Trichocereus Shaferi (Echinopsis Shaferi)

Trichocereus Shaferi (Echinopsis Shaferi)

There are more than one plant that are available under that name on the open market. I bought a plant labeled as Trichocereus Shaferi that looks remarkable like a Trichocereus Spachianus.

The name “Shaferi” goes back to the 1920s, when Britton and Rose came up with their description that lacked a lot of details. However, there were some more descriptions by Ritter, Backeberg and Rauh/Werdermannianus that went more into detail.

Trichocereus Shaferi pups from the base and reaches a size between 1-1,5 meters. The plant grows partially lying or leaning over and has between 15 and 20 ribs. Britton and Rose gave an average number of 12 ribs, which is dramatically different from the data that were given in later descriptions. The maximum diameter is 5-12 centimeters and the color is a gray/dark green, which you can very well see on the pictures that were provided by Trout. The ribs are 0,5-1 centimeters high and there are substantial furrows .

The Areoles on Trichocereus Shaferi are white felted and 1-6 mm in diameter and up to 1,2 centimeters apart of each other.

Spines: The spines of Trichocereus Shaferi are yellow, very fine and needle-like with a slightly dark-brown spine tip. It has 7-10 radial spines (up to 1 cm long) and 1-3 middle spines (1-2 cm).

Flower: Very round flower. White. Trichocereus Shaferi flowers from the upper part/apex and Britton and Rose gave a size of 15-18 cm.

Fruit: The fruit has a whole lot of very dominant white hairs, as you can beautifully see on the second picture. The edible fruit is round and 3-5 cm in diameter. Green in color with reddish/green scales.

Origin: Ritter encountered this plant near Leon near Jujuy at around 1500-1800 meters growing on rocky slopes. Britton and Rose gave San Lorenzo in the provence Salta at 1800 meters as the location of the typus. Ritter considered his collection in jujuy to be a regional variety but didnt really follow up on it. His collection name was FR41 and there is a large number of seeds that gotten into the collections of cactus fans all around the world.

Where to buy seeds and plants of Trichocereus Shaferi? Well, it´s rare and you might come across them on eBay. Like I already mentioned before, I bought a large plant that might be correctly labeled but has a lot of similarities to Trichocereus Spachianus. The plants on the pics have a lot of ribs and look very unique. Some seed stores and cactus nurseries have them in stock every once in a while but I never really looked for it and cant say how good the available seed is. I also dont know if theres even viable seed on the market. I am sure there are some collectors that offer seeds from their collections sometimes but it´s probably a little bit hard to. If I´d be looking for this type, I´d write emails to Kakteen Haage, Kakteen Uhlig, Succeed, Sacred Succulents and hope for the best. You can also try making a post in our Trichocereus Facebook group but I´ve never really encountered one there. But it cant hurt to ask.

 

Trichocereus Shaferi (Echinopsis Shaferi)