Pilosocereus polygonus
| Pilosocereus polygonus | |
|---|---|
| Botanical illustration – the lectotype | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Cactaceae |
| Subfamily: | Cactoideae |
| Genus: | Pilosocereus |
| Species: | P. polygonus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Pilosocereus polygonus (Lam.) Byles & G.D.Rowley
| |
| Synonyms | |
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List
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Pilosocereus polygonus is a species of cactus (family Cactaceae). Like all species in the genus Pilosocereus, it has a shrub- or tree-like growth habit. It has been treated very differently at times. In the narrow circumscription adopted here, it is endemic to Hispaniola, a position adopted by Britton and Rose in 1920 and endorsed in a 2019 review of the genus in the Caribbean and northern Andes. Treatments in the late 1990s and early 2000s used a much broader circumscription, which included species now recognized as separate, thus giving P. polygonus a much wider distribution. As of July 2025, Plants of the World Online accepted Pilosocereus royenii as a synonym; however it has also been treated as a separate species. Broadly applied English names include dildo cactus, pipe organ cactus, and Royen's tree cactus.