Pilosocereus

Trees or shrubs, erect to ascending or reclining, usually branched in basal portion, older plants with closely parallel, erect branches forming narrow crown; trunk absent or present, 8–12+ cm diam. Roots diffuse. Stems unsegmented, green to bluish or blue-green, columnar, [0.5–]3–10 m × [2.8–]5–8 cm, glabrous; ribs 3–30, low, rounded, furrows straight [or wavy], rib crests sometimes notched between areoles [ribs strongly tuberculate in 1 Brazilian species]; areoles usually closely spaced along ribs [often confluent in flowering region], circular to elliptic, woolly; hairs usually white or tawny [to blackish] soft, to 8[–50] mm, longest on flower-producing areoles along each rib or on one side of stem in distal region; areolar glands not apparent; cortex and pith extremely mucilaginous. Spines 6–31 per areole, yellow [to brown or black], often aging gray, acicular, straight, terete, [2–]10–15(–25)[–40] × 0.25 mm, smooth; radial and central spines not distinguishable. Flowers nocturnal or crepuscular, lateral to subterminal on stems, from closely adjacent or confluent areoles, funnelform to narrowly campanulate, [2.5–]5–6[–9] × 2–5[–7] cm; flower tube straight or slightly curved; outer tepals greenish [blue, red, or purplish], margins entire or minutely denticulate; inner tepals white [pinkish to reddish], 9–26 × 7.5 mm, margins entire; ovary smooth, scales absent (or 1–2), spines absent; stigma lobes usually 8–12. Fruits dehiscent along 1 side or apparently indehiscent, red or purple [to blue-green], [spheric or] depressed-spheric [to ovoid or oblong], 20–45 × 30–50 mm, fleshy, scales and spines absent (rarely 1–2 scales); pulp color variable; floral remnant usually persistent. Seeds black or dark brown, snail-shaped, 1.2–2.6 mm, smooth, shiny; testa cells flat. x = 11.

Pilosocereus

Pilosocereus

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