Pilosocereus polygonus

Pilosocereus polygonus (Lam.) Byles & G.D.Rowley (1957)

🌵 Author(s)	Gordon Rowley Ronald Byles
🌵 Basionym	Cactus polygonus (1785)
🌵 Basionym author(s)	Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck
🌵 Basionym published in	Encycl. [J. Lamarck & al.] 1(2): 539 (1785)

Etymology

Greek poly ‘many’ + Greek –gōnos ‘-angled’. For the higher number of ribs compared to Cactus repandus (= Cereus repandus). Lamarck: “It seems that this plant is closely related to the Wavy-ribbed Cactus no. 10 [= Cactus repandus; “eight-ribbed”]. It is nevertheless distinguished by the number of its ribs [“eleven-ribbed”] […]”.

The English name Deering’s tree cactus is apparently based on Pilosocereus deeringii, which is, however, a synonym of Pilosocereus robini.