mandacaru

plural mandacarus

1. A cactus, Cereus jamacaru, native to central and eastern Brazil.

   But the rest of her body shivered, mandacaru cactus thorns penetrated the flesh that had been half-eaten away by the disease.

   2006, Graciliano Ramos, “Whale”, in K. David Jackson, editor, The Oxford Anthology of the Brazilian Short Story, page 214

   2 more examples

   The thought of vengeance helped him survive the weeks he spent wandering aimlessly about a desert wasteland bristling with mandacarus.

   1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 70

   But a tree—if I can call it that—that draws my attention is the mandacaru, a columnar cactus native to northeastern Brazil.

   2013, Ardis Stenbakken, Breathe, page 20