{{Short description|Species of cactus}} {{Speciesbox | image = Pájara La Lajita - Oasis Park - Pachycereus schottii 04 ies.jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2010 p. ">{{cite journal | title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | journal=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | date=2010-05-12 | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/151764/121565810 | access-date=2023-11-04 | page=}}</ref> | taxon = Lophocereus schottii | authority = (Engelm.) Britton & Rose<ref name=POWO_143583-2/> | synonyms = {{Species list |Cereus mieckleyanus|Weing. |Cereus palmeri|F.A.C.Weber |Cereus sargentianus|Orcutt |Cereus schottii|Engelm. |Lemaireocereus mieckleyanus|(Weing.) Borg |Lophocereus australis|Britton & Rose |Lophocereus mieckleyanus|(Weing.) Backeb. |Lophocereus sargentianus|(Orcutt) Britton & Rose |Pachycereus schottii|(Engelm.) D.R.Hunt |Pilocereus sargentianus|Orcutt ex K.Schum. |Pilocereus schottii|(Engelm.) Lem. }} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=POWO_143583-2/> }}
'''''Lophocereus schottii''''', the '''senita cactus''',<ref>{{PLANTS|id=PASC14|taxon=Pachycereus schottii|accessdate=10 August 2015}}</ref> is a species of cactus from southern Arizona and north-western Mexico, particularly Baja California and Sonora.
==Description== ''Lophocereus schottii'' grows tree-shaped to shrub-like with yellow-green, more or less upright shoots, which often develop into thickets with more than 100 shoots. It reaches heights of 1 to 3 meters and shoot diameters of {{cvt|5 to 10|cm}}. A tribe is rarely formed. There are 4 to 13 clearly defined ribs. The 1 to 3 strong, gray central spines are {{cvt|1 to 3|cm}} long. The 3 to 5 marginal spines are gray and {{cvt|0.5 to 1.5|cm}} long. The terminal pseudocephalium consists of bristly, flexible, gray spines. It occasionally grows to be more than {{cvt|100|cm}} long.
The funnel-shaped flowers appear laterally from the pseudocephalium and open at night. They are white to deep pink, up to {{cvt|5|cm}} long and reach a diameter of {{cvt|3|cm}}. Its pericarpel and flower tube are covered with scales and hairs. The spherical, red fruits contain red pulp and reach a diameter of {{cvt|1 to 3|cm}}. They are edible, but are rarely used as food.<ref name="Anderson Eggli 2005 p. 492–493">{{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Edward F. | last2=Eggli | first2=Urs | title=Das grosse Kakteen-Lexikon | publisher=Ulmer | publication-place=Stuttgart (Hohenheim) | date=2005 | isbn=3-8001-4573-1 | language=de | pages= 492–493}}</ref> <gallery> File:Pájara La Lajita - Oasis Park - Pachycereus schottii 05 ies.jpg|Top of branch File:Pachycereus schotti monstrosus.jpg|''Lophocereus schotti monstrosus'' File:Pachycereus schottii monstrosa kz1.jpg|''Lophocereus schottii f. monstrosa'' </gallery>
==Distribution== The distribution area of ''Lophocereus schottii'' extends from the south of the US state of Arizona to the northwest of Mexico and includes the states of Baja California and Sonora. The species grows at altitudes from 0 to 800 meters. <gallery mode=packed heights=220px> File:Pachycereus (Lophocereus) schottii (5770743686).jpg|Plants growing in La Paz, Baja California Sur File:Pachycereus schottii (5782780240).jpg|Plant growing in Viscaino, Baja California Sur </gallery>
==Ecology== The senita cactus exhibits mutualism with the senita moth. The senita moth is the only nocturnal pollinator of the cactus, and the moth relies on the cactus as a host for reproduction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Holland|first1=J. Nathaniel|last2=Fleming|first2=Theodore H.|date=1999-09-01|title=Mutualistic Interactions Between Upiga Virescens (pyralidae), a Pollinating Seed-Consumer, and Lophocereus Schottii (cactaceae)|journal=Ecology|language=en|volume=80|issue=6|pages=2074–2084|doi=10.1890/0012-9658(1999)080[2074:mibuvp]2.0.co;2|issn=1939-9170|hdl=1911/21700|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
