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Floristic Inventory of the Florida Keys Database Online

Pilosocereus robinii (Lam.) Byles & Rowley
Key tree cactus

Pilosocereus robinii
Copyright by: Keith A. Bradley
in habitat, Abaco Island, Bahamas, 2006

Family: Cactaceae

Group: Dicot

Substrate: Terrestrial

Habit: Shrub

Perennation: Perennial

Native Range: South Florida and the West Indies (Cuba, Bahamas).

Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status: Critically Imperiled

IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status: Critically Imperiled

Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida

SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence: Present

SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status: Native

South Florida History and Distribution: Ranked as critically imperiled in Rare Plants of South Florida (Gann et al. 2002; pp 496-497) based on four occurrences in two conservation areas (Long Key State Park, National Key Deer Refuge) and three non-conservation areas (privately owned Layton Hammock, privately owned Teatable Hammock and privately owned hammock on Lower Matecumbe Key) in the Monroe County Keys. New plants have been found at Key Tree Cactus Preserve on Upper Matecumbe Key in Islamorada and Teatable Hammock is now protected within Lignumvitae Key State Park. Plants at the remaining two private parcels are considered possibly extirpated.

SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status: Cultivated

Comments: For a recent taxonomic revision of this and other Caribbean Pilosocereus, see Franck et al. (2019). For a current review of P. robinii, see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Species Profile. See also our Natives For Your Neighborhood website and Florida Natural Areas Inventory's Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Florida page (Chafin 2000). For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website. Some records of this in South Florida may refer to P. millspaughii.

Synonyms: P. bahamensis; Pilosocereus polygonus, misapplied.

FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence: Present

FLORIDA KEYS Native Status: Native

IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status: Critically Imperiled

Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys

Florida Keys History and Distribution: First collected in 1834 or 1835 by Reverend Alva Bennett on the island of Key West.  Reported in 1913 by John Kunkel Small for hammocks on the island of Key West.  We consider this native and extant from the upper Keys to the lower Keys.  For more information on this in the Florida Keys, see IRC's species account.

Other data on Pilosocereus robinii available from :


Pilosocereus robinii has been reported from the following 6 conservation areas in the FLORIDA KEYS :
Occurrence Native Status
Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Present Not Native, Cultivated Only
Key Tree Cactus Nature Preserve Present Native
Lignumvitae Key Botanical State Park Present Native
Long Key State Park Present Native
National Key Deer Refuge Present Native
Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park Present CNE






All Images:

Pilosocereus robinii
Copyright by: Keith A. Bradley
in habitat, Abaco Island, Bahamas, 2006

Pilosocereus robinii
Copyright by: Roger L. Hammer
in habitat, Florida Keys

Pilosocereus robinii
Copyright by: Alex Seasholtz, 2022. In habitat on Big Pine Key.