Pereskia zinniiflora DC.

  • Authority

    Leuenberger, Beat E. 1986. Pereskia (Cactaceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 41: 1-140.

  • Family

    Cactaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pereskia zinniiflora DC.

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree, 4-8(-10) m tall, with diffuse branching and flat, much branched top, or shrub-like; trunk to 25(-30) cm in diam.; bark smooth, brown, or longitudinally fissured, with spiny areoles, or marked by transverse black bands formed by withered areoles; twigs 2-3 mm thick; internodes 4-20 mm long; twigs green when young, reddish-brown or pale brown after periderm formation. Roots (examined in cultivated specimens only) without thickenings (?). Areoles 2-3 mm in diam. on twigs, often prominent, with conspicuous rusty brown tomentum of trichomes of up to 0.5 mm length, producing spines and 1-3 brachyblast leaves, often elongating into spur shoots on distal flowering twigs; areoles accrescent on branches and trunk, broadly elliptic, to 10 mm long, 50 mm broad and 8 mm high on trunk. Leaves narrowly elliptic or ovate to oblanceolate, broadest near or above the middle, 10-40(-65) x (7-)10-15(-24) mm; petiole 2-3 mm long, base cuneate to attenuate; blade 0.5-1 mm thick, fleshy; apex acute to shortly acuminate, rarely obtuse; venation pinnate; midrib prominent below; lateral veins 2-3, inconspicuous. Spines 0-5 per areole on twigs, acicular, often two or three at first, the lateral spreading, the median porrect, 7-30(-40) mm long and 0.3-0.7 mm thick, with conspicuous conical thickening of up to 2-3 mm diam. at base; young spines subulate, yellow to brown at base, becoming brown to black; spines increasing in number on branches and trunk to 30-80, 2-5 cm long and 0.8-1.0 mm thick, brown or black, becoming gray with age. Flowers solitary, terminal on main branches and twigs and from lateral areoles and spur shoots, epigynous, 30-40 mm in diam.; pedicels to ca. 3 mm long. Staminate flowers with receptacle turbinate, 5-10 mm long, 5-8 mm in diam., bearing 2-6 areoles with sparse rusty brown tomentum; lower bracts 1-3, obovate to lanceolate, leaflike, 8-14 x 4-6 mm, with cuneate base and acute apex; upper bracts (0-)1-3, lanceolate to broadly obovate, ca. 5-7 x 5 mm, with rounded apex; sepaloids 23, broadly ovate to suborbicular, 6-15 x 6-9 mm, with broad base, green when fresh, venation nearly parallel; petaloids 7-9, obovate, 15-25 x 8-12 mm; base cuneate to attenuate, apex rounded to emarginate; blade purplish-pink, variously described as pink to crimson-purple; stamens ca. 150, 4-8 mm long; filaments white at base, apically pink; anthers 1.2-1.5 x 0.5-0.7 mm, pale pink (pollen yellow); pollen 12-colpate, medium-sized, tectum perforate and with large spinules; ovary inferior but with free ovary roof; locule small, ca. 1 mm in diam.; placentae parietal; style 3-5 mm long and ca. 1 mm thick, abruptly rising from the ovary roof, narrowing into the 3-9 filiform-subulate stigma lobes 1-2 mm long; shorter than the stamens; ovules aberrant or absent. Pistillate flowers (data from Areces, 1984, p. 161, as Rhodocactus cubensis) with receptacle broadly ovate or subglobose, 9-14 mm long, 9-13 mm in diam.; receptacular bracts 1-3, elliptic to oblanceolate, 8-17 x 4-8 mm; sepaloids ca. five, orbicular or ovate, 4-8 x 4-7 mm, pale green with pink margins, transitional to the petaloids; petaloids 8-11, subspathulate to obovate, 11-18 x 5-12 mm, emarginate or rarely rounded or truncate, bright reddish-pink; stamens abnormal, dwarfed, ca. 2 mm long; anthers empty; style stout, terete, finely striate, 3-5 mm long, 1-2 mm thick; stigma lobes 7-10, spreading, 3-8 mm long, 1 mm thick; locule subglobose, 4-7 mm in diam.; ovules numerous, parietal. Fruit a globular to depressed ficiform berry, ca. 14-20 mm in diam. (18-30 mm in diam. according to Areces, 1984); pedicel ca. 2 mm long and 1 mm thick; areoles few, nearly naked, ca. 2 below the receptacular rim, 2-3 at the rim around the accrescent, naked, flat, smooth umbilicus of 6-9 mm diam. formed by the accrescent ovary roof; flower remnants deciduous. Seeds to 50 or more, obovate to reniform, (2.5-)2.8-3.0 mm long, 2.2-3.0 mm broad and 1.0-1.5 mm thick, smooth on the sides with shallow peripheral ribs, black, glossy; hilum subbasal, transversely elliptic; micropylar end rounded or nose-like. Chromosome number: 2n = 22; Alain s.n., cult. hort. Berol. 046-02-78-30 (B).

