Trichocereus angelesii, also known as Echinopsis angelesii or Echinopsis angelesiae, was originally described by Friedrich Ritter as a white flowering variety ofTrichocereus strigosus / Trichocereus strigonus, until Kiesling publicized it under the name Trichocereus angelesii.
Michelle Killen
Check out two photos of Trichocereus strigonus in comparison
The flower of Trichocereus angelesii
The flower of Echinopsis angelesii is white and 12-24 centimeters long. Trichocereus angelesii is a day flowering / diurnal species with clear visual similarity to Trichocereus strigonus. The spines, fruits and seeds are pretty much indistinguishable from the ones of Trichocereus strigosus, which makes it nearly impossible to identify the plant unless you find it at the original type location. Trichocereus angelesii, aka Echinopsis angelesii, usually has 14-22 ribs . In comparison to this, Trichocereus huascha has 12-15 ribs.
Pedro Lopez Artes
Pedro Lopez ArtesPedro Lopez Artes
The typus location is Famatima in the provence La Rioja, what makes it likely that it is synonymous with the commercial name Trichocereus famatinensis. It is also closely related to the plant that Ritter called Trichocereus callianthus. This plant was originally sold by Ritter as FR999, which was still labeled as Trichocereus huascha back then.
Kiesling´s description gives Darwinia in Argentina as the typus location and it´s not clear whether or not those plants were actually the same.
Buy Trichocereus angelesii / Buy seeds of T. angelesii
It´s a rare species that you only get rarely, but classic Kaktus nurseries like Kakteen Haage or Uhlig Kakteen might have some of them available. If you don’t have the chance to collect them at one of the aforementioned locations, you will probably not run into it very oftenly. There are also some older plants that you can find on the commercial market, and these are usually labeled as T. huascha or Trichocereus strigonus. White flowering Trichocereus huascha might very well be a mislabeled Trichocereus angelesii.
Trichocereus validus, also known as Echinopsis valida, is a columnar cactus that´s closely related to Trichocereus terscheckii. I consider it a form, variety or subspecies of Echinopsis terscheckii. Which one´s exactly the case will have to be decided by DNA testing .
Trichocereus validus grows like a tree and can get up to 40 centimeters in diameter. It doesnt get quite as thick as Trichocereus terscheckii, which is a close relative of it. The origin of Trichocereus validus is not know, was but it was probably Bolivia. In Bolivia, there are various Andean Trichocereus species from the Trichocereus terscheckii complex that this species could have come from. There´s populations of Trichocereus werdermannianus and Trichocereus tacaquirensis, which are both very similar in appearance. My personal impression is that Trichocereus validus is just one particular type of Trichocereus terscheckii.
Ribs:
10-12. Older specimens have a higher rib count, which is pretty typical. There are very little spines around the upper half of the body, what makes it look like a nearly spineless version of Trichocereus terscheckii.
The areoles are 2,5 – 3,5 centimeters apart of each other. 5-10 radial spines that are up to 4 centimeters long with a very typical outwards pointing spine, which is actually the lowest on the areole. In addition, Trichocereus Validus has approximately 1-2 middle spines. 5-10 centimeters long. Spines have a very small but visible rounded spine base. The spine color is yellow, similar to the one on Trichocereus Terscheckii.
Flower of Echinopsis valida:
White. Similar to Trichocereus terscheckii and between 10-15 centimeters long and up to 15 centimeters in diameter. Gray-brown hairs on the flower and white petals.
Fruit of T.validus:
Round fruit with wool & hairs on top of it.
The original description of Trichoecreus validus was written after a bad photo, and there was no flower photo or description originally. However, a flower description could be made eventually after a plant that grew in the Botanical Garden in De Cedres and the photos we saw did show a very close relative of Trichocereus terscheckii. While it has pretty unique spination, it´s still pretty obvious that the plant was some variety of Trichocereus terscheckii.
Sources for Seed & live cuttings of Trichocereus validus:
I am very proud that some of the members from our SAB forum were able to relocate this long lost plant in Australia and make it somewhat available. There were a few growers that received cuttings of this remarkable plant and we sometimes have cuttings available in our Trichocereus Facebook Group.
