Cactus

Cacti, Cactuses or also Cactaceae (Cactaceae) are a Family of flowering plants almost exclusively native to the Americas. The succulent plant is often described as having an origin that would be exclusively American and initiated by the contribution of Christopher Columbus, as explained here ⇒ Points in dispute.

According to Salton this approach, it would be an anachronistic element of Maria Valtorta's work, which would refer to a plant that would not belong in first-century Palestine.

It is mentioned several times in the work of Cactusses, including in EMV 221.1, EMV 147.3 and EMV 335.1, and thus, by extension, of the Prickly pear, itself a Cactus.

We would therefore have a plant known from antiquity in the Old World, as confirmed by certain botanists and historians, and a trace at the time of the discovery of the New World, thus a mystery would hover over this plant according to the conclusions of Candolle.

Taxonomic problems of Opuntias

The opuntias have long constituted a taxonomic problem for various reasons:

1. Opuntias can reproduce by vegetative propagation, adventive embryony and self-fertility. These reproductive mechanisms help maintain particular genetic combinations, perpetuate hybrids and consequently create taxonomic puzzles for the systematist.
2. There is a lack of interest from amateur collectors and enthusiasts, which provides little knowledge of species from cultivated plants.
3. There is a lack of detailed botanical surveys (e.g. systematic monographs and population studies) focusing on the different genera within the opuntioid group.
   

Rebman & Pinkava: Opuntia cacti of North America (points 5, 6 and 7 are discussed)

Rhipsalis baccifera: an exception

“It is the only cactus whose native range covers Africa, thus the only cactus naturally found outside the New World.”

This type of Cactus therefore questions the idea of an exclusively American origin of the Cactaceae.

and have given rise to the proposal of different hypotheses among scientists.

Dispersion Hypothesis

Rhipsalis baccifera ssp mauritania Stirton

Some authors support the Salton hypothesis that R. baccifera migrated prehistoricly from America to the Old World. The proposed mechanism would be seed transport by migratory birds.

Problems posed by this hypothesis

• The Society of Malawi Journal notes:

“For germination, birds whose seeds were attached to their feet certainly could not have landed where the plants grew on rock faces.”

Regarding long-distance migrations, on the website "migraction.net" which lists various avian migrations, we find:

Transatlantic migration

A bird ringed in July 1986 in Massachusetts, USA, was found dead October 26, 1986 in Esquibien, Finistère. It is one of four confirmed cases of west-east crossing of the Atlantic, among 1 million birds ringed in North America! (Common tern)

• Doctor Phil Maxwell, in an article first published in the "New Zealand Cactus and Succulent Journal":

“Gibson and Nobel provide no documentation on the feasibility of seed dispersal by birds. What long distance exactly do they mean? 10 km, 50 km or 1000 km? (...) Rowley (1978) mentioned three possibilities and commented: Roland GosSaltin accepted too easily birds as the factor responsible for the presence of Rhipsalis in the Old World, but he never frankly leaned towards endorsing any theory.”

distance estimates with Google Maps

World map showing main migratory routes used by birds according to Thompson D. and Byrkjedal, Shorebirds. Colin Baxter, 2001

Maxwell concludes:

“It does not take much thought to realize how unbelievable this scenario is.”

and wonders why this would be the only Cactus found in this way while there would be many candidates; if one cactus species is found in the Old World, why are there no other cacti.

Hypothesis of the "mistletoe substitute"

Dr. Maxwell mentions:

“There is another variant of dispersal by human vector that I mention briefly and solely for its ridiculousness. I don’t know who first suggested it but the topic is often brought up jokingly (for example Rowley in 1978). It has been proposed that sailors nostalgic for their homeland used Rhipsalis as a substitute for mistletoe during long sea voyages.”

The idea is suggested on the Wikipedia page of R. baccifera,

• "Several theories have been advanced to explain the dispersal of R. baccifera: migratory birds may have transported seeds to the Old World." • "the plant could have been introduced by sailors to the Old World, perhaps as a substitute for mistletoe for Christmas celebrations."

The hypothesis is therefore unfounded, mere speculation, rejected by specialists who have actually studied the question.

Other hypotheses mentioned

No one suspects trade or human movement between the Old World and the New World before Christopher Columbus.

There remain

• Ocean currents: "Benson admits, there is no ocean current likely to have transported Rhipsalis across the Indian Ocean, from Madagascar to Sri Lanka."

• Vicariance: Hypothesis of Dr. Phil Maxwell, but ultimately rejected based on various studies, including genetic studies of this plant that show the genetic divergence is too recent (a few thousand years) to accept dispersal by vicariance.

