Browningia candelaris

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Cactaceae
Subfamilia: Cactoideae
Tribus: Cereeae
Subtribus: Rebutiinae
Genus: Browningia
Species: Browningia candelaris
Subspecies: B. c. subsp. candelaris – B. c. subsp. icaensis
Name

Browningia candelaris Cárdenas, 1951
Synonyms

Castellanosia caineana Cárdenas

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
References
Primary references

Cárdenas, M. 1951: Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 23: 90

Additional references

Govaerts, R. 1999. World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b). 1532 pp.. MIM, Deurne. ISBN 90-5720-098-8 (issue 1), ISBN 90-5720-099-6 (issue 2b). Reference page.
Korotkova, N., Aquino, D., Arias, S., Eggli, U., Franck, A. , Gómez-Hinostrosa, C., Guerrero, P.C., Hernández, H.M., Kohlbecker, A., Köhler, M., Luther, K., Majure, L.C., Müller, A., Metzing, D., Nyffeler, R., Sánchez, D., Schlumpberger, B. & Berendsohn, W.G. 2021. Cactaceae at Caryophyllales. org–a dynamic online species-level taxonomic backbone for the family. Willdenowia 51(2): 251–270. DOI: 10.3372/wi.51.51208 Open access Reference page.

Links

Korotkova, N. et al. 2021. Browningia candelaris in Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org. A global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Dec 03. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Browningia candelaris in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 09. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Browningia candelaris. Published online. Accessed: Apr 09 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Browningia candelaris. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 09.
Hassler, M. 2021. Browningia candelaris. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Apr 09. Reference page.

Vernacular names
español: Candelabro, Cardon, Cacto candelabro, Chuyachaqui

Browningia candelaris is a species of cactus from northern Chile and southern Peru. It has a distinctive growth habit, with a straight spiny trunk topped by more-or-less spineless thinner branches. In some places, the long-term survival of local populations may be threatened by grazing, which destroys seedlings.[2]

Description

Browningia candelaris has a tree-like habit of growth, reaching a height of up to 6 m (20 ft). When mature, it has a distinct unbranched trunk with a diameter of up to 50 cm (20 in), which is densely covered with straight brown spines, 6–15 cm (2.4–5.9 in) long. Above the trunk the plant has a crown of branching thinner stems, which may be entirely spineless or bear spines reduced to a few bristles. All the stems have about 50 ribs.[2]

The white flowers are tubular, 8–12 cm (3.1–4.7 in) long and are followed by fleshy fruits, yellow when ripe and up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long. The fruits are edible.[2]
Systematics

The species was first described as Cereus candelaris in 1833 by the German botanist Franz Julius Ferdinand Meyen.[3] In 1920, Britton and Rose placed it in the genus Browningia, named for Webster E Browning (1869-1942), director of the Instituto Inglés, Santiago, Chile.[2] Studies published from 2002 onwards using the methods of molecular phylogenetics suggest that the genus Browningia is polyphyletic (i.e. the genus is not a natural group descended from their most recent common ancestor). B. candelaris and B. hertlingiana are related to some species of Rebutia, whereas other species of Browningia are related to genera such as Pachycereus.[4]
Chemistry

B. candelaris has been found to contain psychotropic phenylethylamines N-acetyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenylethylamine, N,N-dimethyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenylethylamine, N,N-dimethyl-4-methoxyphenylethylamine and the substituted amphetamine 4-methoxyamphetamine.[5] The synthetic form of the last-named of these compounds has, since the 1970s, been manufactured as a designer drug of abuse and touted as MDMA - resulting in numerous hospitalisations and a number of fatalities.[6][7][8][9]
Possible employment as hallucinogen

Based upon the discovery of the psychotropic effects of and subsequent use of such well-known hallucinogenic species as Lophophora williamsii and Echinopsis pachanoi by various groups of native Americans, Echeverría & Niemeyer advance the very tentative hypothesis that B. candelaris might similarly have been investigated and employed by the original inhabitants of northern Chile:

The occasional use of B. candelaris as source of hallucinogens may be suggested, given its presence along the route connecting the settlements in the Azapa Valley of Northern Chile with the Titicaca basin in the Bolivian altiplano, the site of the Tiwanaku state.[5]

- citing in support of this conjecture a paper by Berenguer on the iconography employed in the art of Tiwanaku.[10]

References

"Browningia candelaris", Tropicos, Missouri Botanical Garden, 2012, retrieved 2012-04-21
Anderson, Edward F. (2001), The Cactus Family, Pentland, Oregon: Timber Press, ISBN 978-0-88192-498-5, pp. 134–135
Meyen, J. (1833), "Einiges über die schönen Cactus-Arten auf der Westküste von Südamerika", Allgemeine Gartenzeitung (in German), 1 (27): 211, retrieved 2012-04-21
Hernández-Hernández, Tania; Hernández, Héctor M.; De-Nova, J. Arturo; Puente, Raul; Eguiarte, Luis E. & Magallón, Susana (2011), "Phylogenetic relationships and evolution of growth form in Cactaceae (Caryophyllales, Eudicotyledoneae)", American Journal of Botany, 98 (1): 44–61, doi:10.3732/ajb.1000129, PMID 21613084
ECHEVERRÍA, Javier; NIEMEYER, Hermann M. "Phenylethylamines from Browningia candelaris (Cactaceae)" Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas, vol. 11, núm. 4, julio- agosto, 2012, pp. 341-344 Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/856/85623048005.pdf
EcstasyData.org. "EcstasyData.org: Results : Lab Test Results for Recreational Drugs". www.ecstasydata.org.
Davies, Caroline (10 July 2013). "Warning over fake ecstasy tablets after seven people die in Scotland". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-07-10.
"Four Dead Amid Fears Of Dodgy Batch Of 'Superman' Ecstasy Hitting The UK". huffingtonpost.co.uk. 2 January 2015.
Byard, RW; Gilbert, J; James, R; Lokan, RJ (1998). "Amphetamine Derivative Fatalities in South Australia-Is "Ecstasy" the Culprit?". The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. 19 (3): 261–265. doi:10.1097/00000433-199809000-00013. PMID 9760094. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
Berenguer J. 1998. "La iconografía del poder en Tiwanaku y su rol en la integración de zonas de frontera". Bol Museo Chil Arte Precolomb 7: 19 - 37. https://www.researchgate.net/ on 6/9/21