Another breeder who offers some seeds of Trichocereus validus is Misplant.net! He has a plant that roughly belongs to the same complex, but which isn´t quite the same mother plant to make a couple crosses every year and you can buy seed through his Seed store on Misplant! Misplant´s Trichocereus validus belongs somewhere in the relationship of it and Trichocereus uyupampensis, another rare Trichocereus that is considered (by some) to be synonymous with Trichocereus validus. Whether or not this is the case is currently not clear.
In Australia, this plant was made available through the Fields Family and collection, who owned two large mother plants before the collection was donated to the Melbourne Botanical Garden. In addition, you can get seeds of Trichocereus validus from Sacred Succulents but I haven’t seen their mother plant yet. I will add new sources for this plant in this article but at the moment, I do not know more.
Cultivation & frost tenderness of E.valida:
Trichocereus validus is very similar to Trichocereus terscheckii and everything I wrote about the cultivation of it applies here too. These large Andean giants can take slight night frosts, but it should not go over -5° to -7° Celsius or it will get dangerous. The plants need to be dry and the average minimum temperature should be around 10° Celsius during the cold winter months. Trichocereus validus is extremely thick and it needs a large, deep pot if you ever want to see it flowering.
The Plant here was found on ebay and has many similarities to Trichocereus Validus. Chances are, it´s just some Terscheckii with a similar Spination. But since Trichocereus Validus is most likely nothing else than some Terscheckii Variety it´s not really possible to clear this up.
Now the next Plant is really interesting. It is what many growers call the FIELDS Validus. It grows on a private property in Australia and the Owner originally bought some Seeds of Friedrich Ritters Collection of Trichocereus Validus and grow it out into a gigantic Monster of Awesomeness! The Plant is identical with the Plant shown in Backebergs Cactaceae and IS most likely the Terscheckii Variety that is known as Trichocereus Validus.
Rodni Kisar
This Plant grows in the Huntington Botanical Garden and is labeled Echinopsis Robinsoniana .It is actually the plant that came to fame as Trichocereus Validus.It´s probably a variety of Trichocereus Terscheckii and chances are that there are seeds labeled as that available on the market. So whenever you encounter Echinopsis Robinsoniana or Terscheckii varieties from Bolivia, it might be the plant that was once called Trichocereus Validus. I am beyond doubt that Trichocereus Validus didn´t suddenly cease to exist in cultivation but simply carries another label these days.
Trichocereus validus – Huntington Botanical Garden – by Richard Hipp
This Plant is labelled Echinopsis robinsoniana and looks very much look the Trichocereus validus pictured in Backebergs CACTACEAE. Personally, I am absolutely sure that Echinopsis robinsoniana is just a synonym for Trichocereus validus. This plant grows in the Huntington Botanical Garden, but this species has not been found outside the Botanical Garden and most plants that are found in the wild are identified as Trichocereus terscheckii or one of its associated species. It is definitely possible to come across this plant on the botanical market, labeled as Trichocereus terscheckii, Trichocereus werdermannianus, trichocereus validus etc. There are countless forms and intermediates that belong to this complex and there is a great amount of variety within the large Andean Trichocereus species. Trichocereus pasacana is another closely related species.
Videos of Trichocereus validus / Echinopsis valida
Trichocereus validus FLOWER VIDEO
Trichocereus validus aka Echinopsis valida is one of my favorite species. It´s a Bolivian Trichocereus species from the genetic proximity of Trichocereus terscheckii / Echinopsis terscheckii. The flowers are white with a beautiful green throat and open up in the evening. I´m a big fan of this species and it´s always great to see it flowering.
Trichocereus huascha, also known as Echinopsis huascha, is an Argentinian Trichocereus species that looks very similar to Trichocereus spachianus, Trichocereus grandiflorus, Trichocereus shaferi and Trichocereus schickendantzii. However, there are important differences to distinguish them.
Trichocereus huascha has had a long history with many name changes due to its unique position between Trichocereus, Lobivia and Echinopsis. Friedrich & Rowley renamed it to Echinopsis huascha in 1974 but their actions weren´t really embraced with love.
