Calibanus was a genus of two species of flowering plants, both evergreen succulents from dry areas of northeastern Mexico.The genus was subsumed in the genus Beaucarnea in the year 2014.[1][2][3][4] The APG III classification system places Beaucarnea in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae.[5][6]) The now-defunct Calibanus was formerly included in the Agavaceae (now Agavoideae) but was separated from them, for it is polycarpic and dioecious. Its name refers to the monster Caliban, an antagonist in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
Calibanus is dioecious. It is extremely drought-tolerant, with a slow-growing habit. It has tuberous roots called caudices. The caudex can grow to 1m in diameter, with clumps of green-blue, coarse, grasslike, wiry leaves 50 cm long rising from the center and arching down with age. Clusters of tiny, creamy-white flowers, sometimes tinged with pink or purple, are rigid, about 10–20 cm long. Female plants bear globose, ovoid, 3-angled berries with ellipsoid seeds.[7]
Closeup of leaves and caudex of Calibanus hookeri
Detail of corky bark of caudex of Calibanus hookeri
^Kew Plants of the World Online https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:297730-2
^Molecular phylogenetics and morphology of Beaucarnea (Ruscaceae) as distinct from Nolina, and the submersion of Calibanus into Beaucarnea (2014). Rojas-Piña, V., Olson, M.E., Alvarado-Cárdenas, L.O. & Eguiarte, L.E.. Taxon 63: 1193-1211. [Cited as Beaucarnea.]
^Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
^CONABIO. 2009. Catálogo taxonómico de especies de México. 1. In Capital Nat. México. CONABIO, México D.F.
^Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne.
^Chase, M.W.; Reveal, J.L. & Fay, M.F. (2009), "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 161 (2): 132–136, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00999.x
^Hernández Sandoval, L. & S. Zamudio Ruíz. 2003. Two new remarkable Nolinaceae from central Mexico. Brittonia 55(3): 226–232.
Calibanus glassianus is a rare plant species known from the Mexican state of Guanajuato. It is an evergreen succulent with a swollen stem and red berries...
Beaucarnea (Ruscaceae) as distinct from Nolina, and the submersion of Calibanus into Beaucarnea". Taxon. 63 (6): 1193–1211. doi:10.12705/636.31. ROJAS-PIÑA...
in summer. Closeup of leaves and caudex of Calibanus hookeri Detail of corky bark of caudex of Calibanus hookeri "The Plant List: A Working List of All...
species, including two recently discovered ones, Beaucamea compacta and Calibanus glassianus. The park contains a number of species in danger of extinction...
Wils, 1970 represented as Conus Linnaeus, 1758 Calibanus da Motta, 1991: synonym of Conus (Calibanus) da Motta, 1991 represented as Conus Linnaeus, 1758...
Binomial name Conus thalassiarchus G. B. Sowerby I, 1834 Synonyms Conus (Calibanus) thalassiarchus G. B. Sowerby I, 1834 · accepted, alternate representation...
Global Information
Closeup of leaves and caudex of Calibanus hookeri
Detail of corky bark of caudex of Calibanus hookeri