== Phytochemistry == Tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids were identified; one of them, lophocerine,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Orozco-Barocio |first1=Arturo |last2=Robles-Rodríguez |first2=Blanca Susana |last3=Camacho-Corona |first3=María Del Rayo |last4=Méndez-López |first4=Luis Fernando |last5=Godínez-Rubí |first5=Marisol |last6=Peregrina-Sandoval |first6=Jorge |last7=Rivera |first7=Gildardo |last8=Rojas Mayorquín |first8=Argelia E. |last9=Ortuno-Sahagun |first9=Daniel |date=2022 |title=In vitro Anticancer Activity of the Polar Fraction From the Lophocereus schottii Ethanolic Extract |journal=Frontiers in Pharmacology |volume=13 |article-number=820381 |doi=10.3389/fphar.2022.820381 |doi-access=free |issn=1663-9812 |pmc=9014087 |pmid=35444555}}</ref> is a substituted salsolinol, as well as a trimer of lophocerine—pilocereine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Djerassi |first1=Carl |last2=Frick |first2=N. |last3=Geller |first3=L. E. |title=Alkaloid Studies. I. The Isolation of Pilocereine from the Cactus Lophocereus schottii |url=https://pubs.acs.org/action/cookieAbsent |access-date=2026-04-28 |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |date=1953 |volume=75 |issue=15 |pages=3632–3635 |doi=10.1021/ja01111a008 |bibcode=1953JAChS..75.3632D |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Among other compounds, phytosterols such as lophenol, schottenol, lathosterol, spinasterol, locereol, and other compounds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Salazar |first1=Juan Rodrigo |last2=Loza-Mejía |first2=Marco A. |last3=Soto-Cabrera |first3=Diego |date=2020-04-03 |title=Chemistry, Biological Activities and In Silico Bioprospection of Sterols and Triterpenes from Mexican Columnar Cactaceae |journal=Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) |volume=25 |issue=7 |pages=1649 |doi=10.3390/molecules25071649 |doi-access=free |issn=1420-3049 |pmc=7180492 |pmid=32260146}}</ref> Salsolidine, peyonine, peyophorine and anhalotine were also isolated; among the flavonoids, myricetin, epicatechin, quercetin derivatives, and kaempferol were isolated.<ref name=":0" />
==Taxonomy== The first description as Cereus schottii was made in 1856 by George Engelmann.<ref name="Arts Arts 1852 p528">{{cite web | last=Arts | first=American Academy of | title=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | publisher=Metcalf and Co | volume=v. 3 (1852-1857) | date=1852 | issn=0199-9818 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3101002 | access-date=2023-11-04}}</ref> The specific epithet schottii honors the German naturalist and plant collector Arthur Schott, who was involved in surveying the border between the United States and Mexico. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus ''Lemaireocereus'' in 1909. Further nomenclature synonyms are ''Pilocereus schottii'' (Engelm.) Lem. (1862) and ''Lophocereus schottii'' (Engelm.) D.R.Hunt (1987).<ref name="Arts Arts 1852 p528"/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=POWO_143583-2>{{citation |title=''Lophocereus schottii'' (Engelm.) Britton & Rose |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:143583-2 |access-date=2021-03-16 }}</ref> }}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Lophocereus schottii|''Lophocereus schottii''}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Lophocereus schottii|''Lophocereus schottii''}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q15320987|from2=Q662904|from3=Q14944239}}
Category:Echinocereeae Category:Cacti of the United States Category:Cacti of Mexico Category:Plants described in 1856