I have some fresh seeds of Echinopsis huascha. You can get them here:
The list of names that Trichocereus huascha already had does not fit on one page, so I will only keep the most important ones. Many varieties of this species were actually labeled Lobivia, Cereus or even Chamaecereus and it´s very difficult to differentiate the plant from similar plants like Trichocereus schickendantzii, Trichocereus spachianus or Trichocereus grandiflorus.
Echinopsis huascha usually grows in small, clumping groups that reach up to 1,1 meters in height. It usually pups abundantly and can grow upwards like a columnar cactus or creeping. The pups can get up to 5-6 centimeters in diameter and has up to 15 ribs as a mature plant. The areoles are between 1 cm and 1,5 centimeters apart from each other. There are yellow colored and needle-like spines on each areole. Trichocereus huascha has 10-12 radial spines that are up to 2 centimeters long. The flower color is absolutely variable; also because there are SO many natural and commercial hybrids. This plant is used extensively in Trichocereus hybrid culture and many hybrids that are floating around on the market cant fully be id´d because the offspring can sometimes look very different from the parental generation. The plant flowers from the apex, through the areoles and the flower color can be yellow, red or orange. You can keep it apart from plants like Trichocereus schickendantzii by the color of the flower (Schickendantzii has white flowers) and the thinner growth of E. huascha. The flowers are 6-8 centimeters in diameter and the species is usually dayflowering! They also are sometimes self-sterile, while other forms are self-fertile. You usually need two plants to get seed, but T.huascha hybridizes so easily in nature that there are some plants that form fruit without being pollinated! There are constant arguments about its synonymy with Trichocereus andalgalensis and at the moment, I consider them synonymous. Trichocereus andalgalensis was described as a red flowering variety of T. huascha (T. huascha v.rubriflorus), but since there are also yellow flowering T. andalgalensis at the original site, this is not really a species that I consider correct.
Origin of Trichocereus huascha:
Argentina. Very widely distributed and can be found almost everywhere around Catamarca & La Rioja. The plant grows at 900-2000 meters altitude.
By izzyplante from Montreal, Canada
This plant looks more like a Trichocereus candicans, but I am still keeping it here for now because it´s from a botanical garden and it migt actually be a hybrid between these two species. Photo by Cliff from Arlington, Virginia, USA Echinopsis huascha
Trichocereus huascha v. rubriflorus Trichocereus andalgalensis By Lord Koxinga2
By Lord Koxinga
by stickpen-
by stickpen-Trichocereus huascha amarilla
by stickpen Trichocereus huascha
T.huascha v. pecheretianus (ex. grandiflorus) by Peter A. Mansfeld
by Daderot huascha (ex Grandiflorus) – Botanischer Garten Freiburg
by frank vincentz Jardin Echinopsis_huascha
Soehrensia_huascha by Allie Caulfield
by Raffi Kojan Gardenology.org
Dru Bloomfield Echinopsis_huascha
By Jofre Vlastní fotobanka Echinopsis huascha var. rubriflora
E.huascha in a private garden ( Photo: De Wet Swart)
Tr.huascha v. auricolor Echinopsis huascha Flower
Photos below: Tr. huascha v. rubriflorus Delia Kisar
Trichocereus camarguensis is a thin Cactus that resembles Trichocereus strigosus, huascha and some forms of T. spachianus. It has golden Spines. Live cuttings and seeds of Trichocereus camarguensis were distributed by various sources, including Karel Knize under the collection Number KK1414. There also are many hybrids available. Trichocereus cajasensis is closely related and is considered to be a separate species by some authors. DNA testing is necessary to look into this.
Description of Trichocereus camarguensis:
Thin columnar cactus that can get up to 50-60 centimeters tall. It grows prostrate and usually leans forward because of its tendency to creep. The epidermis is bright to pale green with many golden spines. 13-15 ribs and areoles are around 1 centimeter apart of each other. This cactus can resemble Trichocereus huascha and Trichocereus strigosus, but does not reach its large height!
Spines:
12-15 radial spines and 1-3 middle spines that are up to 5 centimeters long, The spines are bright yellow and like very thin, fine needles.
