cereus

cereus, (genus Cereus), genus of about 30 species of large columnar cacti (family Cactaceae) native to South America. The common name cereus is also broadly applied to any number of “ceroid cacti,” which have elongated bodies; many such cacti are designated with scientific epithets that include the suffix “-cereus” (e.g., Hylocereus, Pachycereus, Selenicereus, and Stenocereus). Members of the genus Cereus are generally shrub- or treelike cacti with 4–10 ribs on each stem. The ribs are...