Cleistocactus smaragdiflorus grows as a shrub with branched, arched to creeping shoots at the base and reaches heights of growth of up to 1 meter with a diameter of 2 to 3 centimeters. There are 12 to 14 low ribs present. The 4 to 6 yellowish or brown central spines are 1.5 to 3.5 inches long. The 10 to 34 radial spines that are up to 10 millimeters long.
The tubular, straight flowers are erect and 4 to 5 centimeters long. The flower tube is red to pink. The bracts are little spread. The stylus protrudes slightly from the flower. The spherical fruits reach a diameter of up to 1.5 centimeters.
The first description as Cereus smaragdiflorus was in 1894 by Frédéric Albert Constantin Weber.[3] Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed them in the genus Cleistocactus in 1920.[4] Other nomenclature synonyms are Cereus colubrinus var. smaragdiflorus F.A.C. Weber (1894), Cereus baumannii var. smaragdiflorus (F.A.C. Weber) K. Schum. (1897) and Cereus colubrinus var. smaragdiflorus (F.A.C. Weber) Rol.-Goss. (1904).
^Bois, D. (1893). Dictionnaire d'horticulture illustré /. Paris: P. Klincksieck. p. 281. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.79064.
^Britton, Nathaniel Lord; Eaton, Mary E.; Rose, J. N.; Wood, Helen Adelaide (1919). The Cactaceae : descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family. Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. p. 174. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.46288.
Media related to Cleistocactus smaragdiflorus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Cleistocactus smaragdiflorus at Wikispecies