Flower:
White. Up to 22 centimeters long, tube with dark gray hairs, sepals are pink/purple/green and white petals (up to 10 centimeters)
Fruit of Echinopsis camarguensis:
Round fruit, up to 3 centimeters in diameter
Origin:
Bolivia, near Camargo, 2750 meters. Chuqisaca, Tarija, Potosi
Trichocereus camarguensis is a night-flowering species. It also is self-sterile, what means you need pollen from a second plant to get seeds.
Cultivation of T. camarguensis:
Trichocereus camarguensis is USDA 10-12. It originally comes from Bolivia, where there is very little water and should not be overwatered. They are much more likely to rot than a Trichocereus pachanoi or Trichocereus peruvianus. So keep them more on the dry side and don’t water when it’s cold or rainy because that attracts mold and other infections. They like a mineral substrate and can deal with quite a lot of sun. The minimum average temperature should not go below 10° Celsius and that´s actually the temperature that you should overwinter them. Only water them between May and October if you have to bring them inside to overwinter. If you don´t have the luck to live in a country where you can grow them outside,then better not try it because they will most likely not make it through the winter! Just make sure to provide them with a winter protection that keeps em from getting wet all the time. They should take short, nightly frosts, but the absolute minimum is -9° Celsius/15.8 Fahrenheit. Frost resistance also depends on many other factors, like general health, soil composition and humidity.
Growing Trichocereus carmaguensis from seed:
The same requirements as most other Bolivian Trichocereus species. Seeds need light to germinate and seedlings prefer mineral substrate. Sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil and put the pot/container in a warm room (25°-29°) and make sure it´s not getting too hot in there. As soon as all the seeds have germinated, keep a close eye on the temperatures because they can die from heat quite easily. Temps should not go above 30° Celsius! Especially in closed containers, temps can be substantially higher than in the room around them.
Where to get seed:
There are not many seed sources for Trichocereus camarguensis available right now. I have received some top notch seeds from the current harvest by a friend this year. Check out the shop to buy some Trichocereus camarguensis seeds.
Hybrid Culture:
Trichocereus camarguensis is used extensively in hybrid culture because they flower early on and produce a beautiful flower. Because of that there are many camarguensis hybrids with a flower other than white.
Similarity to Trichocereus strigonus
Trichocereus camarguensis and Trichocereus strigonus are extremely similar. The difference is that Trichocereus camarguensis only has yellow spines, while T. strigonus has yellow and red colored forms. In addition, T. strigonus has much more spines and is a bit taller.
Photo: Trichocereus camarguensis (Dean Karras)
by Frank Vincentz
This photo is labeled as Trichocereus camarguensis, but probably shows Trichocereus strigonus. Trichocereus camarguensis does not have red spines. by Daderot
The name Trichocereus shaferi was described by Britton and Rose in the 1920s and lacked some important information. However, there were some later descriptions by Friedrich Ritter, Curt Backeberg/Rauh and Werdermann that went more into detail.
Trichocereus shaferi pups from the base and reaches a size of 1-1,5 meters. The plant grows halfway prostrate or leaning over and has between 15 and 20 ribs. Britton and Rose gave an average number of 12 ribs, which is dramatically different from the data that were given in later descriptions. The maximum diameter is 5-12 centimeters and the color is a gray/dark green, which you can very well see on the pictures that were provided by Trout. The ribs are 0,5-1 centimeters high and there are substantial furrows .
The areoles on Trichocereus shaferi are white felted and 1-6 mm in diameter and up to 1,2 centimeters apart of each other.
Spines: The spines of Trichocereus shaferi are yellow, very fine and needle-like with a slightly dark-brown tip. It has 7-10 radial spines (up to 1 cm long) and 1-3 middle spines (1-2 cm).
Flower: Very round flower. White. Trichocereus shaferi flowers from the upper part/apex and Britton and Rose gave a size of 15-18 cm.
Fruit: The fruit has very dominant white hairs, as you can beautifully see on the second picture. The edible fruit is round and 3-5 cm in diameter. Green in color with reddish/green scales.
Origin: Ritter encountered this plant near Leon near Jujuy at around 1500-1800 meters growing on rocky slopes. Britton and Rose gave San Lorenzo in the provence Salta at 1800 meters as the location of the typus. Ritter considered his collection in jujuy to be a regional variety but didnt really follow up on it. His collection name was FR41 and there is a large number of seeds that gotten into the collections of cactus fans all around the world.
