Trichocereus tarijensis / Echinopsis tarijensis

The species trichocereus tarijensis, also known as Echinopsis tarijensis or Trichocereus poco, is a columnar cactus. Today it is separated through various subspecies that all count as part of Trichoereus tarijensis.

Currently valid names

Echinopsis tarijensis +

Echinopsis tarijensis ssp. herzogiana / Trichocereus herzogianus

Echinopsis tarijensis ssp. tarijensis / Trichocereus tarijensis

Echinopsis tarijensis ssp. totorensis / Trichocereus totorensis

In addition the species Trichocereus poco / Echinopsis poco is seen as part of Trichocereus tarijensis as well.

Trichocereus tarijensis is a massive and spiny Trichocereus species. Its many forms make it difficult to clearly separate some regional forms, which is why the whole complex should rather be seen as a group of very similar regional forms that ll belong to the same species. It is partially synonymous with trichocereus totorensis, Trichocereus bertramianus and Trichocereus poco.

Type locality

The type locality is Tarija in Bolivia and it grows throughout southwest and south Bolivia, parts of Argentina and the Andes.

Synonyms:

Trichocereus Poco, Helianthocereus poco, Cereus tarijensis, Lobivia formosa ssp. tarijensis, Trichocereus herzogiana, Helianthocereus herzogiana, Helianthocereus tarijensis, Trichocereus totorensis, Helianthocereus totorensis, Trichocereus narvaecensis, Trichocereus narvaezensis, Trichocereus bertramianus, Echinopsis bertramiana, Echinopsis narvaecensis, Trichocereus orurensis, Echinopsis orurensis, etc.

Description of T.tarijensis

Typically, Trichocereus tarijensis has 15-25 ribs, can get up to 40 centimeters in diameter with spines that can get 1-10 centimeters long. Spines yellowish in color. 1-5 Middle thorns and up to 45 radial thorns. The spines are usually long and are pointing downwards, what gives Trichocereus tarijensis a great protection against anything trying to eat it. The diameter can reach a stunning 40-50 centimeters. Young specimens are very similar to Trichocereus pasacana, but are a lot more spiny, especially later on.

Flowers:

Red to pink to milky white and over 10 centimeters in lenght. Green fruits, up to 5 centimeters in lenght. 3 centimeters in diameter. There is great variation within the look of the flowers and while some can be more rose-colored, some others look more reddish.

And also the rest of the plant can be greatly variable, which is the reason that this species caused a lot of confusion due to numerous descriptions of plants that somehow seem to belong into the same complex. A lot of the species inside Backeberg´s genus “Helianthocereus” belong into the Tarijensis group, that now consists of a handful of subspecies, instead of varieties. That is a fine but very important difference and I tend to agree that this is exactly the right way to classify this group of impressive giants that can be found all over the Andes.

Photos of Echinopsis tarijensis

Pic: Prier

Trichocereus poco, which is probably synonymous with Tr. tarijensis

Trichocereus Poco, which is probably synonymous with Trichocereus Tarijensis

This is a herbarium specimen, Copyright: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com

Victorio_Angelelli

Jujuy- by Marian ocecowski QuebradaDeHumahuaca

by Evasaco Jardin_Botanico_de_Altura-Tilcara-Jujuy

Young specimen of Trichocereus poco, also known as Trichocereus tarijensis v. poco. You can perfectly see the similarity to Trichocereus Pasacana and Terscheckii. The plant is a lot more spiny though and that´s exactly how you can differentiate it.

This plant was labeled Trichocereus Herzogianus ssp. Totorensis. It is also the same plant called Trichocereus Totorensis, Helianthocereus Totorensis or the new name Trichocereus Tarijensis ssp. Totorensis.

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Trichocereus smrzianus / Echinopsis smrziana

Backeberg described Trichocereus smrzianus / Echinopsis smrziana in his KAKTUS ABC, a book that did not get a very wide release. Besides the description is highly controversial because it basically re-describes various forms of Echinopsis schickendantzii / Trichocereus schickendantzii and Trichocereus walteri that are barely on the level of a regional form.

Synonyms: Trichocereus smrzianus, Soehrensia smrziana, Soehrensia smrzianus, Echinopsis smrzianus, Echinopsis smrziana, Trichocereus schickendantzii, Echinopsis schickendantzii, Trichocereus walteri, Echinopsis walteri, etc.

Origin of Trichocereus smrzianus:

Argentina, Salta

Description of Echinopsis smrziana:

This species grows alone or in groups of larger clusters. It has a large, round body and reaches a maximum diameter of 2 meters and can get up to 60-70 centimeters tall. The plant is extremely variable and can grow like a clustering cactus like Trichocereus schickendantzii or in a columnar way, very similar to Trichocereus spachianus. It has 10-15 ribs and only grows at one location, which was also described as the type locality. T.smrzianus is extremely rare, though it is sometimes available on the commercial and sometimes shows up in cactus collections. The fact that the plant has so many ribs, makes it distinguishable from plants like Trichocereus candicans or Trichocereus spachianus. Young plants can look almost identical though, which is why identification of this species should not be done on juvenile plants. The bigger the plants, the broader the ribs are, what gives it a very typical Soehrensia look and it looks much closer to Soehrensia than to Trichocereus.

