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Selenicereus testudo

Common name: Columnar Cactus • Malayalam: Poochamullu
 
Dog-Tail Cactus, Pitaya de Tortuga;  

Shrub; stems columnar, 3-9-winged or angled; wings to 4 cm wide; areoles echinate, without glochids, lanate; spines c. 15, unequal, to 3 cm. Leaves 0. Flowers lateral, sessile, to 15 cm wide. Perianth tube terete at base, to 10 cm, funnel-shaped with a few scales below. Tepals numerous; outer ones greenish-white; inner ones white, oblong, lanceolate, to 7 x 1.5 cm. Stamens numerous, inserted at various levels on the perianth; filaments slender; anthers oblong, to 2.5 mm. Ovary subterete-angular, 2.5-3 cm long, 1 cm broad, with scales and areoles; ovules numerous, on several parietal placentae; style to 10 cm; stigmatic lobes 10-15, to 1 cm.

Flowering and fruiting: April-June
Grown along the fences
Pantropical
(Attributions- Dr. N Sasidharan (Dr. B P Pal Fellow), Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi from India Biodiversity Portal)
 

 

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Hooghly Today : Cereus pterogonus Lem. (2nd time) ? : Attachments (7 + 4). 10 posts by 4 authors.
This one also is going to be difficult. Found some more info –
Today’s update….. (9.6.13)

very nice and thanks for taking the pictures of the flowers so nicely
I really wanted to see them open up.
now I will be aliitle more wishful (Greedy, if you like) and want to see the fruits …do they develope into the dragon fruit like fruits? being from the same genus?
so … … some more work for you, ha ha… but then that would complete the story of this plant…
not really,  then I would want to see the seeds !!!

 
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Hooghly Today : Cereus pterogonus Lemaire ?: I have a pocket field guide in Bengali that illustrates about 20 wild shrubs and a few climbers that can be found in bushes. This book, BANGLAR JHOPJHAR (Anirban Roy, pub. PASCHIMBANGA JIB-BAICHITRA PARSHAD) illustrates a plant, Cereus pterogonus Lemaire. The Bengali name mentioned in this book is TESHIRA (তেশিরা). This book also features a photograph of this plant.

Couldn’t find this genus in Bengal Plants or in any eflora.
But, “Hortus Suburbanus Calcuttensis” mentions the following Cereus species :-
  1. C. multangularis
  2. C. peruvianus
  3. C. hexagonus
  4. C. tetragonus
  5. C. speciosissimus
  6. C. repandus
  7. C. columnaris
  8. C. grandiflorus
  9. C. triangularis
  10. C. reptans
  11. C. setosus
  12. C. phyllanthoides
  13. C. truncatus
  14. C. ackermanni
  15. C. ovatus
  16. C. decorus
  17. C. nycticallus
This is a common plant in rural area and can attain a height of about 10 ft.

An image search for Cereus yields similar looking plants, and i think it might be accepted as Cereus sp, subject to experts’ views.

 

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Cactus for ID, Anuppur, Madhya Pradesh, NAW-AUG18-03 : 8 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (3)
Kindly identify this cactus with huge white flowers photographed in July 2018 at a fence of a farm in Anuppur district, Madhya Pradesh.

Pl. check 

Yes, appears close. 
Cereus pterogonus

Cactaceae.
lists Cereus pterogonus as an “unresolved name”. Please clarify.
Could it be Cereus repandus?
Thanks, … Tropicos gives Cereus pterogonus as a syn. of Selenicereus testudo (Karw. ex Zucc.) Buxb.
Pl. also check references under Selenicereus testudo
Updated on December 24, 2024