Cereus

Cereus Mill. (1754)

🌵 Author(s)	Philip Miller
🌵 Type	Cereus hexagonus

Etymology

Latin cērĕus ‘wax-light, taper’. Apparently for the candle-like habit of Cereus hexagonus. Cereus repandus was reportedly used as a torch.

Cereus is a pre-Linnaean name dating back to Pena and Lobelius (1571). Linnaeus recognized only one cactus genus, Cactus, but Cereus was reinstated by Philip Miller in 1754. Almost all columnar cactus species were assigned to this genus until Britton and Rose split it up in 1920. In English and other modern languages “Cereus” is still used as a name for columnar cacti in general. In 1934 Alberto Vojtěch Frič and Kurt G. Kreuzinger (invalidly) renamed Aporocactus, Bergerocactus, Borzicactus, Cleistocactus, Corryocactus, Eccremocactus, Mediocactus, Myrtillocactus, Strophocactus and Zygocactus to Aporocereus, Bergerocereus, Borzicereus, Cleistocereus, Corryocereus, Eccremocereus, Mediocereus, Myrtillocereus, Strophocereus and Zygocereus because they were of the opinion that the term “cactus” should be reserved for globular cactus species, while columnar species should be called “cereus”.

The fungus Phoma cereicola Henn. was named after this genus (Cereus + Latin –cŏla ‘inhabitor’). It was described from the “rotting stem of a Cereus” in a greenhouse (Hennings in Verh. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg 40: 165. 1898).