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LCPTOCEREUS. 



77 



909 



10. LEPTOCEREUS (Bergcr) Britton and Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 433. 



Arborescent, bush-like, vine-like, or diffusely branching cacti; joints with 3 to 8 prominent, thin, 

 high, crenate ribs, without aerial roots; spines slender, acicular; flowers diurnal, small; ovary spiny; 

 flower-tube short, campanulate, spiny; stamens very numerous, borne at the base of the throat, 

 scarcely exserted; stigma-lobes a little exceeding the stamens; fruit globose to oblong, more or less 

 spiny, fleshy; seeds numerous, black. 



Type Species: Cereus assurgens Grisobach. 



This genus is composed of eight species, six of them Cuban, one Santo Dominiran. and 



one Porto Rican. Some are weak and clambering 

 branches are strongly ribbed and armed with clustei 

 species were referred to Ccreus. Leptoccreus assn^ 



Schumann, were placed bv him 



unks. The 

 The earliest 



IS, the only 



the former 

 treatment 



A. Bergcr in his 



of Cereus proposed the subgenus Leptoccreus, which we afterward raised to 

 generic rank. Cereus gonzalezii and C. tonduzii, also referred here by Bergcr, we have 

 referred to other genera. 



name 



Key to Species. 



Ultimate joints slender, i to 2 cm. thick. 



Vine-like, elongated; ultimate joints i cm. thick, 4 to 7-ribbed 1. L. ivcingartianus 



Ultimate joints 2 cm. thick, 6 to 8 ribbed. ^ 



Tree-like, 5 meters high, the trunk 3 cm. in diameter at the base; flowers 3.5 cm. long, 



sparingly short-spiny ; 2. L. Iconii 



Prostrate, creeping; flowers 1.5 cm. long, densely long-spiny 3. L. proslralus 



Ultimate joints stout, 2 to 6 cm. thick. 

 Fruit densely long-spiny. 



Bush-Hke, i to 3 meters high; ultimate joints 2 to 3 cm. thick; fruit 3 to 6 cm. long. 



Joints 4-ribbed; spines brown 4- ^- assurgens 



Joints 5 to 7-ribbed; spines yellow 5- L- maxonii 



Trce-Hke, 5 to 6 meters high; ultimate joints 5 to 6 cm. thick; fruit 8 to 10 cm. long. . .6. L. arboreus 



Fruit sparingly short-spiny; tree-like species. 



Joints 5 to 7-ribbed, the ribs very broad; fruit 7 to 8 cm. long 7- L. sylvcstns 



Joints 3 to 4-ribbed, the ribs low; fruit 3 to 5 cm. long 8. L. qundncostatus 



1. Leptoccreus weingartianus (Hartmann). 



Cereus weingartianus Hartmann in Dams, Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 14: 155. 1904. 



Roots in clusters, tuberous, thick; stems becoming terete and woody below, the branches 

 creeping or cHmbing among shrubs and trees, sometimes to the height of 8 to 10 meters; stems 

 4 to 7-ribbed, at first slender and weak, 1.5 to 2 cm. in diameter; areoles i to 1.5 cm. apart, circular, 



• 1 # 



/ 



Fig. 112. — Part of branch of L. weingartianus. X0.7. 



small, at first filled with short, whitish wool (afterwards disappearing) and acicular spines at 



first 



becommg gray 



spines a little stouter than the radials, a little sprcaamg, oiien as many as o. ouiuubc at uu^u, i lu 

 1.5 cm. long; flowers small, about 4 cm. long; fruit about 2 cm. long, covered with clusters of small, 



deciduous spines. 



Type locality: Haiti 

 Distribution: Hispai 



e material from "Haiti." 

 herbarium material near 



