Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Rose cactus

(Pereskia grandifolia)

galery
en

Description

Rhodocactus grandifolius (rose cactus; syn. Pereskia grandifolia) is a species of cactus native to eastern and southern Brazil. Like all species in the genus Rhodocactus and unlike most cacti, it has persistent leaves. It was first described in 1819. It is grown as an ornamental plant and has naturalized outside its native range. Although Rhodocactus grandifolius is a cactus by classification, it takes the form of a shrub or small tree, 2–5 m (7–16 ft) in height, exceptionally 10 m (33 ft). Young twigs are green or reddish with conspicuous white spots marking the stomata. It has trunk has grayish-brown bark and has a diameter of up to 20 cm (8 in). The areoles are rounded, cushion-shaped, and with grayish or brownish tomentum. On the twigs, they are 3–7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) across and up to 12 mm (0.5 in) on the main trunk. The areoles can have one to three or occasionally four leaves (brachyblast leaves) in addition to spines. The spines range from black to brown, the number at each areole gradually increasing with age; new twigs can have spineless areoles, while the trunk areoles may have up to 90 spines, each 2–6.5 cm (0.8–2.6 in) long. The leaves vary in size, and are usually from 9–6.5 cm (3.5–2.6 in) long, but can be shorter or up to 30 cm (11.8 in) long. They are entire, with shapes ranging from elliptic to ovate and obovate-lanceolate. The dense inflorescence develops at the ends of stems and also laterally from the areoles of upper parts of the main shoots and twigs. It usually has 10-15 flowers, but sometimes has 30 or more. The flowers which may be pale pink through to purplish-pink are showy and rose-like, about 3–5 cm (1.2–2.0 in) across. The fruit is very variable in size and shape, and is green, yellowish or reddish-green when ripe. It contains many glossy black seeds.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Caryophyllales
Family:Cactaceae
Genus:Pereskia
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