Where to buy seeds and plants of Trichocereus shaferi? Well, it´s rare and you might come across them on eBay. Like I already mentioned before, I bought a large plant with this name a few years ago and we´re waiting for it to flower next year. Some seed stores and cactus nurseries have them in stock every once in a while, but it´s a rather rare species and it´s not available from South America. I am sure there are some collectors that offer seeds from their collections sometimes, but it´s probably a little bit hard to find and luck has a lot to do with it. If I´d be looking for this species, I´d write emails to Kakteen Haage, Kakteen Uhlig, Succeed, Sacred Succulents and hope for the best. You can also try making a post in our Trichocereus Facebook group but I´ve never really encountered one there. But it cant hurt to ask.
Photos of Trichocereus shaferi
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
Trichocereus lamprochlorus is strange species that needs investigation. There are various species associated with Trichocereus lamprochlorus / Echinopsis lamprochlora, such as Trichocereus purpureopilosus and some forms of Trichocereus candicans that are considered to be synonymous with it. The species was merged into the genus Echinopsis during Friedrich & Rowley´s merger in 1974 and named Echinopsis lamprochlora (Lemaire).
The situation around Trichocereus lamprochlorusis complicated because the original description of Cereus lamprochlorus (Lemaire) and the Trichocereus lamprochlorus that we know today are two different plants. It is unknown what kind of plant Lemaire was describing as Cereus lamprochlorus, but the description differs greatly from our modern Trichocereus lamprochlorus. One of the two plants associated with this name is a medium sized Trichocereus that pups very strongly from the base and grows in groups of many side-arms. The other one is a classical columnar cactus that grows upwards and tends to get a lot bigger than the other type. Both are totally different types of cacti, but were at some point, described as the same plant. The columnar growing type of this plant is the one that´s generally accepted as Trichocereus lamprochlorus today. Trichocereus lamprochlorus belongs to a very variable complex involving numerous closely related or visually similar species. Despite the fact that the two plants known as Trichocereus lamprochlorus are different types of cacti, they might still belong to the same group of plants and just be examples of different forms belonging to different populations. It is also possible that the columnar version is what´s shown on the photos below, and the smaller clumping cactus is the forum that was later described as Trichocereus purpureopilosus. Both of them are related and show visual similarities, but differ greatly in regards to their type of growth.
These pics were shot in Tiatako, Cochabamba, Bolivia. They show a regional form related to the type that we regard as Trichocereus lamprochlorus today. It has up to 15 ribs, strong spines, a reddish touch around the spines, a very bright green epidermis, 10-15 radial spines and 4 middle spines. The flower of the originally described plant was not know.
Britton & Rose already had problems with the two mixed up plants mentioned before and tried to get to the bottom of it. Without success. The other version of Trichocereus lamprochlorus was also described as “Trichocereus neolamprochlorus”. It is a plant that´s very similar and even related to Trichocereus candicans. This plant stays relatively small, pups from the bottom, has a bright green epidermis that later changes to a sickly looking yellow color. The plants can get up to 10 centimeters in diameter, have between 8-12 ribsm, spines with a reddish touch. Its flowers are up to 25 centimeters large, white, covered with black wool. This type originally grows around Cordoba in Argentina and is a different type of cactus, one which is close to Trichocereus candicans. Due to the chaotic history, the nomenclaturic situation around these plants is convoluted.T
The One on the lower left! The one on the right is Echinocactus grusonii! by Christian Bortes!
This is a really roughed up specimen, but it´s one of the few pics I have of it.
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
Trichocereus strigosus is a plant from the genus Trichocereus. Its status is questionable and it is sometimes also listed as Soehrensia strigosa. I treat it as a correct species in the genus Trichocereus. It is closely related to Trichocereus vatteri and only differs from it by the flowers. Visually, both species are very hard to differentiate and are mostly synonymous.
This plant grows in direct neighborhood of Trichocereus candicans and was cataloged by Gilles in 1833. But back then, the plant was not described until 1834 when Salm-Dyck took the effort to write a complete description. Trichocereus strigosus and Trichocereus candicans both grow around Mendoza. The original name was Cereus Myriophyllus (Gilles) but it was changed to Trichocereus strigosus because it was based on a nomen nudum and that´s why Salm-Dyck´s description has priority over the older name Cereus Myriophyllus.
