Leptocereus assurgens

The species and its historical names

POWO accepts Leptocereus assurgens as a western Cuban species and recognises 3 subspecies. It assigns L. ekmanii and L. prostratus specifically to L. assurgens subsp. assurgens. The 2020 phylogenetic publication treated them as separate species. That study proposed L. albellus for plants of the Sierra de San Carlos. POWO currently includes these as subspecies albellus within L. assurgens. Historical names preserve the scope of each observation. [2-WWW] [Barrios et al. 2020a, POWO records 138282-2 and 77223287-1, consulted 12 October 2026, pp. 11–12 in the 2020 study] [2-WWW]

Morphology and variation among western populations

In the 2020 study, the Cuban Assurgens group comprised prostrate or climbing shrubs of western Cuban mountain ranges. Yellow perianth segments and smaller fruits were described, with a white-flowered variant in plants called albellus. In the latter, fruits split open to expose the seeds and contained mucilage. Viñales plants identified as L. assurgens had yellow flowers and fruits without mucilage. These differences concern recognised population groups, rather than a uniform structure across all currently accepted subspecies. [Barrios et al. 2020a, pp. 9, 11–12]

Two seed lots

In the 2025 experiment, seeds labelled L. assurgens came from Chichones del Indio in Viñales, at 348 m elevation. They were collected in June 2016 from only 3 plants. Seeds described as L. ekmanii were collected a year later in the Sierra de Guanes, at 49 m. Limited seed availability allowed only 2 temperature treatments for each group. Each had 7 replicates of 25 seeds on 1% agar. [Barrios et al. 2025, pp. 3–4, Table 1]

For the Viñales lot, germination after 28 days in light was 28.00 ± 11.07% at 25/30°C and 14.86 ± 9.15% at 25/35°C. For the lot described as L. ekmanii, it was 25.71 ± 8.60% at 25°C and 11.43 ± 7.80% at 25/35°C. Viable ungerminated seeds remained in both groups. These results describe particular material and chamber conditions. Defining the full optimum and a dormancy-breaking procedure requires further experimental treatments. [Barrios et al. 2025, pp. 7–8, 11–13, Tables 2–3]