Trichocereus rosei

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.

“Rosei 2” 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.

If you want to see more photos of Rosei 1 and Rosei 2, check out our Facebook Trichocereus group: https://facebook.com/groups/trichocereus

Photos of Trichocereus ROSEI 2

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.