Mag. 17: pl. 1473; Bot. Mag. 63: pl. 3478, and Pfeiffer & Otto, 1843: pl. 30), the confusion has persisted in botanical collections, encyclopedic and pictorial works, e.g., in Tropica, p. 238 upper right (Graf, 1978), and Exotica (ed. 4), p. 622, upper left (Graf, 1982). Pereskia panamensis was described by Weber (1898a) as having yellowish-white petals with pink margin, but no further material with such flower colors has been found. Even if the type specimen had whitish flowers, all other characters perfectly agree with P. bleo. Cutak (1951) described P. corrugata from a plant originally received from the Bureau of Plant Industries, U.S. Department of Agriculture at Glenn Dale, Maryland, saying that “the meager data which accompanied the cutting proved erroneous” but unfortunately without stating what these were. Apparently Cutak did not know the true P. bleo and hence believed himself to have found a new species. The undulate, crinkled leaves are typical for living specimens of P. bleo, but the character is not as evident in older leaves and certainly not in herbarium specimens. Britton and Rose (1919) did not note this leaf character but were the first to resolve the confusion between P. bleo and P. grandifolia.
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Distribution
Distribution (Fig. 40) and phenology. Panama and Colombia, from sea level to about 500 m, in Colombia to 1300 m, on sandy soil along streams and on river banks, also in secondary forest and in hedges; flowering mainly from March to June; fruiting from October to March (data insufficient). The species is notable for its rather mesic habitat, but the stems and leaves, although fairly soft, show a degree of succulence similar to large-leaved species of more xeric habitats. Three specimens are omitt
Panama Central America| Colombia South America|