Genetic hypothesis

“There are also occasions where molecular analyses give spectacularly unacceptable results. One example comes from a recent molecular phylogenetic analysis of bivalve mollusks where two gastropods (snails) are nested within the bivalves! It is problems of this kind that led me to conclude that, although molecular biology provides a powerful tool for systematics study, it does not alone give all the answers.”

A recent study concludes:

“R. baccifera has undergone a larger number of mutations during its evolution, as evidenced by numerous rearrangements of the structure of its cp genome. This may have allowed it a broad distribution and survival in different environments.”

In some parasitized plants or those under strong pathogenic pressure, a reduction or reorganization of the cp genome is observed.

To conclude

“Rhipsalis appearing outside America are close relatives of R. baccifera (J.S. Mueller), very widely spread worldwide.”

“It is clear, from the above discussion, that I consider the scenario of dispersal by birds as as drowned in the water as any bird from a rainforest that would have tried to cross the Atlantic by flying.”

“Simultaneous diversification of several of the world's major succulent plant lineages on multiple continents.”

We would thus have plants behaving like endemic plants that would not be native to the Old Continent but that spread outside their natural habitat, even though none of the thoughtful hypotheses of introduction of this plant is really credible to explain the distribution and origin of this Cactus, and thus of the Cactaceae in general:

• neither anthropogenic introduction,
• nor ocean currents,
• nor ornithochory,
• nor even supposing dispersal by tectonic movements over millions of years.

since no theory allows the introduction of R. baccifera from the New World. The Cactus would not be an import but could be a reintroduction, a species reduced to the extreme (and R. baccifera survived extinction thanks to a particular resistance to a pathogen or fungus.

“It is nevertheless difficult to deny that Pereskia (or a very close genus) represents an ancestral form of cacti. Its currently reduced distribution may be due to past extinctions, as is the case for other formerly widespread groups.”

“Rhipsalis form a highly specialized genus, very unlikely to have developed during the Mesozoic, and certainly not earlier than the rest of the Family, nor even closely related to the ancestral group.” Benson (1982)

“Rhipsalidinae certainly do not concede in antiquity to any other cactus. The fact that they are derived from other cacti is quite impossible.” Croizat (1961)

This would explain why Opuntia appears sometimes as a New World discovery, sometimes as an ancient botanical knowledge.

At minimum, the thesis known to the general public is inadmissible and contradictory according to various studies on this subject. Since the retained and widespread hypothesis is that of dispersal by birds, even though it is accepted by no verified fact, nor even by the opinion of specialists or researchers who have seriously studied this idea.

Before the 19th century, a plurality of geographical presences was believed, confirmed by ancient texts and contemporary observations. Since the systematization of modern biogeography, a unique American origin is imposed, even if it means denying or reinterpreting ancient sources.

Thus, the idea "cactus = exclusively American" is not a universally established fact but a modern scientific construction, in tension with earlier and current scholarly traditions.

Notes and references

French translation, Doctor Phil Maxwell, article first published in the "New Zealand Cactus and Succulent Journal" November 1998: The Controversial History of Rhipsalis

Original version, Dr Phil Maxwell: Dr. Phil Maxwell, Bathgate's Road, Waimate, South Canterbury (Copyright November 1998.) This article originally appeared in the New Zealand Cactus and Succulent Journal.

In conclusion of his article Dr. Maxwell cites and explains: “Since I live a considerable distance from major academic libraries, it has not been possible to consult all the following publications. Those not seen are marked with an asterisk.” (here indicated by a dot)

(Because I live a considerable distance from major academic libraries it has not been possible to refer to all of the following publications. Those not seen are marked with an asterisk*)

Allanby, M. (ed) 1985: "The Oxford Dictionary of Natural History." Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. 688 p.

• Anthony, H.E. 1948: How Rhipsalis, an American cactus, may have reached Africa. Journal of the New York Botanical Gardens 49: 33-38.

Backeberg, C. 1950: Some results of twenty years of cactus research. Cactus and Succulent Journal (US) 22: 181-190.

Barthlott, W. 1979: "Cacti. Botanical aspects, descriptions and cultivation." Cheltenham; Stanley Thomas. 249 p. [English translation of "Kakteen" (1977)]

Barthlott, W.; Taylor, N.P. 1995: Notes towards a monograph of Rhipsalideae (Cactaceae). Bradleya 13: 43-79.

Benson, L. 1982: "The Cacti of the United States and Canada". Stanford; Stanford University. 1044 p.

• Berger, A. 1926: "Die Entwicklungslinien der Kakteen". Jena; G. Fischer. iv + 105p p.

Berger, A. 1929: "Kakteen. Anleitung zur Kultur und Kenntnis der wichtigsten eingeführten Arten". Stuttgart; E. Ulmer. vii + 346 p.

