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Pereskia bleo

(Leaf Cactus)

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Leaf Cactus, Perescia, Rose Cactus, Wax Rose, Wax-Rose

Common Names in Spanish:

Bleo, Bleo De Chupa, Chupa, Chupa Melón, Najú De Culebra, Najú De Esoubas, Najií

Description

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Family Cactaceae

Fleshy perennials , shrubs , trees or vines , terrestrial or epiphytic. Stems jointed , terete , globose , flattened, or fluted , mostly leafless and variously spiny . Leaves alternate, flat or subulate to terete, vestigial, or entirely absent; spines, glochids (easily detached, small, bristlelike spines), and flowers always arising from cushionlike, axillary areoles (modified short shoots ) . Flowers solitary, sessile, rarely clustered and stalked (in Pereskia), bisexual , rarely unisexual , actinomorphic or occasionally zygomorphic. Receptacle tube (hypanthium or perianth tube) absent or short to elongate , naked or invested with leaflike bracts, scales , areoles, and hairs , bristles , or spines; perianth segments usually numerous , in a sepaloid to petaloid series. Stamens numerous, variously inserted in throat and tube; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovary (pericarpel) inferior, rarely superior, 1-loculed, with 3 to many parietal (rarely basal) placentas; ovules usually numerous; style 1; stigmas 2 to numerous, papillate , rarely 2-fid. Fruit juicy or dry, naked, scaly , hairy , bristly , or spiny, indehiscent or dehiscent , when juicy then pulp derived from often deliquescent funicles (except in Pereskia) . Seeds usually numerous, often arillate or strophiolate ; embryo curved or rarely straight; endosperm present or absent; cotyledons reduced or vestigial, rarely leaflike.

About 110 genera and more than 1000 species: temperate and tropical America; Rhipsalis baccifera (J. S. Mueller) Stearn native in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Comoros, Mascarenes, and Sri Lanka; some species of other genera now extensively naturalized in the Old World through human agency; more than 60 genera and 600 species cultivated as ornamentals or hedges in China, of which four genera and seven species more or less naturalized.[1]

Genus Pereskia

Stems straight or zig-zag . Spines 1-12 per areole. Flowers from areoles of new growth, fragrant or not; outer tepals often greenish, colored near margins ; inner tepals white, yellow, orange-red, red, pink to purplish; stamens 50-100 in small-flowered species, to 300 in large-flowered species; filaments colorless near base , in some species pigmented distally, color either matching inner tepals or contrasting with them; styles shorter to longer than stamens; stigma lobes 3-20. x = 11.

Species 17: introduced ; tropical and subtropical regions in the New World, primarily South America.

Whether the populations of Pereskia in the flora area are reproducing sexually or maintaining themselves solely by vegetative means remains unclear. The population biology of both species and their long-term persistence in the flora need to be monitored.[2]

Physical Description

Habit: Deciduous.

Flowers: Bloom Period: June. • Flower Color: apricot, coral , dark red, orange, red, scarlet

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 24-36" tall.

Biology

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Growth

Culture: Space 18-24" apart.

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Notes

An accepted name in the RHS Horticultural Database.

Place of publication : Prodr. 3:475. 1828.

Name verified on 01-Mar-2004 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 01-Mar-2004.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Pereskia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 89 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

P. acardia · P. aculeata (Barbados Gooseberry) · P. aculeata f. rubescens · P. aculeata 'Godseffiana' · P. aculeata (Plum.) Mill. var. lanceolata Pfeiff. · P. aculeata (Plum.) Mill. var. latifolia Salm-Dyck · P. aculeata (Plum.) Mill. var. longispina (Haw.) DC. · P. aculeata (Plum.) Mill. var. rotundifolia Pfeiff. · P. aculeata (Plum.) Mill. var. rubescens Pfeiff. · P. aculeata var. rotundifolia (Pereskia) · P. aculeata var. rubescens (Pereskia) · P. aculeata 'Variegata' · P. aculeata var. longispina · P. aculeata 'Godseffiana' · P. aculiata · P. affinis · P. amapola · P. antoniana · P. antumnalis · P. argentina · P. aureiflora (Ora Pro Nobis De Mata) · P. autumnalis · P. bahiensis (Espinha De Santo Antonio) · P. bleo (Leaf Cactus) · P. calandriniaefolia · P. colombiana · P. conzatii · P. conzattii · P. corrugata · P. cruenta · P. cubensis · P. diaz-romeroana (Uturunku) · P. diazromeroana · P. godseffiana · P. grandiflora · P. grandifolia (Ora Pro Nobis) · P. grandifolia var. grandifolia · P. grandifolia var. violacea · P. grandifolia violacea (Pereskia) · P. guamacho (Guamacho) · P. higuearna · P. higuerana · P. horrida (Pereskia) · P. horrida rauhii (Pereskia) · P. humboldtii · P. humboldtii Britton & Rose var. humboldtii · P. humboldtii Britton & Rose var. rauhii (Backeb.) Leuenb. · P. lanceolata · P. longispina · P. lychnidiflora (Cruz Del Matrimonio) · P. marcanoi (Pereskia) · P. moorei · P. nemorosa (Quisca Del Bosque) · P. nicoyana · P. ochnacarpa · P. opuntiaeflora · P. opuntiflora · P. opuntiiflora · P. panamensis · P. paniculata · P. peireskia · P. pereskia · P. pflanzii · P. philippii · P. pititache · P. poeppigii · P. portulacifolia (Camelia Roja) · P. quisqueyana (Pereskia) · P. rosea · P. rotundifolia · P. rubescens · P. saccharosa (Pereskia) · P. sacharosa (Sacharosa) · P. saipinensis · P. scandens · P. sparsiflora · P. spathulata · P. stenantha (Espinha De Santo Antonio) · P. subulata · P. tampicana · P. undulata · P. vargasii · P. vargasii H.Johnson var. longispina Rauh & Backeb. · P. vargasii H.Johnson var. rauhii Backeb. · P. verticillata · P. weberiana (Cervetano) · P. zehntneri · P. zinniaeflora · P. zinniiflora (Abrojo)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 16, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Zhen-yu Li & Nigel P. Taylor "Cactaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 209. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Michael W. Hawkes "Pereskia". in Flora of North America Vol. 4 Page 92, 95, 100. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009