Scientific taxonomy article
Accepted name and nomenclatural record
Kew POWO accepts Cleistocactus winteri with the author citation D.R.Hunt; IPNI confirms the first-publication record as “Bradleya 6: 100 (1988)”.12 The native distribution is Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The native range is associated with dry habitats and rocky surfaces in Santa Cruz; nursery production and retail inventory are not evidence about wild populations.
Classification and production boundary
The live lineage is species → Cleistocactus → Cactaceae → Caryophyllales → Plantae. This package owns only the existing species node and its direct Cleistocactus genus relationship; it creates or updates no genus, family, order or kingdom node. Long trailing stems, dense golden-yellow spination, areole pattern, tubular flowers, fruit, seeds and documented provenance should be evaluated together.
Identification cannot be reduced to one product photograph, spine colour or trailing versus columnar habit. Stem orientation, ribs, areoles, spine cover, flowers, fruit, seeds, native range and documented provenance should be evaluated together.3
Synonymy and canonical boundary
The current Kew surface maintains 7 nomenclatural synonym records. The current Kew surface maintains seven homotypic historical combinations. They share one nomenclatural type and are not separate accepted-species routes. Homotypic names share a nomenclatural type; heterotypic names represent historical opinions based on other types. None creates a separate accepted product, botanical or taxonomy route.
Cleistocactus colademononis is separately accepted in the current Kew backbone; a trailing habit or monkey-tail trade label is not a reason to move it into the winteri synonym set. Synonyms support search and literature retrieval only; names of other accepted species are not moved into this canonical payload.
Range and global conservation
The native distribution is recorded as Santa Cruz, Bolivia.1 Commercial inventory, nursery origin, price and sales frequency are not measures of wild-population status.
The global conservation field is EN.4 The live LC value is corrected to the maintained global IUCN EN. Endangered concerns evidence about wild populations, not retail stock.
Editorial ownership boundary
Product name and copy, price, stock, SKU, images, variants, categories, common names, slugs and the product-to-botanical link are not changed by this taxonomy-only source. Live toxicity, difficulty and light enums are carried forward exactly; watering, temperature and soil metrics are omitted from the curated source and preserved from live data.
References
- Plants of the World Online. “Cleistocactus winteri D.R.Hunt” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Accessed: 2026-08-07. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn%3Alsid%3Aipni.org%3Anames%3A941076-1 ↩
- International Plant Names Index. “Cleistocactus winteri.” Accessed: 2026-08-07. https://www.ipni.org/n/941076-1 ↩
- Lowry, M. “A synopsis of the genus Cleistocactus Lemaire (Cactaceae).” Bradleya 34: 148–186. Accessed: 2026-08-07. https://doi.org/10.25223/brad.n34.2016.a6 ↩
- IUCN Red List. “Cleistocactus winteri global conservation assessment.” Accessed: 2026-08-07. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/151756/558142 ↩