Flower: Up to 20 centimeters large, white. Trichocereus strigosus is a night flowering species. It also is self-sterile, what means that you need pollen from another donor to produce seeds. Please not that there is a white form of Trichocereus strigosus. The white flowering variety of this plant grows at around 1600 meters altitude. The plant is pupping from the base and only reaches around 60-65 centimeters in height.
Ribs: Trichocereus strigosus has 15-20 ribs and the shoots have a maximum diameter of 5-8 centimeters.
The areoles are white/beige felted and reach a maximum diameter of 5 mm. Every areole are approximately 3-6 mm apart from each other.
Spines: Yellow, very thin and fine spines, up to 3 centimeters long, 10-15 radial spines and 2-5 middle spines that can get up to 5,5 centimeters long. The plant has very long and fierce spines.
In addition, there are some other forms/varieties. One of them was originally known as Trichocereus strigosus var. flaviflorus and only occurs in Famatina, Province La Rioja in Argentina. This type has a yellow flower and is day flowering. The flowers are between 12-14 centimeters large. The yellow flowering variety grows a couple hundred meters below the white flowering one. In addition, the yellow flower is shorter.
Cultivation: The species is very rare in cultivation, though it sometimes shows up in cactus collections all around the world. The plant should be kept relatively dry, though it can be watered in the summer when it´s pretty hot. As it grows in the neighborhood of Trichocereus candicans, it requires similar conditions. Trichocereus strigosus likes getting a fair amount of sun light but shouldn´t be baked in full sun all day long. They usually grow in semi-shade and can form amazing clusters.
Winter protection and frost tolerance: Trichocereus strigosus is able to take a light amount of frost but everything lower than -5° Celsius is dangerous and can lead to permanent damage or death. Plants need to be kept completely dry if the temperatures drop below 10° Celsius/50° Fahrenheit and it´s best to keep them in a bright, well ventilated area. The minimum average temperature is 10° Celsius.
Seed germination: The seed germinates very easy, if it´s actually fresh. Especially with those rarer Trichos, there are problems regarding the viability of the seeds. I think Succeed has them in stock too and if possible, ask the seller in advance if he knows how old the seed is. That´s a good rule of thumb anyway and these days, I do it for all my seed orders.
Photos of Trichocereus strigosus
“Echinopsis strigosa” by Ryan Somma
Vela de la Virgen, Trichocereus strigosa, La Rioja desert – Picture “Echinopsis strigosa by Dick Culbert –
“Echinopsis strigosa” by Ryan Somma – Echinopsis strigosa
Trichocereus candicans is a species from the genus Trichocereus that originally grows in Argentina.
Current name: Echinopsis candicans (Gillies ex Salm-Dyck)
Synonyms: Cereus candicans, Echinocactus candicans, Echinocereus candicans, Echinopsis candicans, Helianthocereus candicans, Trichocereus pseudocandicans, Trichocereus tenuispinus, Echinopsis candicans var. tenuispinus, Cereus candicans spinosior, Trichocereus neolamprochlorus, Trichocereus gladiatus, T. candicans var. gladiatus, Trichocereus rubriflorus, Echinocactus dumelianus, Cereus Candicans var. spinisior, Helianthocereus pseudocandicans and some forms of Trichocereus lamprochlorus
First of all, this species is a mess. There are totally different types of plants floating around in the collection and I am not even counting the hybrids yet. There were numerous taxonomists in the past 100 years messing around with Trichocereus candicans and I am not really happy with the current taxonomy either. There originally were a couple of different subspecies like Trichocereus candicans & Trichocereus pseudocandicans + the closely related species Trichocereus lamprochlorus + neolamprochlorus. Trichocereus lamprochlorus was once again divided from T. candicans…and for good reasons.
