The Trichocereus peruvianus clones Rosei 1 & Rosei 2 are among the most interesting Trichocereus cultivars out there. Both are very glaucous with a dark blue skin. They have yellow or dark brown spines that often have black tips. The old spine growth looks very gray and the areoles are covered with very fine, white wool.
Trichocereus ‘Rosei 2’ was part of the legendary Australian Fields collection. Both Trichocereus rosei clones were brought to Australia by Harry Blossfeld, who was one of the first importers of cacti. . Prier donated some pics of the original mother plant at Fields and I am extremely glad we have them on the site.
“Rosei2” is certainly not a real species name and belongs into the context of Trichocereus peruvianus / Echinopsis peruviana. It is very similar to the dark blue Trichocereus peruvianus plants coming from Matucana and it´s possible that it was originally collected there. Either as seeds or as a live cutting. The spine color can be very variable and this clone is known to produce massive spines, which can be seen on some of the photos.
Trichocereus peruvianus Matucana is one of the most sought after types. Matucana is the type locality of Trichocereus peruvianus, which means that in Matucana you can find the most typical plants according to the description. The description was originally made by the Americans Britton & Rose, and the described a plant that must have been somewhere between Trichocereus peruvianus and Trichocereus cuzcoensis. And yes, Trichocereus cuzcoensis plays a part in the history of Trichocereus peruvianus as well. Both are so closely related and exist with many intermediate forms in between that Britton & Rose´s decision to keep them separated from each other was not regarded without criticism.
Photos of Trichocereus peruvianus Matucana
One of the most typical Trichocereus peruvianus Matucana types is ICARO DNA. Icaro Dna made a name for themselves providing great quality seeds that are probably as true as it gets to the original description. To me, when I hear the name MATUCANA, I think of this remarkable type. Photo: Trichocereus.com.au
But now back to Trichocereus peruvianus Matucana. Sacred Succulents had the great luck to visit some of them during their South America Field Trips. Here are some of them:
Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru
Trichocereus Peruvianus without a field number. Again in Matucana Peru. Very cool Glauceous Tricho, similar to the cultivar Trichocereus Rosei or Trichocereus Glaucus. Pic: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com! Please support them because they are awesome!
BK08612.4-A Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru
Another frosted Peruvianus from the Location in Matucana. Very similar to the Plants that are labeled “Trichocereus Rosei”. Or Trichocerus Glaucus! Pic: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com!
Another type that is believed to be a Matucana type is the Australian Trichocereus rosei clone. It´s fabulous and one of my absolute favorites. Rosei 2 is DEFINITELY a Matucana…and Rosei 1 most likely. The alternative would be that it comes from Rimac, but I want to show it here too!
This is Rosei 2, just for comparisons:
Some of those plants are sometimes called Trichocereus santaensis, but those are usually thinner and overall closer to Trichocereus pachanoi or sometimes even Trichocereus bridgesii than they are to Trichocereus peruvianus.
Well, that was one of the more typical Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana. This city in Peru is one of the historic cactus sites, especially for the species Trichocereus peruvianus. Matucana is the type locality of Trichocereus peruvianus, which means that in Matucana you can find the most typical plants. But there is more; many many plants with cuzcoensis genetics. For example, KK242 is from Matucana too! And due to the high number of intermediates between Trichocereus cuzcoensis and Trichocereus peruvianus, it´s sometimes not easy to draw a firm line between them.
This photo shows a fairly typical KK242 from Matucana. The photo comes from K.Trout and his website troutsnotes.com.
And now compare this to this other plant from Matucana:
It´s funny…but that one was sold as KK242 from Matucana too. Just to give you an understanding of what is actually out there.
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
Both Rosei 1 and Rosei 2 are among the most popular clones in the Trichocereus community. Just like so many great plants, they originated from the Fields collection in Victoria. The name was used in very old cactus literature to label a certain, very blue types of Trichocereus peruvianus / Echinopsis peruviana. This name was mostly applied to the same plants that we label as Trichocereus macrogonus today. The name is mostly synonymous with certain forms of Trichocereus peruvianus.
The name Trichocereus rosei was never an officially described species and that´s why we count both Rosei clones as commercial varieties. Both clones are part of the Fields collection and came to Australia in the early days of cactus trading. Mr. Fields was one of the supporters of Harry Blossfeld´s South America expedition and got the plants as reward for the support.
Despite the fact that Rosei 1 and Rosei 2 are actually clones, you can find very similar specimens in nature. In particular, we see a striking resemblance to the forms of Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana (e.g. the Icaro DNA strain, Sharxx Blue etc). However, there are also similar plants in other parts of Peru and we probably won’t be able to find out where exactly they came from. In the future, I will have a look at old cactus catalogs to see if there might be some old seed lists that include the collection sites. The only information that is certain is that both clones are from South America, but that´s a pretty big area.
Rosei 1 has shorter spines than Rosei 2 and usually has a more glaucous/blue epidermis. But because the environment can have a huge influence on the look of a plant, I doubt that this works reliably.
Photos of ROSEI 1 Trichocereus peruvianus
This is a Hybrid between Rosei 1 x Open
Another plant from a ROSEI 1 x OPEN cross
Rosei 1 x Pachanoi
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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