Name and site of the population studied
The accepted name is Neoraimondia herzogiana (Backeb.) Buxb. & Krainz. Its synonyms include Neocardenasia herzogiana and Cereus herzogianus. The species' natural range includes Bolivia. [2-WWW]
Arzabe, Aguirre and Baldelomar made observations from October to December 2013 in Wara Wara near Aiquile, in the department of Cochabamba, at 2084 m. This period covers the southern spring and one population in a dry inter-Andean valley. [Arzabe et al. 2018, pp. 180–181]
Tubular flower and opening time
The flowers examined were tubular, with a pink perianth consisting of two series of thick, succulent tepals and pale yellow anthers and stigma. They remained open during the day and night. The authors detected no noticeable scent. Night opening extends the period of potential visits, and insect contacts with reproductive organs were recorded in the observed population. [Arzabe et al. 2018, p. 181–185, tabela 1]
Flower access and fruit formation
Two buds were selected on each of 30 plants, leaving one accessible to visitors and covering the other. The final analysis included 57 flowers. Fruits formed from 86.7% of open flowers and 3.7% of covered ones. Fruit development was measured after ovary enlargement. The experiment showed the importance of animal access for fruiting in this population. [Arzabe et al. 2018, p. 181–183, ryc. 4]
The small amount of fruiting in covered flowers indicates the possibility of fruit formation when visits are restricted. Separate self-pollination, cross-pollination and anther-removal treatments were not performed in this design. The mechanism behind this result and seed viability were not resolved. [Arzabe et al. 2018, p. 181–184]
Visitor community
Observations of 30 flowers over six days included four half-hour sessions daily, between 05:30 and 22:00. Vespidae wasps accounted for 37.5% of recorded visits, and Apis bees for 25%. Ants and beetles were among the remaining visitors. Insects touching reproductive organs were counted. The proportion of visits describes contact frequency, while the effectiveness of an individual pollen transfer requires separate measurement. [Arzabe et al. 2018, p. 182–186, tabela 3]
Related articles
Materials from the author's archive
The species also appears in Konrad Szychowski's private material archive. [Romulski 2004c, file p. 27, 28] [Romulski b.d., file p. 7] [Kaktusy i Inne 2004, file p. 2, 24, 31, 48] [McBrian 2004, file p. 22]
Synonyms and names in the literature
Cereus herzogianus · Neocardenasia herzogiana [2-WWW]