Trichocereus Blog: Trichocereus Lamprochlorus

Trichocereus Lamprochlorus

Trichocereus Lamprochlorus is a difficult to ID cactus and its relationship to Trichocereus Candicans is not clear because at least one form of it is now considered to be synonymous with it.

The species was integrated into the genus Echinopsis and was called Echinopsis Lamprochlora (Lemaire), until the taxonomist Hunt re-evaluated the merging of Trichocereus into Echinopsis.

Synonyms: Trichocereus Lamprochlorus, Cereus Lamprochlorus, Cereus nitens salm-dyk, Trichocereus Candicans, Trichocereus Purpureopilosus

The situation around Trichocereus Lamprochlorus is complicated, which is probably because the original description of Cereus Lamprochlorus from Lemaire and the plant that we consider as Trichocereus Lamprochlorus are not the same. It´s unknown what kind of plant Lemaire was describing as Cereus Lamprochlorus, but the description differs from the plant that we know from collections. In fact, there are two different types of plant that are called “Trichocereus Lamprochlorus”. One 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 species 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. Check out Ben Kamm´s great pics from one of the Sacred Succulents Field trips:

Those pics were shot in Tiatako, Cochabamba, Bolivia. They show 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. However, I am really sure that this was the plant that was considered as the Trichocereus Lamprochlorus from Bolivia.

However, there is this other type that was also described as Trichocereus Lamprochlorus and Britton & Rose already had problems with the two mixed up plants and tried to get to the bottom of it. Without success. The second plant known as Trichocereus Lamprochlorus was called “Trichocereus Neolamprochlorus” and is a type that is very close to Trichocereus Candicans. This type stays relatively small, pups from the bottom, has a bright green epidermis that later changes to a sickly looking yellow color. The plant can get up to 10 centimeters in diameter, has between 8-12 ribs. The spines of this plant have a reddish touch too and that´s the reason those two plants are mixed up all the time. Its flowers are up to 25 centimeters large, white, covered with black wool. This type originally grows around Cordoba in Argentina and is a totally different cactus that is extremely close to Trichocereus Candicans. Those plants are among the most difficult to ID Tricho´s, because there is total chaos about which description was about which plant. In addition, they might even be related to Trichocereus Huascha, which grows in the direct neighborhood of it. Trichocereus Lamprochlorus and Trichocereus Neolamprochlorus are two different plants coming from different countries. The Lamprochlorus type has more ribs, reversed spine color (yellow on the tip, brown/red on the bottom). Almost all pics on this page show the Lamprochlorus type, but I do have some pics of the Neolamprochlorus type (the wrong one) and I´ll post them as soon as I scanned them.

The One on the lower left! The one on the right is Echinocactus grusonii! by Christian Bortes!