Identification and habitat
The regional Tehuacán-Cuicatlán flora, treating the species as Stenocereus dumortieri, describes plants 5–7 m tall with numerous branches and usually 5–7 sharply edged ribs. Areoles may become confluent on mature stems. Spines are relatively thin and flexible. The inner perianth segments are white to greenish, and ripe fruits range from orange to red. [Arias et al. 2012]
In that flora, the species occurs in seasonally deciduous tropical forest and xerophytic shrubland on basalt at 1300–2100 m. Physiological studies at Barranca de Metztitlán were conducted in shrubland with a summer rainy season. These habitat data describe wild plants under their local rainfall seasonality. [Arias et al. 2012] [Pavón et al. 2016]
Reproductive and growth seasons
Observations of 40 mature plants at Barranca de Metztitlán in 2007–2009 showed reproductive development beginning in January, with fruiting ending in July. Stem extension was greater during the rainy season. The driest of the three study years produced particularly many buds, flowers and immature fruits. Mature fruit production followed its own pattern, so counts of successive developmental stages are distinct measurements. [Cruz and Pavón 2013]
A dry-season experiment applied water once or twice to soil around the plants. Immature fruit numbers declined late in the observations in plants watered twice. Watering itself produced no significant increase in stem growth or change in tissue osmotic potential. The result concerns large field plants exposed to simulated rainfall during reproduction. [Cruz and Pavón 2013]
Water stored in branched stems
A study of 20 individuals averaging 3.3 m in height estimated several hundred litres of water per plant. The estimate depended on stem dimensions and season, with volume derived from height, diameter and branching measurements. A separate article explains the estimation method and distinguishes stored water and carbon from their flows over time. [Pavón et al. 2016]
Seeds transported by bats
Leptonycteris yerbabuenae removes seeds from fruits and deposits them both individually by spitting and in droppings. Field researchers found I. dumortieri seeds in a cave at least 3 km from the nearest cactus population. This directly supports transport over at least that distance. [Rojas-Martínez et al. 2015]
In an 18-day germination experiment at 25°C, seeds taken from fruits reached 72.4 ± 6.93%, while seeds obtained from droppings reached 25.2 ± 2.93%, reported as means with standard errors. Each treatment comprised ten replicates of 50 separated seeds. Fruit and faecal materials were collected in different months. The observed contrast describes these lots and experimental conditions. The ecological benefit of distant transport and germination capacity are distinct components of disperser performance. [Rojas-Martínez et al. 2015]
Young plants growing on trees
An inventory conducted in July 2023 and published in 2026 documented young I. dumortieri growing on trees at three Barranca de Metztitlán sites. The largest individuals occurred mainly on the ground. Epiphytic establishment is therefore documented for young plants in those shrublands. The study compared the existing size structure rather than tracking individual seedlings over many years. [Aguilar-Cruz et al. 2026]
Related articles
Materials from the author's archive
The species also appears in Konrad Szychowski's private material archive. [Hernández Martínez and Sánchez Martínez 2002] [Hernández-Oria et al. 2003]
Synonyms and names in the literature
Cereus dumortieri · Stenocereus dumortieri · Rathbunia dumortieri · Lemaireocereus dumortieri [2-WWW]