Leuenbergeria bleo

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

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

Familia: Cactaceae
Subfamilia: Leuenbergioideae
Genus: Leuenbergeria
Species: Leuenbergeria bleo
Name

Leuenbergeria bleo (Kunth) Lodé, Cact.-Avent. Int. 97: 26. 2012.
Lectotype: Colombia, Bolívar: nr. Badillas on the Magdalena river, 5.1850, Humboldt & Bonpland 1546 (P, isotypes B-W, P).

Synonyms

Cactus bleo Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. (quarto ed.) 6: 69. 1823 syn. sec. Lodé 2013
Rhodocactus bleo (Kunth) F.M.Knuth, Kaktus-ABC: 97. 1936 ["1935"] syn. sec. Leuenberger 1986
Pereskia cruenta Pfeiff., Enum. Diagn. Cact.: 176. 1837 syn. sec. Kew WCVP (2019)
Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC., Prodr. 3: 475. 1828 syn. sec. Lodé 2013
Peireskia cruenta K.Schum., Fl. Bras. 4(2): 312. 1890 syn. sec. ???
Pereskia panamensis F.A.C.Weber in Bois, Dict. Hort.: 939. 1898 syn. sec. Leuenberger 1986
Pereskia corrugata Cutak in Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 23: 173. 1951 syn. sec. Leuenberger 1986
Rhodocactus corrugatus (Cutak) Backeb., Cactaceae 1: 118. 1958 syn. sec. Leuenberger 1986

Distribution
Native distribution areas:
Leuenbergeria bleo

Continental: Southern America
Regional: Central America
Panama
Regional: Western South America
Colombia

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Lodé, J. (2012) Leuenbergeria, un nouveau genre de cactées. Cactus-Aventures International 97: 26–27 (26!).

Additional references

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. Leuenbergeria bleo in Cactaceae at Caryophyllales.org. A global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Dec 29. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Leuenbergeria bleo in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Dec 29. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Leuenbergeria bleo. Published online. Accessed: Dec 29 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Leuenbergeria bleo. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Dec 29.

Vernacular names

Leuenbergeria bleo, formerly Pereskia bleo,[1] (rose cactus, leaf cactus) is a leafy cactus, native to the shady, moist forests of Central America, that grows to a woody, prickly shrub about 2 m tall with large, orange flowers resembling rose blossoms.

Description

Leuenbergeria bleo grows as a shrub or small tree and reaches a height of 2 to 8 metres with trunks up to 15 centimetres in diameter. The olive-green to brownish grey branches are smooth. The leaves are arranged alternately on the branches and are distinctly stalked with petioles up to 3 centimetres long. The leaf blade is 6 to 20 centimetres long and 2 to 7 centimetres wide, elliptic to oblong or lanceolate in shape. The five nerved leaf blades have four to six, often fork-shaped, side lobes. The thorns are either parallel in bundles or spread widely out. Long thorns on the branches are up to five to ten millimetres long. Along the main shoots there are up to 40 spines per areole, each 2 centimetres long.

The flowers are arranged in terminal lateral inflorescences. The bare, bright red, scarlet, salmon pink and orange-red-pink flowers reach diameters of 4 to 6 centimeters.

The fruits are conical, truncated in the apex, ripening yellow. They are edible but sour tasting.
Taxonomy

The first description of the species, as Cactus bleo, was in 1828 by Karl Sigismund Kunth.[2]
Distribution and habitat

Leuenbergeria bleo is found by rivers and streams in Panama and Colombia as well as in secondary forest, from sea level to altitudes of 1300 metres.

The Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN lists the species as "Least Concern (LC)" or not at risk.

References

"Leuenbergeria bleo (Kunth) Lodé". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 27 May 2019.

Nova genera et species plantarum quas in peregrinatione ad plagam aequinoctialem orbis novi collegerunt, 6, 1815–1825, pp. 69–70

Malek SN, Shin SK, Wahab NA and Yaacob H. "Cytotoxic components of Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC. (Cactaceae) leaves", Molecules, 14(5):1713-24. 2009.
Charles A. Butterworth and Robert S. Wallace, "Molecular Phylogenetics of the Leafy Cactus Genus Pereskia (Cactaceae)", Systematic Botany 30(4):800-808. 2005.
Beat Ernst Leuenberger, "Pereskia, Maihuenia, and Blossfeldia —Taxonomic History, Updates, and Notes", Haseltonia 14 : 54-93. 2008.