Trichocereus candicans is a small and compact columnar cactus that builds clusters and grows approximately 75 centimeters tall- The plant usually has a yellowish skin color and grows in clusters up to 3 meters wide. The columns are 8-15 Centimeters thick and have between 9 and 11 Ribs. Areoles are pretty big and white felted and up to 2 centimeters apart of each other. Trichocereus candicans has 10-12 Radial Spines that are up to 4 centimeters long and 4 middle spines that are up to 8 centimeters long.
Flower: Most specimens of T. candicans have white flowers, but this is a heavily bastardized species in nature and I´ve seen various populations that had all kinds of flower colors and everyone of them was more beautiful as the other. And they had all kinds of flowers…yellow, red, white, you name it! Regularly, the flower is white and reaches a size of up to 20 centimeters (and some forms or varieties even more). The flowers have a very nice smell and attract all kinds of insects. Because of its excellent flower, Trichocereus Candicans is a perfect plant for hybrid breeding. The flower looks amazing and accepts pollen of most other Trichocereus, including the San Pedro cacti. Because of that, it´s a great candidate to breed colored flowers into the whole San Pedro group.
T. candicans is Night flowering. Besides, it is self-sterile, what means that you need pollen from another donor to produce seeds.
Origin: Argentina. Around Mendoza and Cordoba. San Juan, Catamarca, La Rioja.
Just like I already mentioned, the species is very variable and is also close to Trichocereus lamprochlorus. There are intermediates that show traits of both species and it´s nearly impossible to give a definite ID. There are natural hybrids between Trichocereus candicans x Trichocereus huascha and Trichocereus candicans x Trichocereus strigosa.
CITES: Trichocereus candicans is in Cites APPENDIX II.
Varieties & Cultivars: T. candicans var. gladiatus (with very large flowers), Trichocereus candicans var. robustior, Trichocereus candicans var. rubriflorus, Trichocereus candicans Gröner Hybrids (which is a hybrid between T. candicans x Pseudolobivia, which flowers very early on), Trichocereus candicans var. tenuispinus, Cantora hybrids (which is a cross between Trichocereus candicans and Echinopsis toralapana), and so on.
Trichocereus candicans is a very good species for grafting or hybrid culture. There are certain hybrids with extremely beautiful flowers called CANTORA. Those hybrids are one part Trichocereus candicans and one part Echinopsis toralapana.
Many taxonomists would agree that this species an extremely variable plant that makes many problems. And while I agree with that, it´s also caused by the chaos that was caused by the large amount of different types that were all merged into this huge species “Trichocereus candicans”. Because there are so many different types available on the market, there are countless atypical plants that grow more columnar than standard Candicans´or that have very short spines instead of the long spines that most candicans are known for.
Cultivation: Trichocereus candicans is very easy in cultivation. It is an excellent grafting stock that is known for its great frost tolerance, but the plant is so beautiful that you can also grow it just because it looks cool. Especially the colored flower hybrids around La Rioja are amazing and I can only recommend you this amazing cactus. The plant takes many years until it flowers but there are some hybrids called Groener candicans that are basically the result of an open pollination between candicans and Pseudolobivia, which flower very early on within the first five years. Those hybrids were named after the grower who raised and distributed them. If you can get those hybrids, you wont regret it. But they are rare and should only be watered when it´s hot.
Because of that, the plant does not get any water in between October and April. In Europe, you can overwinter them in a bright place with lots of fresh air at a temperature of approximately 10° Celsius. That´s the minimum average temperature and they do not need any water until the temperatures are starting to rise again.
Cultivation from Seed: Trichocereus Candicans is very easy from seed and requires the same treatment as any other Trichocereus. They are really frost resistant and can sometimes withstand short night frosts of down to -8° Celsius/17.5° Fahrenheit. I would not want to test it out though, because it always depends on the general health of a plant. The minimum average temperature is around 10° Celsius/50° Fahrenheit. The seeds will start germinating at temperatures between 24-30° celsius and require very little water to germinate. They are relatively uncomplicated to grow but I had the best experiences with a soil that was purely mineral.
Propagation: The plant is propagated by live Cuttings and seed.
Seed & live cutting sources: I am working on getting this species in my shop. As soon as I get high quality seeds of this one, I will let you know.
Trichocereus candicans var. robustior – Huntington Botanical Garden by Richard Hipp
Trichocereus candicans var. robustior on the left and the very rare Trichocereus santiaguensis on the right!
