User:Bmatthewshea/Cereus validus

El ucle o Cereus validus , es una especie fanerógama perteneciente a la familia Cactaceae.

Distribution
It is endemic to Catamarca, Chaco , Santiago del Estero Province, Córdoba , Formosa , northern San Luis , Jujuy , La Rioja , Salta and Santa Fe in Argentina 1 and Chuquisaca , Santa Cruz and Tarija in Bolivia. Inhabits arid forests of plain and mountains. It is a very unusual species in collections.

Description
It is a fleshy perennial shrub, very branched and cylindrical-columnar armed with thorns, green. It has branches of about 10 centimeters in diameter, grayish green and fleshy, with four to eight ribs. It has thorns up to 10 centimeters long, which appear in groups between 2 and 9.

Between September and December, it gives solitary flowers, large, with white and pink interior parts and external ones, pink. The fruits are a kind of prickly pear, large, fleshy, red at maturity, with lilac pulp and abundant tiny black seeds.

Taxonomy
Cereus validus was described by Adrian Hardy Haworth and published in Philosophical Magazine and Journal 10: 420. 1831. < Cereus: The name is derived from Greek (κηρός) and Latin words meaning "wax", "torch" or "candle". validus: Latin epithet meaning "robust.".
 * Etymology:


 * Synonyms:
 * Piptanthocereus validus
 * Cereus forbesii
 * Piptanthocereus forbesii