Pereskia aureiflora F.Ritter
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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 - Small tree or shrub up to 6 m tall, trunk up to 20 cm in diam.; bark brownish-gray, rough, branches erect or arching; distal twigs ca. 2-3 mm thick. Areoles 23 mm in diam. on twigs, with dense, short, grayish-brown tomentum, producing spines and 1-3 brachyblast leaves, accrescent on trunk to ca. 6 mm in diam. Leaves extremely variable in shape and size, obovate to elliptic-suborbicular on distal twigs under shady conditions, elliptic-lanceolate and thick-fleshy in exposed habitat, lanceolate on strong main shoots; auxoblast leaves up to 11 cm long and 2-3 cm broad, with distinct petiole and attenuate or cuneate base; brachyblast leaves 4-10 cm long and (1.5-)2.5-5 cm broad, petiole 2-4 mm long, blade plane or somewhat boat-shaped, 0.5-1 mm thick, base broadly cuneate, apex acute; venation pinnate, midrib prominent below, lateral veins 3-5(-7), ascending, diverging at angles of 40-60°. Spines 0-3 on twigs, 4-5 on young longshoots, 1-3 cm long, up to 35 on trunk, 1-3 cm long, 0.4-0.8 mm thick and up to 2 mm in diameter at the conically thickened base. Flowers solitary, terminal or on short lateral twigs, ca. 4 cm in diam.; pedicels 3-13 mm long, with 0-2 leafy bracts; receptacle 4-5 mm in diam., turbinate, bracteate; areoles with very sparse tomentum of hairs up to 1 mm long; lower bracts ca. 5-8, lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, short petiolate, spreading, 7-23 x 3-10 mm, thick and fleshy, green, sometimes with reddish margin and apex; base attenuate, apex acute; upper bracts 5-8, erect, triangular, 1-2 mm long and broad, fleshy, green, keeled; sepaloids ca. three, obovate, ca. 11 x 5 mm; petaloids ca. 10-12, spreading to reflexed 15-20 x 8-12 mm, obovate, yellow, narrowed at base; apex obtuse; stamens numerous (ca. 100 or more), 5-10 mm long; filaments pale yellow; anthers 1-1.6 x 0.5-0.7 mm, golden-yellow; pollen 12-15-colpate, large, tectum densely perforate and with small spinules; ovary ovate, half inferior, adnate to the receptacular cup with its base only, but its free part surrounded by the filament bases and the rim of the receptacular cup; locule with flat floor and "basal" placentae. Fruit a globular berry, 12-15(-20) mm in diam., reddish-green to chocolate-colored at maturity; pedicel distinct; areoles transverse linear, naked or with few short hairs; lower bracts leafy but usually deciduous at maturity, leaving a smooth, pale gray leaf scar which is more conspicuous than the areole; umbilicus narrow, filled by the connivent upper bracts and the crumpled flower remnants, or to ca. 4 mm diam.; fruit wall ca. 4 mm thick, fleshy; roof of the ovary to ca. 5-6 mm thick, with mucilaginous tissue; locule cup-shaped, ca. 6-7 mm in diam. Seeds few, often only 1-3, obovate, (4-)5-5.5 mm long, 4.2-5.1 mm broad and 2.5-3.0 mm thick, often slightly concave or flattened on one side, smooth, black, glossy; hilum subbasal, reniform to semicircular, whitish; micropylar end rounded.
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Discussion
Type. Brazil: Minas Gerais, Itaobim, Ritter 1413 (U, apparently not deposited). Local names and uses. Facho, or ora pro nobis de mata (Minas Gerais). Sometimes used for fences. Pereskia aureiflora was discovered by Ritter, probably in 1964, and described and illustrated in 1979, but the type specimen, said to be deposited at U, is missing and no duplicate material was located at SGO, where some other fragmentary material of the Ritter collection of Cactaceae is extant. This species is still incompletely known, and I have seen only fruiting material in the field. The variation in leaf shape under different conditions within the same area is remarkable. G. R. Pinto (pers. comm.) believes that another yellow-flowered species exists in Bahia. This species is remarkably similar to P. guamacho in some vegetative features and the yellow flower color but easily distinguished by the pedicellate flowers and much larger seeds.
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Distribution
Distribution (Fig. 48) and phenology. Northeastern Minas Gerais and southern Bahia, Brazil, at ca. 300 to 700 m, in the transition zone of caatinga and cerrado, also in disturbed vegetation and planted for hedges, not frequent, flowering in October and November, fruiting in March and April.
Brazil South America|