Myrtillocactus cochal, the cochal or candelabra cactus (a name it shares with other plants), is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to the Baja California peninsula.[1] Individuals can reach, and are hardy to USDA zone 9b.[2]
Myrtillocactus cochal grows in the form of a shrub to a tree with richly branched, blue-green branches, reaches a height of 1 to 3 meters and usually forms a short trunk with 6 to 8 ribs. Areoles are 1-3 cm apart with a single, black central spine, which can occasionally be absent, is up to 2 cm long and5 radial spines are grayish or blackish and 5 - 10 mm long.
The light greenish white flowers have a darker central stripe, are 2.5 cm long and have the same diameter. They are open both day and night. The spherical, red fruits are edible and have a diameter of 1.2 to 1.8 cm.[3] [4]
Myrtillocactus cochal is found on the edge of the Sonoran Desert in the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur.[5]
The first description as Cereus cochal was published in 1889 by Charles Russell Orcutt.[6] Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose placed the species in the genus Myrtillocactus in 1909.[7] Nomenclature synonyms are Cereus geometrizans var. cochal (Orcutt) K.Brandegee (1900) and Myrtillocactus geometrizans var. cochal (Orcutt) W.T.Marshall (1941).