The ICARO DNA is not actually a clone but a seller who is very well know for it´s high quality Trichocereus seeds. The plants grow into amazingly dark to blue-green colored columns with strong spines. Sometimes, those spines are also dark brown colored and are among the most beautiful Trichocereus types I know. Personally, it´s definitely one of my all-time favorite cacti, simply based on the impressing look.
ICARO DNA sold a lot of seeds of this type in the past, which is why there is a large genetic variety available on the market. There also are certain clones that most likely were sourced from ICARO, such as the SHARXX BLUE or MAYBE the Rosei 2. Apart from seedgrown material, there also is a relatively common clone that´s been traded around by people of the Trichocereus community, but the larger number of seedgrown plants make a differentiation hard.
I do have quite a few pics of this interesting type and I´ll post further updates about it as soon as I get more pics. Those been around for at least ten years now.
Photo: Trichocereus.com.au
These picture were donated by Prier. Thank you very much!
Plants that look like this were oftenly labeled as Trichocereus macrogonus and chances are that you bought some of these labeled as such. Their cold hardiness and soil requirements are pretty much identical to the ones from other Tr. peruvianus.
Pic: Courtesy of Trichocereus.com.au
The ones in these pics were grown in Australia, where this type is a bit more common than in Europe. If you are looking for one, just send me a message at EG[ät]trichocereus.net or you could try making a post in our Trichocereus Facebook group where it shows up every now and then as well.
Trichocereus peruvianus BK08612.4 from Matucana. Very cool glaucous blue type! Pics: Ben Kamm, sacredsucculents.com
This collection is known for its frosted blue epidermis. The populations in Matucana grow at around 2000 meters and Matucana was originally given as the type locality of Trichocereus peruvianus in Britton & Rose´s book THE CACTACEAE.
Karel Knize sold Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana under various names, sometimes even under the collection KK242. Knize assigned his numbers to certain areas (eg Matucana), and collected from various different mother plants under that name. This means there are like 20 different collections of KK242 and every one is different. The KK242 that I know have very little in common with the plants shown on those pics. The Matucana Peruvianus that Knize was offering was called Trichocereus peruvianus KK242 forma Matucana. These pics are from the Sacred Succulents Field Trip om 2008 and they actually gave a whole lot of seed away. I hope to show some of the offspring really soon, because some of my friends were actually lucky enough to get some.
Where to buy seeds and plants of Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana?: In my opinion, the currently best collection is Icaro DNA and Los Gentiles. Both of those might actually be the same population.
In addition, check out the Sacred Succulents catalogue for cuttings of this collection. They did collect a lot of seeds, and they have cuttings sometimes too. I assume that in the next year or two, there will be some cuttings available from people who actually managed to raise some plants from that seed.
Photos of BK08612.4 Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru
On this page, I will show a whole lot of pics of interesting Trichocereus Mutants, monstrosa, freaks, crests, variegates, variegata, mutants and such.
Photos of Trichocereus Mutants
In the front, you can see the classic TBM clone, an abbreviation for Trichocereus bridgesii monstrosa. This clone is also called Penis plant, Penis cactus, etc.
This clone has a very weird growth habit and produces small, penis-like pups that self-terminate and pup again after a while. There are two different types. One that only grows little pups and another one that can produce large columnar shoots, without producing these little “sausages”.
This one was sold as Trichocereus bridgesii v.inermis. It is the same clone as the TBM.
This was sold as Trichocereus peruvianus variegata. It is grown in black plastic particles, which might sound like a good idea, but I feel like it´s not really something you should do because it´s not able to store nutrients. And god knows what other chemicals are in that plastic.
This is a very nice Trichocereus bridgesii monstrosa. It is similar to a type that Sacred Succulents encountered on one of their Field Trips to Peru
The pics above were donated from Philocacti! It´s an amazing Trichocereus crest and I am very happy to share those pics with you!
The following pics are from Philocacti too. I know it´s a Lophophora monstrosa and is kinda off-topic but considering how rare and cool it is, I am happy to have it on the site. There are a couple more pics of this plant in the gallery below.
Altman´s Trichocereus TPM clone
Trichocereus pachanoi monstrosa – Could be the Altmans or the CCC clone but I am not sure.
This is an awesome Trichocereus Mutant that´s variegated
This is a variegated Matucana. Just for the lulz.
This is an Echinopsis eyriesii v. grandiflora cristata crest.
Trichocereus bridgesii – Melty Crest – Seems like Trichocereus bridgesii produces some of the most amazing Trichocereus mutants. So it´s always worth the try mass sowing them in order to get interesting seedlings.