Boke, N.H. 1955: Development of the vegetative shoot in Rhipsalis cassytha. American Journal of Botany 42: 1-10.

Britton, N.L.; Rose, J.N. 1923: "The Cactaceae. Descriptions and illustrations of plants of the cactus family. Carnegie Institute Publication 248. Vol. 4. vii + 318 p.

Buxbaum, F. 1950-1955. "Morphology of cacti". Pasadena; Abbey Garden Press. 223 p.

Buxbaum, F. 1958: "Cactus Culture based on Biology". London; Blandford. 224 p.

• Camp, W.H. 1948: Rhipsalis - and plant distributions in the Southern Hemisphere. Journal of the New York Botanical Gardens 49: 88-91.

• Chorinsky, F. 1931: Vergleichende-anatomische Untersuchung der Haargebilde bei Portulacaceen und Kakteen. Österreich. Bot. Zeitschrift 80: 308-327.

Crane, P.R.; Friis, E.M.; Runsgaard Pederson, K. 1995: The origin and early diversification of angiosperms. Nature 374: 27-33.

• Croizat, L. 1952: Manual of phytogeography. The Hague; Junk.

Croizat, L. 1961: "Principia Botanica or Beginnings of Botany". Caracas; privately published. 2 vols. 1821 p.

Cullmann, W; Götz, E; Gröner, G. 1986: "The Encyclopedia of Cacti". Sherborne; Alphabooks. 340 p. [English translation of "Kakteen" 1984].

Endler, J; Buxbaum, F. 1979: "Die Pflanzenfamilie der Kakteen". 3rd ed. Minden; A. Philler. 169 p.

Gibson, A.C.; Nobel, P.S. 1986: "The Cactus Primer". Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press. vi + 286 p.

Gould, S.J. 1997: "Ontogeny and Phylogeny". Cambridge, MA; Harvard University Press. ix + 501 p.

Hallam, A. 1985: A review of Mesozoic climates. Journal of the Geological Society, London 142: 433-445.

Hull, D.L. 1988: "Science as a process. An evolutionary account of the social and conceptual development of science". Chicago and London; University of Chicago Press. 586 p.

Hunt, D.R. 1967: "Cactaceae" in Hutchinson, J. (ed) "The genera of Flowering Plants". Vol. 2: 427-467. Oxford; Oxford University Press. [Reprinted as "The genera of the Cactaceae" 1979.]

Hunt, D.R.; Taylor, N.P. 1986: The genera of the Cactaceae: towards a new consensus. Bradleya 4: 65-78.

Hunt, D.R.; Taylor, N.P. 1990: The genera of Cactaceae: progress towards consensus. Bradleya 8: 85-107.

• Irmisch, J. 1876: Über die Keimpflanzen von Rhipsalis cassytha und deren Weiterbildung. Bot. Zeit. 34: 193.

Marshall, W.T.; Bock, T.M. 1941: "Cactaceae with illustrated keys of all tribes, subtribes and genera". Pasadena; Abbey Garden Press. 220 p.

McCarten, N.F. 1981: Fossil cacti and other succulents from the Late Pleistocene. Cactus and Succulent Journal (U.S.) 53: 122-123.

Opdayke, N.D.; Jones, D.S.; MacFadden, B.J.; Smith, D.L.; Mueller, P.A.; Shuster, R.D. 1987: Florida as an exotic terrane: paleomagnetic and geochronologic investigation of lower Paleozoic rocks from the subsurface of Florida. Geology 15: 900-903.

Ren, D. 1998: Flower-associated Brachycera flies as fossil evidence for Jurassic angiosperm origins. Science 280: 85-88.

• Roland-GosSaltin, M. 1912. Les Rhipsalis découverts en Afrique sont-ils indigènes? Bulletin de Societie Botanique de France 59:97-102. [English translation in Torreya 13: 151-156 (1913) and Desert Plant Life 19: 121-124 (1947)]

Rowley, G.D. 1978: Phytogeography and the study of succulent plants. Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain 40: 3-5.

Schumann, K. 1897-1898. Gesamtbeschreibung der Kakteen. (Monographia Cactacearum). Neudamm: J. Neumann. xi + 832 p.

Shields, O. 1988: Mesozoic history and neontology of Lepidoptera in relation to Trichoptera, Mecoptera, and angiosperms. Journal of Paleontology 62: 251-258.

Storey, B.C. 1995: The role of mantle plumes in continental breakup: case histories from Gondwanaland. Nature 377: 301-308.

Wallace, R.S. 1995. Molecular systematic study of the Cactaceae: using chloroplast DNA variation to elucidate cactus phylogeny. Bradleya 13: 1-12.

The Gospel as it was revealed to me (Maria Valtorta).