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution (Fig. 35) and phenology. Cuba, endemic to the southern and southwestern part of the island, in the lowlands, in dry coastal thickets, xerophytic scrub thickets, "poor forests," and salty pastures, according to collectors’ data; flowering from ca. March to August, fruits reported from May to August.

  • Discussion

    Type. Plate of Cactus zinniaeflorus in Mociño, Fl. Mex. ined. (no. 1012, preserved at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh). Equivalent specimen. “Nova Hispania,” 1787-1804, Sessé et al. 2137 (F, MA); “Nueva España,” Herb. Pavon (G). The specimen distributed by Pavon was apparently taken from the Sessé collection and represents the major part of the material. Rhodocactus zinniiflorus (De Candolle) F. Knuth in Backeberg & Knuth, Kaktus-ABC 96. 1935. 1935. Pereskia cubensis Britton & Rose, Torreya 12: 13. 1912. Type. Cuba. Oriente, 1856-57, Wright 205 (lectotype, US; isotypes, G, GH, NY). Rhodocactus cubensis (Britton & Rose) F. Knuth in Backeberg & Knuth, Kaktus-ABC 96. 1935. Plants of this species are dioecious according to Areces (1984), and this feature is apparently common in other Caribbean species of the genus. I have seen many staminate flowers in herbarium specimens and on one cultivated plant, but no perfect flowers. One single pistillate flower seen with a fruiting specimen (Alain 1080) has papillate stigma lobes ca. 5 mm long, and dwarfed sterile stamens. In staminate flowers the locule is very small, and the ovules, if present, are aberrant. In one case, teratological stamens arising from the placenta were found (cult. hort. Berol. 046-02-78-30). The reproductive biology of this species remains to be studied. Areces (1984) observed Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera visiting the flowers. Local names. Erizo, abrojo (León & Alain, 1953). When describing this species from the plate of "Cactus zinniaeflorus” of Mociño’s unpublished Flora Mexicana paintings, de Candolle assumed it to be from Mexico. However, according to McVaugh (1977), some of the plants illustrated there were in fact from the West Indies, collected by Sessé in 1795. Two specimens apparently belonging to the same collection and referable to the plate were located, one at Madrid (MA) in the Sessé and Mociño collection, and one at Geneva (G) labeled as from “Herb. Pavon.” As noted by McVaugh (1977), specimens from the Sessé and Mociño collection were sold by Pavon. Comparison of the specimens and the plate with old and recent collections of all taxa from the West Indies and from Mexico and Central America shows that Pereskia zinniiflora is the same as the Cuban plant later described as P. cubensis and that it is entirely different from any species from the mainland. It is noteworthy that the specimen at Geneva was annotated by J. N. Rose as “Pereskia zinniiflora ?,” but this was not mentioned in the monograph of Britton and Rose (1919). Bravo-Hollis (1959) saw the specimen (no. 2137) in the Sessé and Mociño collection at Madrid and also correctly identified it, but she later included a different taxon, Pereskia tampicana, in the synonymy of P. zinniiflora, assuming that both were from Mexico and apparently influenced by the superficial similarity of two illustrations which, however, differ widely in scale (Bravo-Hollis, 1978, p. 149, figs. 67, 68). Pereskia tampicana is discussed under P. grandifolia. The original plate of “Cactus zinniaeflorus” which was only recently rediscovered (McVaugh, 1982) is of excellent quality, and while the spines and areoles of the older stem do not seem entirely typical the flower and leaves as well as floral details illustrated separately are very accurate. The exact origin of Sessé’s plant is unknown, and it is possible that it was not collected within the natural range of distribution of the species but perhaps from a plant cultivated at or near Havana, where Sessé stayed for nine months in 1795 (McVaugh, 1977). Several cases of plants in the Sessé collection originating from eastern Cuba but not collected there by Sessé himself are reported by McVaugh (1977). There is a specimen dating back to 1821 (Perrero s.n.) provided with locality data “La Havane” but there is no evidence that the species is native there. Another collection (Sagra s.n.) cannot be placed. Ramón de la Sagra was the director of a botanical garden and professor at Havana from 1822 to 1835 (Stafleu & Cowan 19,83; Urban, 1902-1903). Furthermore, Karwinski’s collection of 184041, labeled as “Iter Mexicanum 1841-42,” may well be from the same source, for he also visited Havana but not the southern and southeastern part of Cuba (McVaugh, 1980b). More recent collectors and authors report the species only from the provinces of Santiago de Cuba (Oriente) and Las Villas (León & Alain, 1953) and from Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, and Santa Clara (Werdermann, 1931).