Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_acanthocereus_tetragonus
Barbed-wire Cereus
Acanthocereus tetragonus
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About Barbed-wire Cereus
A branching cactus shrub with long, dark-green angular stems that arch or clamber. Spiny areoles occur along the ribs. Large night-opening flowers have a long, sparsely armed tube and white to greenish inner segments. Mature fruits are bright red, ovoid to oblong and slightly tuberculate. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.
Kauaʻi evidence
Generated media is not occurrence evidence. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Acanthocereus tetragonus
- Common names
- barbed-wire cereus · barbed-wire cactus
- Other names
- Acanthocereus tetragonus · barbed-wire cereus · barbed-wire cactus
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-07
- Evidence limits
- Island-level public occurrence only. An individual low branching shrub form is shown; the plate does not depict a measured Kauaʻi population.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Not yet assessed
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Clambering or arching-reclining shrub cactus
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Occupied area and vegetation cover; Mature plants and new recruits; Reproductive plants and fruiting frequency. Proposed monitoring endpoints are not reported observations, measured effects or causal findings.
- Data gaps
- Current island extent and population trend · Measured local ecological effects
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- A branching cactus shrub with long, dark-green angular stems that arch or clamber. Spiny areoles occur along the ribs. Large night-opening flowers have a long, sparsely armed tube and white to greenish inner segments. Mature fruits are bright red, ovoid to oblong and slightly tuberculate. Established wild occurrence warrants observations of occupied cover, reproductive plants and new recruits. These measurements can test persistence and spread. The reviewed accounts do not quantify an island-wide effect on Kauaʻi native vegetation.