Consolea moniliformis

Range and names in materials

POWO accepts a species encompassing southeastern Cuba, Hispaniola and some islands in the Puerto Rico area. It includes the Cuban name C. moniliformis subsp. guantanamana among synonyms. In the 1996 and 2023 literature, however, this name describes specific regional material and is retained in that sense. [2-WWW] [Areces-Mallea 1996] [Barrios et al. 2023]

Airampoa panellana is also among POWO synonyms. This shows why a genus name in an old list is insufficient to assign a paper. Searching this name leads here to Consolea moniliformis, without creating an additional Airampoa profile. [2-WWW]

Structure and ontogeny

Cuban material described by Areces-Mallea forms trees with a crown whose peripheral branches hang down. Young segments may be less reticulate and more heavily armed than mature crown segments. Small, nearly spherical, long-spined segments that detach easily and can root after falling were also described. Changes in appearance with age matter for cutting identification. [Areces-Mallea 1996]

A distinct network of depressions on the mature surface helps distinguish the species from smooth C. macracantha. Pericarpel traits also matter in comparison with C. spinosissima. The 2001 key gives C. moniliformis a more cylindrical, symmetrical structure, compared with the flattened, oblique, elongated pericarpel of the Jamaican species. [Areces-Mallea 2001] [Barrios et al. 2023]

Habitat and animal relationships

Cuban subsp. guantanamana material was described from coastal dry scrub and small-leaved evergreen forests to about 50 m above sea level. On southern Hispaniola, plants identified as C. moniliformis were associated with more open, dry sites than plants described as C. microcarpa. Regional characterisations should not be combined into one detailed habitat recipe for the whole species. [Barrios et al. 2023] [Majure and Clase 2018]

Analysis of droppings of Cyclura cornuta and C. ricordii iguanas in the Dominican Republic showed, according to Pasachnik and Martin-Velez's abstract, C. moniliformis among seasonally important food plants. This documents a trophic relationship. It does not independently establish how many seeds survive gut passage and where seedlings later appear. [Pasachnik and Martin-Velez 2017]

Sexual development and limits of phylogenetic interpretation

In material studied in 2007, 2n = 66 was found. The species also participated in comparisons of anther and ovule development, including observations of males occasionally retaining fertile ovules. In the 2021 plastome analysis, different samples identified as C. moniliformis did not form one exclusive lineage. The result indicates a complex group history but does not independently resolve whether hybridisation, young lineages or sample-identification boundaries caused it. [Negrón-Ortiz 2007] [Strittmatter et al. 2008] [Majure et al. 2021b]