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Pilosocereus bohlei Hofacker a remarkable new species from Brazil

Marlon Machado1 and Graham Charles2 discuss a recently described new species of Pilosocereus from Bahia in Brazil. Photography by the authors.
Departamento de Cincias Biolgicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Rodovia BR 116, km 03, Feira de Santana, Bahia, CEP 44031-460, Brazil. Email: marlonmachado@brcactaceae.org
1 2

Briars Bank, Fosters Bridge, Ketton, Stamford, PE9 3UU, England. Email: graham.charles@btinternet.com

ust occasionally, a truly individual new cactus species is discovered. A recent example is P. bohlei which was described in 2001 in KuaS, the journal of the German Cactus and Succulent Society (Hofacker 2001). It was discovered in 2000 in the northern part of the state of Bahia in Brazil, during a field trip undertaken by Andreas Hofacker, Graham Charles, Konrad Herm and Bernhard Bohle. The trip was led by Kurt Ingo Horst, son of the eminent cactus explorer, Leopoldo Horst. The species was found near the small hamlet of Minas do Mimoso growing on a hillside which differed from the surrounding woodland because of its white sandstone rocks and quartz sand. A few kilometres away is the type locality of Discocactus zehntneri subsp. horstiorum (P.J.Braun) P.J.Braun & Esteves Pereira, another little known plant from the eastern part of the Serra So Francisco. The habitat is composed of outcrops of white sandstone rock with the plants of P. bohlei growing in the white quartz sand in between. Other cactus species found at the habitat are Micranthocereus flaviflorus Buining & Brederoo, Pilosocereus pachycladus F.Ritter, Melocactus zehntneri (Britton & Rose) Ltzelburg, Leocereus bahiensis Britton & Rose, Tacinga inamoena (Schumann) N.P.Taylor & Stuppy and Cereus albicaulis (Britton & Rose) Ltzelburg. P. bohlei grows to just over two metres in height, branches from the base and has a bluish epidermis, characteristics often seen in other Brazilian species of the genus Pilosocereus. However, there are a number of characters which make this new species remarkable. Firstly, it possesses dimorphic stems, that is, it has different morphologies in the juvenile and mature por-

tions of the stem. In the juvenile phase the stem is thick and club-shaped, with a straight valley between the ribs, the close-set areoles bearing short spines. Then, when the stem reaches a certain size, it changes its morphology, becoming mature and capable of flowering. The stem tapers and becomes thinner, whilst the ribs become shallower with a wavy valley between, and transverse folds develop above the areoles. The spination grows longer and stronger, and the flowering areoles develop tuffs of long silky hairs which encircle the flower buds. On older stems the epidermis develops paler patches of light grey-green. This dimorphism between juvenile and mature portions of the stem with the swollen stem bases and narrower fertile apex confers to P. bohlei a bottle-shape which is reminiscent of the bottle-cactus, Stephanocereus luetzelburgii (Vaupel) N.P.Taylor & Eggli. The morphology of the mature portion of the stem with its wavy valleys between the ribs and tuffs of wool are also very similar to the stem morphology of Pilosocereus gounellei (F.A.C.Weber) Byles & Rowley. In the original description of P. bohlei it is compared to both P. gounellei and S. luetzelburgii which in the article is considered to be a species of Pilosocereus: P. luetzelburgii (Vaupel) Byles & Rowley. P. bohlei is regarded by Hofacker as a link between the subgenera Gounellea Zappi (to which P. gounellei belongs) and Lagenopsis (F.Buxbaum) P.J.Braun (to which P. luetzelburgii belongs). Opinions vary about the correct placement of S. luetzelburgii; the opinion of the authors is that this taxon is not closely related to either Pilosocereus or Stephanocereus, and should instead be in a genus of its
Figure 1 (facing page) A view of part of the extensive new habitat near Delfino, Bahia, Brazil