Spines of T.smrzianus:

The very thin spines are usually yellow to white. Plants have 8-15 spines on one areole, but Trichocereus smrzianus is extremely variable, what makes it so hard to ID. If you encounter the plants in the field it should be fairly easy to identify because it only grows on one location in Chachipampa, Argentina. It has 1-4 middle spines that are up to 3 centimeters long.

Flowers of E.smrziana:

Trichocereus smrzianus has white flowers, almost identical to the ones on T. schickendantzii. Overall it is a form of the latter, which means it is very hard to distinguish it from it. The plant flowers from the upper part of the body, what you can see on the featured image very well. The flowers get between 10-20 centimeters long and look very similar to the ones on Trichocereus tarijensis.

Fruit:

Trichocereus smrzianus has a round, green fruit that is between 2-5 centimeters in diameter and tastes very nicely. The name is a really bad example of how a name should not be. Not sure how it sounds in your language but in mine it sounds like having a seizure while biting your tongue off.
The taxonomic status of this group of plants was very inconsistent and due to the fact that there is a relationship to the genus Soehrensia, taxonomists have moved them back and forth from Trichocereus to, Soehrensia and Echinopsis now. After the merger with Echinopsis, taxonomy went full circle and re-declared Soehrensia as an accepted genus and it seems like it might stay like that. However, the plant is definitely close to Trichocereus schickendantzii and it´s definitely possible that Trichocereus smrzianus is just a natural hybrid between Trichocereus schickendantzii and a different species like Trichocereus tarijensis, or a regional form of the Trichocereus schickendantzii group.

Emőke Dénes Echinopsis_smrziana_-_Kew_Gardens

Oslo Sukkulentforening Soehrensia_smrziana

by Michael Wolf Echinopsis smrziana

Photos below: Trichocereus smrzianus by Leanne Kelly

Leanne Kelly

Leanne Kelly (4)

Leanne Kelly (3)

Leanne Kelly

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Trichocereus Poco (Echinopsis Tarijensis ssp. tarijensis)

Synonyms: Trichocereus Poco, Echinopsis Poco, Helianthocereus poco, Trichocereus tarijensis var. poco, Trichocereus narvaecensis, Trichocereus poco var. fricianus, Trichocereus Totorillanus

Taxonomic Background: These days, Trichocereus Poco has been integrated into the species Echinopsis Tarijensis aka Trichocereus Tarijensis though there are minor differences between the two. However, the fact that the species is extremely variable makes this a somewhat acceptable decision. Backeberg tried to keep it separate from Tarijensis and used the name “Helianthocereus poco” for the tarijensis-type Trichocerei from the southern highlands of Bolivia. But his description did not say anything the mature form of this species, which looks totally different to it´s juvenile forms.

Description: Trichocereus Poco aka Echinopsis tarijensis var. poco grows like a tree and has between 16-20 needle-like spines per areole in his juvenile form. The adult form has 30-50 stump bristle-spines that are usually bent and twisted. Trichocereus Poco starts shapeshifting into its adult form around a size of 50-70 centimeters while Trichocereus Tarijensis has to get a little higher (1-2 meters) to start looking as its adult form.

Ribs: 20-32.

Flower: A mix between orange and red. 10-15 centimeters long, white with a little touch of rose on top, stylus white to red, filaments bright green (lower part) to white (upper part). There also are variations of the flower in colors like white, pink, beige, peach, etc.

Origin: Trichocereus Poco grows in Bolivia and Argentina.

Cultivation: Trichocereus Poco should not receive too much water and requires a good drainage to stay healthy. Species with such a thick spination should be kept drier than other species. The temperatures should never get lower than -5° celsius, though it probably tolerates short time night frosts of down to -9° celsius. But that is really not something that you would want to try because it already starts getting rot problems at around 0° celsius. So keep it dry, overwinter it at a bright and well ventilated area with temperatures around 10° celsius/50° Fahrenheit. If you live in a country with very mild winters, you might be able to get it over the winter by giving it additional frost protection, like a roofing and a purely mineral soil.

Seed & live cuttings sources: There are really not many sources for some seed of Trichocereus poco and most I know came from Köhres. There also are some live specimens on sites like eBay or Amazon sometimes and they make an amazing showroom plant.

Germination: They should be treated like seeds of Trichocereus Tarijensis or Trichocereus Terscheckii. Temperatures between 25° -29° celsius will be sufficient to make the magic happening. Make sure to give it a cactus soil that dries out very fast and only water every now and then after the old water has drained up. Light helps to induce the germination process, so maybe try adding a LED or HPS lamp to your sowing setup and you will get higher germination rates.