Xerophyte

Central Spines

One occasionally 2, stronger, 2-3 cm long.

Seeds

Black, shining, minutely pitted, 2 mm. Long, oblique at bases.

Description

Pilosocereus palmeriSN|6732]]SN|6732]] is is one of the several morphological or local forms of Pilosocereus leucocephalusSN|6720]]SN|6720]]. It is a beautiful and well known tree-like cactus that hardly needs an introduction, with its blue ribbed stem tufted in thick silky wool from which near the tops emerge short, funnel-shaped, flesh-coloured blooms. It flowers on and off throughout the growing season. The only drawback here is that the flowers have a very strong, foul smell. It is a popular plant even with non-cereus-minded growers.

Cephalium

The area where the flowers will grow is called a pseudo-cephalium, it is usually well defined, apical to lateral, involving three or four ribs. Flower-bearing areoles have much denser silky white hairs 4-10 cm long.

Flowers

Tubular to bell shaped, 6-8 cm long, purplish to brownish outside, whitish to light pink inside, the ovary without spines or hairs. Outer segments purplish brown, inner segments pinkish. There is a large globule of nectar in the base of the flower.

Spines

Brownish, becoming grey with age. The spines of seedlings are often yellow.

Ribs

7-9 (or more) rounded on the edge, rather closely set,

Stem

Erect or ascending, 5-10 cm in diameter, dark green or when young glaucous and bluish

Fruits

Spherical 4-6 cm in diameter, red, naked but the surface somewhat warty, with red pulp. They develop in a few weeks.

Note

It is a variable species and most plants found in cultivation labeled Pilosocereus palmeriSN|6732]]SN|6732]] look totallly unalike, some are a pale blue, some are a deep turquoise blue-green, some are a dull, dark greyish blue-green. Some are branched while others are solitary columns. About the only thing they all have in common is largish tufts of 'hair' near the tops, a condition certainly not unique to this species.

Habitat

It is a columnar, perennial cactus becoming a tree 2-6 m tall, more or less branched from below with well-defined short trunks (at times with up to 20 branches or more).

Blooming Season

This cactus flowers during the warmest part of the year in asynchronous discrete pulses influenced by temperature, rainfall and plant size.

Radial Spines

7-12, slender, approx 1 cm long.

Areoles

1-1,5 cm apart, clothed from top downward for 20 to 30 cm with long white hairs 2-6 cm long. Older basal areoles, scarcely woolly.