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Stenocereus martinezii; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2025-07-02

Stenocereus martinezii (J.G.Ortega) Buxb.

Cactaceae · Mexico Northwest

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Stenocereus martinezii, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStenocereus martinezii, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStenocereus martinezii, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStenocereus martinezii, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStenocereus martinezii, photograph (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY)Stenocereus martinezii, photograph (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY) 33 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Coldest month, mean nightly low
16.1°C
Jan at the habitat, not a floor; extremes not used (sea cell) CHELSA
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Jun, Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
776mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes July to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Stenocereus martinezii is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to Sinaloa in Mexico. A candelabriform cactus typically 5 to 7 m (16 to 23 ft) tall, it is easy to propagate from cuttings, so local people use it to build live fences.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stenocereus martinezii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Stenocereus

Stenocereus, from Ancient Greek στενός, meaning "narrow", and Latin cēreus, meaning "candle", is a genus of columnar or tree-like cacti from the Baja California Peninsula and other parts of Mexico, Arizona in the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Venezuela, and the West Indies. The genus has been enlarged by the addition of species from several other genera. A close relative is the peculiar chinoa or chende cactus, Polaskia chende.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stenocereus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (574 mm of 783 mm) falls in July to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.8 °C against a yearly mean of 24.3 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: January to March.

Rain

783 mm in the median year at the habitat, 574 mm of it July to September. Wettest month August at 210 mm, driest month May at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 702 mm to 893 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 776 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 783 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: 27 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 26, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 16.1 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 12.6 °C to 18.1 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.4 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: none read. The nearest figure is 16.1 °C, the coldest month's mean nightly low, January, 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: 57 to 70% 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.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Stenocereus martinezii through the yearWarmest months June, July and August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 16.1 °C; 783 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 27–50RH 57–70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 12 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 °C24 / 24–2724 / 24–2825 / 24–3027 / 26–3229 / 28–3430 / 29–3530 / 30–3230 / 29–3129 / 29–3029 / 29–3027 / 27–2925 / 24–27
Night °C16 / 13–1816 / 13–1817 / 14–1919 / 17–2021 / 19–2224 / 23–2525 / 24–2625 / 24–2625 / 24–2623 / 22–2520 / 17–2217 / 14–19
Rain mm27 / 24–2812 / 10–134 / 4–52 / 1–21 / 1–227 / 23–31178 / 154–206210 / 190–235186 / 163–20487 / 75–10029 / 26–3220 / 16–22
DLI29 / 28–2935 / 34–3542 / 42–4347 / 47–4850 / 50–5045 / 44–4536 / 35–3734 / 33–3431 / 31–3233 / 33–3430 / 30–3127 / 26–27
RH %60 / 57–6558 / 55–6357 / 54–6457 / 53–6559 / 52–6563 / 57–6466 / 64–6869 / 66–7070 / 67–7167 / 64–6762 / 59–6660 / 58–65

The daily extremes were read at a NASA POWER cell that is 20% 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 11.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 16.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.8 °C.

How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 12 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (13 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), 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 1328:1467 (23.575, -106.625). 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 12 distinct grid cells holding 13 of the 14 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1328:1467 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells, though its NASA POWER cell is only 20% land and none of the 8 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 23.50_-106.875, lapse-corrected +136 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 163 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Northwest · 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).
Map marker23.741, -106.587 · in the densest population, 496 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “desert or dry shrubland” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 496 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 13 of them in the land cells it reads, of 14 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 105 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 27 km away. 482 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.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 496 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Stenocereus martinezii, photograph 1did not loadStenocereus martinezii, photograph 2did not loadStenocereus martinezii, photograph 3did not loadStenocereus martinezii, photograph 4did not loadStenocereus martinezii, photograph 5did not loadStenocereus martinezii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

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

Selenicereus vagans Selenicereus vagans Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezCochemiea mazatlanensis Cochemiea mazatlanensis Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezTillandsia exserta Tillandsia exserta Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezTillandsia ferrisiana Tillandsia ferrisiana Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Jose Luis Leon de la LuzTillandsia intermedia Tillandsia intermedia Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezPilosocereus purpusii Pilosocereus purpusii Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Stenocereus 15 in the reference

Stenocereus alamosensis Stenocereus alamosensis Octopus cactus Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezStenocereus beneckei Stenocereus beneckei Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, José Javier Barrios FloresStenocereus chacalapensis Stenocereus chacalapensis Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedStenocereus eruca Stenocereus eruca Creeping Devil Photo: CC0, author not statedStenocereus griseus Stenocereus griseus Tall candelabra cactus Photo: CC BY, Laura GaudetteStenocereus gummosus Stenocereus gummosus Galloping Cactus Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroStenocereus heptagonus Stenocereus heptagonus Spanish stenocereus Photo: CC BY, avocatStenocereus huastecorum Stenocereus huastecorum Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Ulises PinedoStenocereus montanus Stenocereus montanus Cactaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adrian BojorquezStenocereus pruinosus Stenocereus pruinosus Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedStenocereus queretaroensis Stenocereus queretaroensis Pitaya de Queretaro Photo: CC BY, Diana S. Angeles CruzStenocereus standleyi Stenocereus standleyi Cactaceae Photo: CC0, author not stated all 16 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Glandulicereus martinezii; Lemaireocereus martinezii; Rathbunia martinezii. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(J.G.Ortega) Buxb.
Native to
Mexico Northwest
Wild records
496 in range · 105 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 2026-10-22
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 23.50_-106.875, lapse-corrected +136 m at 6.5 °C/km; read, and set aside: NASA POWER's cell is mostly sea (20% 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 answeredasked 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 answeredasked 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 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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