Cleistocactus

Cleistocactus Lem. (1861)

🌵 Author(s)	Charles Lemaire
🌵 Published in	Ill. Hort. 8: misc. 35 (1861)
🌵 Type	Cleistocactus baumannii

Etymology

Greek kleistos ‘closed’ + Cactus. For the “oblique and almost closed limbe [perianth] from which slightly protrudes a compact bundle of unequal stamens” (Lemaire), which dinstinguished Cleistocactus baumannii and Cleistocactus colubrinus (now considered a synonym of C. baumannii) from Aporocactus flagelliformis. Lemaire: “κλειστός, fermé : allusion au mode d’être du limbe floral”. Not for the fact that Cleistocactus sepium (= Borzicactus sepium) was used to make hedges or fences (Genaust, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. 3. Auflage. 1996); that species was only included in Cleistocactus in 1904.

Post & Kuntze corrected the name to Clistocactus, which is consistent with Latin cătaclīsta (from Greek katakleistos) and Clīsthĕnes (from Greek Kleisthenēs). Compare Clistanthocereus.