Genus · Cactaceae

Acanthocereus

1 species tracked in Horta’s catalog, and the named cultivars growers keep. Walk down to a species for its full care record, or into a cultivar for its traits and provenance.

Reference · Acanthocereus

Species in this genus

The ones growers meet most — each links to its own page.

Acanthocereus tetragonus

Barbed-wire Cactus

A columnar, thicket-forming cactus of coastal Florida, south Texas, and the tropics — sharply spined, fast-growing, and drought-tough. Indoors it is best known through its miniature monstrose form, the fairy castle cactus. The spines are the hazard here — "painfully spiny" — so handle with care and keep it out of reach; no chemical toxicity is on record.

About the genus

A genus-level overview — shared traits, history, the botany that ties these plants together — is on its way. For now, the species and cultivars above and below carry the genus.

Notable cultivars across the genus

The named forms that draw people in — spanning species, and every level of how well we know them.

‘Monstrosus’

Acanthocereus tetragonus

Early

Kept true by its growers

Acanthocereus keeps evolving — species move, cultivars appear, IDs get corrected. If you can place an unplaced plant or add a species we’re missing, the whole genus gets truer.

Overview derived from 1 tracked species · the contribute flow arrives with the next slice.