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Pilosocereus moritzianus (Otto ex Pfeiff.) Byles & G.D.Rowley

Cactaceae · Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles +1 · listed by its family as a cactus or succulent

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Pilosocereus moritzianus (Otto ex Pfeiff.) Byles & G.D.Rowley: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Otto) Byles & G.D.Rowley.

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Coldest month, mean nightly low
24.5°C
Feb at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Sep and Oct at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,061mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
31–42DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, June to December (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 3 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Pilosocereus moritzianus is a species of flowering plant in the cactus family Cactaceae, native to Trinidad and Tobago and the Venezuelan Antilles in the Caribbean and to Venezuela in northern South America. It was first described in 1837 as Cereus moritzianus. It was subsequently placed in the genus Cephalocereus before being moved to Pilosocereus in 1957. It has also been treated as a subspecies of Pilosocereus lanuginosus, P. lanuginosus subsp. moritzianus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Pilosocereus moritzianus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent tree”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,614 mm of 2,060 mm) falls in June to December. The temperature curve is flat, 1.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,060 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,614 mm of it June to December. Wettest month November at 280 mm, driest month March at 39 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,189 mm to 2,067 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,061 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,060 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 24.5 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 23.9 °C to 24.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.8 °C in September (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 24.5 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, February, in the median year (CHELSA); a month's mean of its nightly lows is warmer than the nights a floor is read from. The daily extremes were read at a weather cell that is mostly sea and are not used.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 64 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. No cold floor is read without a daily extremes series; the coldest month's mean nightly low named in its sentence is not one. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the family Cactaceae in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “succulent tree”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 3 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Pilosocereus moritzianus through the yearWarmest months September and October, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 24.5 °C; 2,060 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.20°25°30°35°°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 31–42RH 64–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 26–3026 / 26–3026 / 26–3127 / 26–3027 / 27–3027 / 27–3127 / 27–3227 / 27–3228 / 28–3028 / 28–3027 / 27–2927 / 26–29
Night °C25 / 24–2525 / 24–2525 / 24–2525 / 25–2526 / 25–2625 / 25–2625 / 25–2526 / 25–2626 / 25–2626 / 25–2625 / 24–2525 / 24–25
Rain mm113 / 29–11479 / 22–7939 / 18–3973 / 72–76142 / 130–142244 / 104–244239 / 75–239236 / 114–237203 / 178–204209 / 207–212280 / 160–281203 / 75–205
DLI34 / 33–3538 / 35–3841 / 38–4142 / 36–4240 / 35–4037 / 37–3737 / 37–3937 / 37–3837 / 36–3734 / 33–3531 / 31–3232 / 31–32
RH %65 / 61–6564 / 60–6464 / 59–6466 / 62–6667 / 65–6768 / 63–6869 / 62–6968 / 63–6867 / 66–676868 / 66–6866 / 64–66

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 8% land: neither it nor the next candidates whose coldest month's mean nightly low is within 2 °C of the median across cells sit in a POWER cell that is mostly land, and the rule reads a cold floor only from a cell that is mostly land, so none is read for this species. Nor is the coldest month's mean nightly low taken as one: it is a mean of a month's lows, not its coldest night. What that cell gave over 44 years: absolute minimum 22.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 24.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.1 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 3 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1573:2389 (11.325, -60.525). Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 3 distinct grid cells holding 3 of the 3 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1573:2389 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 8% land and none of the 2 next candidates within 2 °C of the median was mostly land); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 11.50_-60.625, lapse-corrected +90 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 98 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTrinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Kew's description“succulent tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 6 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 3 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 3 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 460 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. Under a dozen records behind the map and the climate. 3 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. Not a statement that none exist.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Erythrina pallida Beau Mortel Poitea carinalis Poitea carinalis Caribwood Photo: CC BY, Eric KnightTabebuia pallida Tabebuia pallida White cedar Photo: CC BY, Matteo Bellucci Anthurium willdenowii Araceae Syagrus amara Syagrus amara Moca palm Photo: CC BY-SA, David J. StangPitcairnia integrifolia Pitcairnia integrifolia Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Stephanie Tran

Other Pilosocereus 20 in the reference

Pilosocereus alensis Pilosocereus alensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezPilosocereus armatus Pilosocereus armatus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Alex DoylePilosocereus arrabidae Pilosocereus arrabidae Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPilosocereus azulensis Pilosocereus azulensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Peter A. MansfeldPilosocereus brasiliensis Pilosocereus brasiliensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, fmunozPilosocereus catingicola Pilosocereus catingicola Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPilosocereus chrysacanthus Pilosocereus chrysacanthus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezPilosocereus chrysostele Pilosocereus chrysostele Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, stephenPilosocereus collinsii Pilosocereus collinsii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Domínguez-RodríguezPilosocereus curtisii Pilosocereus curtisii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Jose Luis Leon de la LuzPilosocereus fulvilanatus Pilosocereus fulvilanatus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, B. PhalanPilosocereus gaumeri Pilosocereus gaumeri Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Oscar Orlando Vazquez Piña all 21 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cephalocereus backebergii; Cephalocereus claroviridis; Cephalocereus moritzianus; Cereus backebergii; Cereus claroviridis and 6 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Otto ex Pfeiff.) Byles & G.D.Rowley
Native to
Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela
Wild records
6 in range · 3 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3959083 is Pilosocereus moritzianus (Otto) Byles & G.D.Rowley; the page links Kew's Pilosocereus moritzianus (Otto ex Pfeiff.) Byles & G.D.Rowley, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 11.50_-60.625, lapse-corrected +90 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (8% land), so no cold floor is shown
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 3 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…