Some more NON-Trichocereus Mutants & Monstroses
Cultivation of mutants: Most of these mutated or variegated cacti have very similar needs as their normal equivalents. Some of them might be more vulnerable to rot if the plant is a little bit weak. Especially with old seed or bad crosses, you can sometimes have plants that are genetically inferior to other cacti and tend to have all kinds of diseases. But apart from that, Crests, variegates or monstroses are usually not any worse than normal specimens. Because of that, it´s really sad to see that some growers tend to put them on the compost because they don´t want to have bad genetics in their collections. Not that this can´t also be the case, but I know plenty of collectors who pay a lot of money for mutants and appreciate them as much or even more as standard plants. Now, some mutants tend to have trouble getting to flower, but that´s definitely not the case with every one of them. Maybe some of them are a little slower but you often see crested plants in nature, that produce pretty normal flowers. I guess it always comes down to the genetic health of the plant. And that can be totally different from plant to plant. I guess we all know those variegated Gymnocalycium that can´t survive if not grafted on something else. And personally, that´s where I draw the line because I don´t want to keep on grafting a plant that isn´t able to survive on it´s own. But yeah, everyone has his own likes and dislikes and if you have a cool mutant that you´d like to see on this page, please let me know or post it in our Trichocereus Facebook Group!
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
The Los Gentiles strain is mostly known through the California based Nursery Sacred Succulents, who has been offering crosses with this type for years. They sell both seeds and cloned plants, which is why there is a large generic diversity.
LOS GENTILES is Trichocereus peruvianus / Trichocereus macrogonus strain with a frosty epidermis and the color of the spines varies between Gold and reddish brown. Most of the spines have black tips and the ribs indicate that it is closer to Trichocereus peruvianus than it is to other strains. It definitely is an interesting population and I will add further info about it later on.
It is very similar to Trichocereus peruvianus strains from the area to the area around Matucana. Outside the United States, this clone is rare. There are a few local populations that look very much like it.LOS GENTILES is NOT the same strain as Trichocereus peruvianus ‘Icaro DNA’, but these two strains are so similar that I am very positive that they come from the same area in Peru. Sacred Succulents are the only source for this type of Trichocereus apart from the people who bought them there and sold or traded them. Trichocereus ‘LOS GENTILES’ is an extremely fascinating population. And even if that´s not the case, it still is a fantastic Trichocereus with a deep blue epidermis and strong spines that have written “Dangerous” all over them.
In my personal opinion, LOS GENTILES is the same population as ICARO DNA.
Photos of Trichocereus LOS GENTILES
Pics by Noah Reams
Pic by Stillman
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
J3 is one of the unlabeled Trichocereus hybrids that Jim Hall of Cactus Country grew. There is not really much known about this clone, and the parents are lost unfortunately. Most people that grow them label them “Peruvianus”. Nonetheless, the plant looks like it could also have Bridgesii relatives.I am pretty confident that there is a Trichocereus bridgesii / Echinopsis lageniformis somewhere in J3´s family tree, but I doubt that it´s actually a botanically pure one plant.
Those three pics were donated by Michael Stillman and I will add a lot more to the database. All clones from cactus country, also known as J clones, are pretty rare and there only are a few of them in cultivation.
Photos of Trichocereus ‘J3’
The following pics show hybrids in which this clone was used as a father.
SUPER PEDRO x J3. Though the latter was only the father, the offspring is very similar to it and only shows very little similarity to the Trichocereus scopulicola hybrid Super Pedro. Definitely an interesting plant.
This plant shows Trichocereus pachanoi x J3 and looks very much like the father too. Despite the fact that plants often look more like the mother. However, it seems to have very dominant genes when being used as father.
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
I am totally not sure if Knize´s Trichocereus glaucus is actually the same plant that Friedrich Ritter described as Trichocereus glaucus. Here is what I have about Knize´s KK336. He sold the plant for a very long time and collected them at various sites. The first one was sold through Knize 1999 seed list and is supposedly from Rio Tambo at around 1500 meters. The plants look totally different to what Ritter described so I am not sure how Knize got the idea that KK336 is actually a Glaucus. I assume it was only based on the glaucous epidermis, which is really very blue. He also sold it through the 2004 seed list using the remark “Rio Tambo, Arequipa, Peru”.
I am sure that there are many of those KK336 on the open market but most of them are probably labeled as Trichocereus peruvianus, Macrogonus or Pachanoi. All plants that I ever came across with the label Trichocereus glaucus were more or less glaucous Perus.
The KK336 is definitely one of the coolest San Pedros that I´ve ever seen and it reminds me a lot of the dark blue Peruvianus from Matucana.
Where to buy seeds or plants of KK336: There sometimes are some american shops that sell this type on ebay. It´s been a while since I last saw one but they are definitely out there. Either as Trichocereus Glaucus, Macrogonus or Peruvianus. Knize also sold it as seed and live cuttings but I wrote about the shipping problems with him before.
Photos of Trichocereus KK336
Check out our main plant database pages for Trichocereus pachanoi aka Echinopsis pachanoi here:
APRICOT GLOW is a classic Trichocereus hybrid by Mark Dimmitt. …
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