Stenocereus treleasei, commonly known as tunillo,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Cactaceae, native to Oaxaca in Mexico.[2]
A shrubby, candelabriform cactus. Individuals can reach in height, with several branches emerging from a central trunk or base. Branches are dark to bluish green. Areoles are pale and circular, to apart, with more than ten radial spines. Spines are to in length and gray in color.[3]
Flowers have pink or red tepals, with numerous, yellowish white stamens. Fruits are ellipsoid or spherical to in length, to in width, red peel and red, orange, yellow, or purple pulp, and black seeds.
The fruit grown is a type of dragon fruit, and is referred to as pitaya to the locals. Its fruit is edible, giving it economically value for trade in the region. The fruit can be used for medicine giving it more value to the Latin American region.
It has mutualistic relation to the lesser long-nosed bat. The bat will migrate down South in Mexico to its region. When food is scarce the bat will eat the fruits produced from columnar cacti, including Stenocereus treleasei. The bat helps pollinate the cacti by having the cacti's pollen stick to the bat's fur when consuming its fruit.[4]
Distributed in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
A species characteristic of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. Found at elevations between approximately and . It forms part of the thorn-scrub and tropical dry forests in valleys and slopes in soils derived from volcanic rocks and limestones. In some areas, S. treleasei becomes the dominant component in the plant associations called pitayeras or tunillales by local people. There, it is commonly associated with several species of Bursera, Ceiba aesculifolia, Vachellia cochlyacantha, Vachellia acatlensis, Mimosa spp., Senna spp., Parkinsonia praecox, Ipomoea arborescens, Ipomoea murucoides, Agave americana, Agave potatorum, Agave karwinski, and several species of columnar cacti such as Lophocereus marginatus, Myrtillocactus geometrizans, and Myrtillocactus schenckii, among others.