🌵 Author(s) | Karl Schumann | 🌵 Published in | Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 7: 6 (1897) |
🌵 Type | Pterocactus kuntzei |
Greek pteron ‘wing’ + Cactus. For the “perfectly and broadly winged seed”, which Schumann considered one of the defining features of the genus. Not for the “leaf-like, two to three winged stem segments” (Genaust, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der botanischen Pflanzennamen. 3. Auflage. 1996); Schumann described the stems as “club-shaped”.
Schramm (Monatsschr. Kakteenk. 27: 159. 1917): “The Pterocactus got its name from the winged seeds, because πτερόν (pterón) means wing. So in German one can very well call the Pterocactus “wing cactus” [Flügelkaktus], although it would probably be more correct to say “wing seed cactus” [Flügelsamenkaktus].”
Not to be confused with Pterocereus.
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2023 Jul 14). Pterocactus. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/pterocactus