Cultivares tradicionales mixtecos de Stenocereus pruinosus y S. stellatus (Cactaceae)

Abstract

A TOTAL OF 40 CULTIVATED VARIANTS OF STENOCEREUS PRUINOSUS (OTTO) BUXB. AND S. STELLATUS (PFEIFF.) RICCOB. WERE RECOGNIZED IN THE MIXTECA BAJA REGION. IN ORDER TO EXPLORE INFRASPECIFIC FOLK CLASSIFICATION, SELECTIVE MOTIVES AND VARIATION PATTERNS OF THESE VARIANTS, 19 MORPHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES WERE MEASURED ON 230 FRUITS (2-10 FRUITS PER VARIANT), AND 44 CHARACTERISTICS OF STEMS, FLOWERS AND FRUITS ON 5 INDIVIDUALS OF EACH SPECIES AND OF ONE PUTATIVE HYBRID BETWEEN THEM. THE FOLK INFRAESPECIFIC CLASSIFICATION IS CLOSELY RELATED TO THE HUMAN SELECTIVE PRESSURES. THESE PRESSURES APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN GREATER IN S. PRUINOSUS, SINCE THIS SPECIES HAS MORE THAN 30 VARIANTS (10 AND MORE COMMERCIAL) WHICH ARE RECOGNIZED BY COLOR, SIZE AND SHAPE OF FRUITS, SIZE AND COLOR OF SPINES, SIZE AND NUMBER OF SEEDS, SWEETNESS, FLAVOR AND PRODUCTION SEASON. IN S. STELLATUS, ONLY NINE VARIANTS WERE MEASURED, WHICH ARE CLASSIFIED MAINLY BY THE COLOR, SIZE AND SWEETNESS OF FRUIT, PRODUCTION SEASON, AND SIZE AND NUMBER OF SEEDS. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT ONE OF THESE VARIANTS WERE A HYBRID BETWEEN THE TWO SPECIES OF STENOCEREUS, BUT ITS MORPHOLOGY SEEMS MORE SIMILAR TO THAT OF S. STEL!ATUS.