Photo: Prier
Trichocereus candicans / Echinopsis candicans
On this beautiful specimen you can see how similar Trichocereus candicans can get to Trichocereus taquimbalensis. However, Trichocereus candicans tends to have a higher spine count and a different spination. The spines on Trichocereus taquimbalensis are crooked and look very different. The epidermis of both Trichocereus candicans and Trichocereus taquimbalensis are waxy green. There are forms of both that are not waxy and that makes identification difficult at times. Trichocereus candicans does not get as tall as Trichocereus taquimbalensis and if you see them forming lower colonies instead of columnar cacti, the plant is probably a Trichocereus candicans. This form is also similar to what was described as Trichocereus gladiatus.
Photos: Jake Mhaidin
Trichocereus candicans / Echinopsis candicans photos of body and flowers
Copyright: Kyle Castelyn
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
Trichocereus manguinii is an older species described by Curt Backeberg. It is very rare, but can be found sporadically in Australia under the name Trichocereus WK. I have absolutely no idea what WK stands for but the name Trichocereus manguinii goes back to Backeberg, who tried to describe it as a species. Sometimes, people post plants of Trichocereus manguinii in our Trichocereus Facebook group. Most of the plants we encountered were probably brought into circulation by Backeberg himself or Friedrich Ritter in the early days of worldwide cactus trade.
A columnar Trichocereus schickendantzii?
The plant looks like a mix between Trichocereus schickendantzii and a Trichocereus terscheckii. It is very often confused with Trichocereus terscheckii and people are usually surprised to find out that this plant rather belongs into the complex around Trichocereus schickendantzii. It is basically a columbar version of T.schickendantzii that´s a bit thicker and has red flower buds instead of green ones on Trichocereus schickendantzii. The color of the epidermis is usually very dark green.
Description of Trichocereus manguinii
Upright growing columnar cactus that usually pups very strongly from the base. The plant tends to form a lot of shoots and can form small group of plants very fast. Trichocereus Manguinii reaches a size of up to 120 centimeters and a maximum diameter of up to 15 centimeters. It has 18-21 ribs. The body of Trichocereus Manguinii has a dark green body, that differentiates it from similar lookalikes. Trichocereus Shaferi is similar for example, but it isnt as green as this one and has a lot less ribs. The areoles are somewhat sunken in and usually have a dominant white fluff covering them. It has 10-12 radial spines and up to 4 middle spines than can get up to 0,5 centimeters long.
Flowers: The flowers are usually white and reddish/brown sepals that are covered with scales. The flowers can get up to 15 centimeters long and are very massive, compared to Trichocereus Schickendantzii. Trichocereus Manguinii forms a lot of flowers that are coming from all over the plant, including from the areoles.
Origin of T.manguinii
: Probably Argentina. But there was great confusion surrounding this plant because it was mostly known as a collection plant. One very large plant was located in the collection of Mr. Rivierre but I have no idea what happened to it. This plant is really rare today and will probably not come labeled under the “correct” name. The name was not accepted, which is why I chose the quotation marks. Trichocereus Manguinii is now integrated into Trichocereus Schickendantzii, though this large monster of a cactus is definitely different from what I know as Tr. Schickendantzii. But since the plant is extremely rare, it´s probably not really high on any modern Taxonomist´s “To-Do” list to re-classify it.
As there are many Trichos from around the time of Backeberg and Ritter growing in Australia, this plant can be found sometimes over there. I´ve seen two of them recently that were posted in our Trichocereus group and I really hope to get some more pics and/or seeds in the future. It´s an amazing plant that usually comes labeled “Trichocereus WK”. If someone has an idea what it might mean, please let me know.
Where to buy seeds or plants of Trichocereus Manguinii?
Well, this plant is currently not available anywhere in the world. I am trying to get some seeds and if I should ever locate a source, I´ll let you know. Until then you can try hitting our Facebook group or the other social media profiles for cuttings. The most plants can be found in Australia and you can sometimes get seeds from breeders like Cactilicious.com.au or Trichocereus.com.au
Trichocereus Manguinii aka Trichocereus WK
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
So here´s another video from the 2020 season, while I …
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