Leptocereus arboreus

Habit and fruits

Leptocereus arboreus belongs to the Cuban lineage of leptocerei. It forms trees whose crowns rise above surrounding vegetation. The 2020 study associated it with a group of eastern Cuban species bearing white nocturnal flowers and densely spiny fruits. Mucilage surrounds the seeds of L. arboreus. This feature was also recorded in the study of L. scopulophilus germination. [Barrios et al. 2020a, pp. 6–8, 10 in the 2020 study, p. 2 in the supplied 2015 PDF] [Barrios et al. 2015, pp. 6–8, 10 in the 2020 study, p. 2 in the supplied 2015 PDF]

The studied Yaguanabo population

For the experiment published in 2025, seeds were collected in September 2015 from plants at the Yaguanabo River mouth in Cienfuegos Province. The site was classified as coastal, at 26 m above sea level. Seeds were washed, shade-dried and sown in November. Each temperature treatment had 7 replicates of 25 seeds on 1% agar in a controlled growth chamber. Light was supplied for 8 hours per day. [Barrios et al. 2025, pp. 3–4, Table 1]

Germination and recovery after heating

After 28 days in light, mean germination was 71.43 ± 9.36% at 25°C, 69.71 ± 11.74% at 25/30°C and 8.57 ± 7.81% at 25/35°C. A slash denotes daily alternation between the lower and higher temperatures, rather than a constant intermediate temperature. Germination in darkness at 25°C was 0%. The results show that germination of this seed lot depended strongly on light and temperature. [Barrios et al. 2025, pp. 3–4, 7, Table 2]

After the hot treatments, some ungerminated seeds resumed germination when transferred to 25°C in light. In contrast, seeds previously kept in darkness for 28 days did not germinate during the following 28 days in light, although many embryos remained viable. The authors interpreted this as secondary inhibition of germination associated with darkness. This distinction matters when evaluating seeds that remain intact and alive after a short test. [Barrios et al. 2025, pp. 8–9, 12–13]