Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Stenocereus thurberi

organ pipe cactus, pitahauya dulce
Habit Shrubs, branching basal, 3–6[–12+] m. Stems erect, at first yellow-green then green, lacking red pigmentation, glabrous and dull, forming patches of orange young bark on aged and undamaged segments; ribs [12–]15–19, somewhat tuberculate, interareolar transverse fold often present on young ribs, 9–12 mm to rib crest; cortex yellowish, mucilage sacs conspicuous in outer cortex only; pith lacking mucilage, 4–6 cm wide; areoles 1–1.6 cm apart along ribs, circular, 4–6 mm, hairs reddish brown.
Spines

11–14(–19), thin, straight;

radial spines 1–3.5 cm;

central spines to 6 cm.
Flowers

nocturnal, mostly subterminal, funnelform, to 6–7.5(–9) × 6–7 cm;

flower tubes about 4 cm;

scales at base of tube red with green margins;

tepals to 6.5 cm wide;

outer tepals reddish with pink margins;

inner tepals cream-white to light pink;

filaments white to pink, 2–3 cm;

ovary tuberculate with green, rhomboid tubercles and small red bracts at anthesis, areoles with tan hairs and sometimes short spines;

styles white, 4 cm;

nectar chamber 1–1.5 cm.
Fruits

red, 45–65 mm, fleshy, bearing deciduous spiny areoles;

pulp sweet.
Seeds

2 mm, glossy.
2n

= 22.

Stenocereus thurberi
Phenology Flowering (Mar)Apr–Jul[-Dec]; fruiting mostly Jul–Aug.
Habitat Upland Sonoran desert scrub
Elevation 20-1100 m (100-3600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Stenocereus thurberi is a common columnar cactus of the Sonoran Desert, throughout Baja California and the islands of the Gulf of California and in the west-coastal vegetation from Sonora to Sinaloa. In Mexico, where S. thurberi is arborescent, it has a very short trunk to 0.5 m, exceeds 12 m, branches more than in northern populations, and can have as few as 12 ribs. Tall specimens of S. thurberi occur where the plants grow in taller vegetation, hence competing with small trees for sunlight (A. C. Gibson and P. S. Nobel 1986).

Stenocereus thurberi belongs to the largest clade of Stenocereus wherein all species possess dark red or brown, glandular areolar trichomes (A. C. Gibson 1988). The group of species most closely related to S. thurberi have the interareolar transverse fold, a distinctive mark that persists after the ribs become fully expanded.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 4, p. 187.
Parent taxa Cactaceae > subfam. Cactoideae > Stenocereus
Synonyms Cereus thurberi, Lemaireocereus thurberi, Marshallocereus thurberi, Pilocereus thurberi, Rathbunia thurberi
Name authority (Engelmann) Buxbaum: Bot. Stud. 12: 101. (1961)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers