Trichocereus Taquimbalensis

Trichocereus Taquimbalensis / Tacaquirensis

Current name: Echinopsis Tacaquirensis ssp. Taquimbalensis

Synonyms: Trichocereus Tacaquirensis, Trichocereus Werdermannianus, Helianthocereus Werdermannianus, Echinopsis Taquimbalensis, Echinopsis Tacaquirensis, Echinopsis Tacaquirensis ssp. Taquimbalensis, Echinopsis Tacaquirensis ssp. Tacaquirensis, Trichocereus Taquimbalensis var. Wilkae,

Trichocereus Taquimbalensis is a pretty common cactus from Bolivia and can be found in collections throughout the world. There is large confusion around this plant because many of them come mislabeled as Trichocereus Werdermannianus. I have no idea if this confusion is caused by seed collectors or maybe because Backeberg´s Trichocereus Werdermannianus but the fact that Backeberg actually knew Taquimbalensis indicates that his Werdermannianus is rather some kind of Intermediate between Trichocereus Terscheckii and Trichocereus Taquimbalensis and the root of the error lies in seed collectors not being able to tell the both apart. Please note that Trichocereus Werdermannianus has definitely similarity to Trichocereus Taquimbalensis so it´s very likely it is related to that species.

Authentic Trichocereus Taquimbalensis has a bright green waxy epidermis and a number of rounded spines with a swollen base. They grow up to 2,50 meters tall and reach a diameter of 15 centimeters. Mature specimens have 8-9 Ribs with Areoles that are 1,5 centimeters apart. Areoles are Round to elliptic in shape and stand out up to 1 centimeter. Areoles are also white felted with 8-13 radial spines and up to 2 centimeters tall. One downward pointing middle spine that is up to 7 centimeters long and with thickening knobs at the base. Spines at first bright brown and later gray.

Flower: The Flower is up to 23 centimeters long, ovaries 2,2 centimeters in diameter, with white and brown hairs and brown sepals that are up to 10 centimeters long.

The Flowers are white and it´s a day flowering species.

Origin: Bolivia, provence Tarata, Department Cochabamba near Taquimbala, 2800 meters.

There is a variety var. WILKAE which was found by some women named Wilkae and it has more rounded spines and have four middle spines. This variety grows around Tupiza, which is a good distance away from the location of the type.

The modern taxonomy combines Trichocereus Taquimbalensis and Tacaquirensis and calls it Trichocereus Tacaquirensis, with which I do not agree. Trichocereus Tacaquirensis has a lot more spines, which are needlelike and the plant looks more like a tarijensis than a Taquimbalensis. Basically 99% of all the plants labeled as Trichocereus Tacaquirensis are in fact Trichocereus Taquimbalensis. On google, there is a huge number of plants with the wrong label to be found as well, so every plant labeled tacaquirensis should be regarded with skepticism. So far, I cannot remember coming across Trichocereus Tacaquirensis on the open market as a plant. Trichocereus Taquimbalensis, on the other hand is very common.

I will now add some pics from backeberg in which he showed the differences between Trichocereus Taquimbalensis and Tacaquirensis. I agree that they are definitely related but since they are so easy to differentiate, I feel like it´s not legitimate to lump them both together.

Seed & Live Cutting Sources: This species is available from one or two Peruvian seed collectors. Some seeds are viable while some aren´t and you never know until you tried them. I received some viable KK917 Trichocereus Werdermannianus seed once that was actually viable and it was one of the few types I got from Knize that had actually germinated. Apart from that, you can get seed for Trichocereus Taquimbalensis and Trichocereus Tacaquirensis from Köhres every now and then. Last time I checked, they were not viable but maybe they get them back in stock. Besides, Trichocereus Taquimbalensis shows up on Ebay every now and then.

Propagation: By seed or cuttings. But I actually had problems rooting this species and most cuttings I took did not survive. But that may only be true for the clone that I had and I heard about other growers having no problems rooting it.

Frost and Winter protection: Trichocereus Taquimbalensis is a typical, cold hardy Trichocereus and can tolerate temperatures down to -5° celsius but it has to be completely dry and it also depends on the general health of the plant and I would not recommend to leave it at temperatures below 10° celsius for long because it can induce rot, especially if the soil is wet. 10° celsius is the minimum average temperature though it is able to tolerate lower temperatures.

Cultivation: Trichocereus Taquimbalensis does not like full sun and I usually grow them in partial shade. It likes a little bit sun over the course of the day, but it tends to get sunburns pretty easily. If it get´s a severe sunburn, it can die pretty quickly. I only water them when it´s hot and only as much as it can take up within one day. They don’t like wet feet, but that´s something that is valid for most Trichocereus species. I stop watering them around the end of the summer and keep it dry over the winter.

This first Pic shows Trichocereus Tacaquirensis

Tacaquirensis has many needlelike spines and there are a whole lot more spines. The whole plant looks mire like a tarijensis and is actually pretty different to the spines with the rounded base we know from taquimbalensis.

Note that this has nothing in common with Taquimbalensis? This One has so many spines that it´s probably some kind of intermediate.

Pic 2 shows the complete plant:

And last but not least, pic 3 shows a detailed comparison between the two varieties of taquimbalensis, oreocereus maximus and tacaquirensis.

a1. trichocereus taquimbalensis typus (top left)

a2. bottom left trichocereus taquimbalensis v. wilkae

b. oreocereus maxiumus

c. tacaquirensis

Note how many spines tacaquirensis has? You hardly come across them on the open market though i have seed. If anyone has the option to grow this one with free root run, I am happy to send some seed. It´s a huge spiny monster and moving it is not an option. It makes absolutely no sense to grow this one and move it and out in summer.

 Trichocereus Taquimalensis vs Tacaquirensis

And this plant is actually a very typical Trichocereus Taquimbalensis! I will also add new Pictures to this Gallery too because it is actually a small specimen.

 

Trichocereus Taquimbalensis