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Column shaped cactus of Guatemala: awesome flowers, and edible fruits
The dry areas parallel to the upper Motagua River and the dry areas on both sides of portions of the Rio Sacapulus have remarkable plants to study. We have studied Plumeria (frangipani) tree flowers in both these seasonally dry areas over the last four years.
There are other dry areas with both Plumeria trees and columnar cacti in Huehuetenango and a few other places, but these areas are not as easy to reach and definitely not as safe to be wandering around (unless you are with local people to assist you). We know local families both in the Motagua area and in the Rio Sacapulus area.
To find the cacti in flower you have to plan in advance. We have been so busy studying plants in remote areas of Alta Verapaz, and finding oropendola and oriole nests there and in Izabal and Chiquimula and Monterrico, that we have not yet been able to get to the desert areas to photograph the columnar cacti on a night they burst into bloom.
As soon as a generous individual, corporation, or foundation can provide funds, we can produce helpful information and awesome photographs.
We have two separate web pages on Plumeria. These we have found in flower out in the wild, plus in our own Mayan ethnobotanical garden in Guatemala City.
PDFs, Articles, Books on Columnar cacti
of Guatemala (so also includes Mexico)
- CAJAS, J. O., KRAKER, C., LOPEZ, J. E., PEREZ, S. G., and A. GRAJEDA
- 2015
- Choeronycteris Mexicana in Guatemala: temporal occurrence, feeding habits and reproductive activity. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, Vol. 86, pages 835-838.
Available Online:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187034531500086X
- 2008
- Ecologia de la polinizacion de los cactus columnares Stenocereus pruinosus y Pilosocereus leucocephalus en los valles de Salama y El Motagua. Proyecto FODECYT.
Available Online:
www.glifos.concyt.gob.gt/digital/fodecyt/fodecyt%202006.37.pdf
- FLEMING, T., SAHLEY, C., HOLLAND, N., NASON, J., and J. HAMRICK
- 2001
- Sonoran desert columnar cacti and the evolution of generalized pollination systems. Ecological Monographs, Vol. 71, No. 1, pages 511-530.
Available Online:
lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1029&context=bot_pubs
- VALIENTE, A., ROJAS, A., ARIZMENDI, M., and P. DAVILA
- 2015
- Pollination biology of two columnar cacti (Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis and Neobuxbaumia macrocephala) in the Tehuacan Valley, Central Mexico. American Journal of Botany, Vol. 84, No. 4, pages 452-455.
Available Online:
www.ecologia.unam.mx/laboratorios/comunidades/pdf/6internacional.pdf
Posted August 01, 2017
Bibliography by Estefani Serrano; introductory text by Nicholas Hellmuth
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