Myrtillocactus schenckii, also known as garambullo or vichishovo, is a species of cacti native to Oaxaca and Puebla, Mexico. Placed in the genus Myrtillocactus, it is a member of the large and diverse family Cactaceae.[1] [2]
Arborescent, erect cactus, up to tall. The main stem is short, with branches up to wide, shaped like a "chandelier", much branched near the base of the trunk, stems in diameter, with 6–8 ribs, bluish-green. Radial spines, whose length is from and from wide, ending in a point at the top, straight, rigid, black and greyish. Central spine between 1 and sometimes absent, between long and between wide, grayish or black in color and straight. Flowers, axillary, to wide and broad, yellowish-green to yellowish-white. Fruits, red, globose or ellipsiodal, in diameter, sometimes with a few weak spines.[3] Juicy red to brown pulp. Asymmetric, oval seed long by wide, black in color and wrinkled in appearance.[4]
This species has a distribution restricted to the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca and Puebla.[5] Outside of Mexico, it has been registered in Guatemala. This species is characteristic of the xeric scrublands and transition areas with low deciduous forest. This species is characteristic of arid and semi-arid climate, they are generally found in gypsum and limestone soils, often with high salt content, as is the case in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán valley.[6] It is distributed in an altitudinal range of .[7] The places where the species is distributed, present a dry, arid, semi-warm climate, with a marked wet season in the summer, where the average annual rainfall is between and its average temperature throughout the year is of .[8]
The first description as Cereus schenckii was published in 1909 by Joseph Anton Purpus.[9] The specific epithet schenckii honors the German botanist Heinrich Schenck. Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Myrtillocactus in the same year