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own. The similarity between P. bohlei and S. luetzelburgii relies solely on the dimorphic stems that both species develop; this is, however, likely to be an example of convergence and not indicative of a close relationship. In spite of the similar stem morphology of P. bohlei and P. gounellei, the first does not have subapically branching stems a diagnostic feature of subgenus Gounellea, which confers to the species in this subgenus a typical candelabra shape. The other diagnostic feature of subgenus Gounellea is the fruit morphology where floral remnants are frequently erect and not sunken into the apex of the pericarp. The situation could not be verified for P. bohlei because at the time of its discovery the plants were not in fruit and thus a description of the fruit was not provided in the original description. Taylor (2004), however, reports that Hofacker has more recently described the perianth remains as deeply inserted so ruling out a close relationship with subgenus Gounellea. A conclusion which Taylor says is supported by the flower which is short and S-shaped, suggesting a relationship with the Aurisetus Group of Pilosocereus. For some time P. bohlei was known only from its type locality and another small place nearby, the type locality of a form of Discocactus zehntneri subsp. boomianus (Buining & Brederoo) N.P.Taylor & Zappi which was described as Discocactus araneispinus. Although P. bohlei was seen by Bnecker, Buining and Heimen at this locality, none of them realized that it was an undescribed species. In March of 2004 the first author found a second, much larger population near the small town of Delfino, a few tens of kilometres from the original finding place. At this second habitat the plants grow in an environment similar to the type locality, fields of white quartz sand amongst outcrops of white sandstone rock. The new population consists of thousands of plants, and the habitat is much more extensive than the original. This was a completely chance finding, since the botanical expedition at the time had the objective of finding new populations of a species of everlasting flower, Syngonanthus curralensis Moldenke (Eriocaulaceae). Other cactus species found growing at the new habitat are Micranthocereus flaviflorus, Pilosocereus pachycladus, Melocactus paucispinus G.Heimen & R.Paul, M. concinnus Buining & Brederoo, and Tacinga inamoena (Schumann) N.P.Taylor & Stuppy.
Figure 2 (facing page) A mature plant of Pilosocereus bohlei at the new habitat

This habitat also represents a northern extension to the geographic range of M. paucispinus; a species which was first discovered near the town of Seabra in the central region of Bahia, then more to the south near the towns of Rio de Contas and Abara, and later still by the first author further north near the town of Morro do Chapu (Machado 1999). Some plants of P. bohlei bore near ripe fruits at the time of the discovery of the second habitat, and cutting a fruit in half showed that it had the typical morphology of subgenus Pilosocereus, with floral remnants sunken into the apex of the pericarp, thus supporting the observation of Hofacker and interpretation of Taylor. The similar stem morphology of P. bohlei and P. gounellei is most likely to be another example of convergence and not indicative of a close relationship. Another remarkable feature of P. bohlei came to light when a plant was dug up in order to prepare a herbarium specimen; it had a number of large root tubers! No

Figure 3 A young plant of P . bohlei showing an example of its root tubers

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similarities with a number of species from other genera not close to Pilosocereus. It may be related to P. machrisii (E.Y.Dawson) Backeberg considering the similar morphology of the juvenile stems, the flower shape, and to the habit of branching from the base, but at the moment there is little available information to reach any conclusions about the true affinities of P. bohlei. It is certainly a species that deserves more study. Readers will have the chance to cultivate this beautiful plant when the BCSS offers seeds of this and other desirable Brazilian species in a special distribution to be announced in the March 2005 journal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The authors would like to thank Bernhard Bohle for his assistance in compiling this article REFERENCES: HOFACKER, A. (2001). Pilosocereus bohlei Hofacker spec. nov. eine neue Art aus Bahia. Kakt. u. a. Sukk. 52(10): 253-257. MACHADO, M. (1999). The cacti of Morro do Chapu, Bahia, Brazil. Brit. Cact. Succ. J. 17(4): 201-213. TAYLOR, N.P. & ZAPPI, D.C. (2004) The Cacti of Eastern Brazil. RBG, Kew. ZAPPI, D.C. (1994) Pilosocereus (Cactaceae) The genus in Brazil. Succulent Plant Research Vol.3.

Figure 4 P . bohlei with developing fruit

other Pilosocereus species is known to develop tuberous roots, a feature rarely found in Brazilian Cactaceae. Similar underground storage organs can be seen in Cereus subgenus Mirabella (F.Ritter) N.P.Taylor [Cereus albicaulis (Britton & Rose) Ltzelburg and Cereus mirabella N.P.Taylor]; Cipocereus crassisepalus (Buining & Brederoo) Zappi & N.P.Taylor; Discocactus bahiensis Britton & Rose and Arrojadoa eriocaulis Buining & Brederoo and perhaps forms of A. dinae Buining & Brederoo (although in the Arrojadoa species the tubers are in fact swollen subterranean stems, not roots). None of these species belongs to genera closely related to Pilosocereus. During a second visit to the Delfino population, the two authors together with Chris Pugh and Ivor Crook in July of 2004, observed the final remarkable feature. The plants were again found in fruit and it was observed that the ripe fruits do not split open in the same manner all the other Pilosocereus species, but instead they fall to the ground intact, with a basal opening at the point of attachment of the fruit to the stem. This feature is only known from Stephanocereus leucostele (Grke) A.Berger, whose fruits exhibit similar behaviour, but which is a completely unrelated species. P. bohlei is indeed a unique, remarkable new species. It has features not found in any other Pilosocereus, and
Figure 4 P . bohlei with developing flower bud