Taxonomy
Most likely Charles Plumier collected the first Pereskia specimens from the Caribbean between 1689 and 1695, but none of these have survived. Although Plumier described Pereskia in 1703, Linnaeus placed Plumier's two species in his Cactus, as 'C. pereskia and C. portacifolius. Philip Miller brought the original name back in 1754, and so by the rules of botanical nomenclature, he is credited as the author.
The genus Rhodocactus has been brought into synonymy with this genus, as well as different orthographic variants: Peirescia (orth. var.), Peireskia (orth. var.) and Perescia (orth. var.).
Species recognized by International Cactaceae Systematics Group. (Anderson E. F., 2001)
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