ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)
Hi Folks, time for another posting here on the website! It´s time to take a closer look at the ICARO DNA Trichocereus peruvianus strains, which were around for at least 10 years.
Their strain is an extremely blue and spiny Peruvianus strain that comes from M...
ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)

Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana

Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana

Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana is one of the most sought after types. Matucana is the type locality of Trichocereus peruvianus, which means that in Matucana you can find the most typical plants according to the description. The description was originally made by the Americans Britton & Rose, and the described a plant that must have been somewhere between Trichocereus peruvianus and Trichocereus cuzcoensis. And yes, Trichocereus cuzcoensis plays a part in the history of Trichocereus peruvianus as well. Both are so closely related and exist with many intermediate forms in between that Britton & Rose´s decision to keep them separated from each other was not regarded without criticism.

One of the most typical Matucana Peruvianus types is the ICARO DNA Peruvianus. Icaro Dna made a name for themselves providing great quality seeds that are probably as true as it gets to the original description. To me, when I hear the name MATUCANA, I think of this remarkable type.
Photo: Trichocereus.com.au

Some more Matucana Peruvianus types are the LOS GENTILES Peruvanus from Sacred Succulents and my own Matucana Peruvianus in my shop! Sorry for the promo, but it´s super high quality seeds that you will love!

But now back to the Matucana Perus. Sacred Succulents had the great luck to visit some of them during their South America Field Trips. Here are some of them:

Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru

Trichocereus Peruvianus without a field number. Again in Matucana Peru. Very cool Glauceous Tricho, similar to the cultivar Trichocereus Rosei or Trichocereus Glaucus. Pic: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com! Please support them because they are awesome!

BK08612.4-A Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru

Another frosted Peruvianus from the Location in Matucana. Very similar to the Plants that are labeled „Trichocereus Rosei“. Or Trichocerus Glaucus! Pic: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com!

Another type that is believed to be a Matucana type is the Australian Trichocereus rosei clone. It´s fabulous and one of my absolute favorites. Rosei 2 is DEFINITELY a Matucana…and Rosei 1 most likely. The alternative would be that it comes from Rimac, but I want to show it here too!

This is Rosei 2, just for comparisons:

Some of those plants are sometimes called Trichocereus santaensis, but those are usually thinner and overall closer to Trichocereus pachanoi or sometimes even Trichocereus bridgesii than they are to Trichocereus peruvianus.

Well, that was one of the more typical Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana. This city in Peru is one of the historic cactus sites, especially for the species Trichocereus peruvianus. Matucana is the type locality of Trichocereus peruvianus, which means that in Matucana you can find the most typical plants. But there is more; many many plants with cuzcoensis genetics. For example, KK242 is from Matucana too! And due to the high number of intermediates between Trichocereus cuzcoensis and Trichocereus peruvianus, it´s sometimes not easy to draw a firm line between them.

This photo shows a fairly typical KK242 from Matucana. The photo comes from K.Trout and his website troutsnotes.com.

And now compare this to this other plant from Matucana:

It´s funny…but that one was sold as KK242 from Matucana too. Just to give you an understanding of what is actually out there.

Trichocereus peruvianus from Matucana

Sharxx Blue (Trichocereus peruvianus)

Sharxx Blue (Trichocereus peruvianus)

The Peruvianus clone SHARXX BLUE is a shortspined Peruvianus clone that was named after the SAB Member Sharxx. It originated from the well known DAWSONS cactus collection and was brought and named by the SAB member PD.

It probably is some kind of Matucana Peruvianus, much like the ICARO DNA type, the Los Gentiles or the Matucana Peruvianus that I have in stock here.

The plants are extremely blue and glaucous. Overall, this type of Trichocereus is one of my all-time favorite plants and it´s a very popular clone among Trichocereus breeders.

There definitely are plants that are similar and which are not genetically identical. Like I said before, there is a large number of various collection sites in Matucana and most of them are similar to the SHARXX BLUE.

This clone is sometimes available from Australian growers that gift or trade away cuttings every now and then. If you are interested in a SHARXX BLUE cutting, you might try to make a posting at the SAB forum. There also are growers that use it to produce Trichocereus hybrids. This year was the first year that Misplant offered some crosses that involved the SHARXX BLUE clone. It is also available from Trichocereus.com.au, who donated the pics below. 31

Photos: Trichocereus.com.au 

Sharxx Blue (Trichocereus peruvianus)

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)

The ICARO DNA is not actually a clone but a seller who is very well know for it´s high quality Trichocereus seeds. The plants grow into amazingly dark to blue-green colored columns with strong spines. Sometimes, those spines are also dark brown colored and are among the most beautiful Trichocereus types I know. Personally, it´s definitely one of my all-time favorite cacti, simply based on the impressing look.

ICARO DNA sold a lot of seeds of this type in the past, which is why there is a large genetic variety available on the market. There also are certain clones that most likely were sourced from ICARO, such as the SHARXX BLUE or MAYBE the Rosei 2.

Apart from seedgrown material, there also is a relatively common clone that´s been traded around by people of the Trichocereus community, but the larger number of seedgrown plants make a differentiation hard.

I do have quite a few pics of this interesting type and I´ll post further updates about it as soon as I get more pics. Those been around for at least ten years now.

These picture were donated by Prier. Thank you very much!

Plants that look like this were oftenly labeled as Trichocereus macrogonus and chances are that you bought some of these labeled as such. Their cold hardiness and soil requirements are pretty much identical to the ones from other Tr. peruvianus.

Pic: Courtesy of Trichocereus.com.au

The ones in these pics were grown in Australia, where this type is a bit more common than in Europe. If you are looking for one, just send me a message at EG[ät]trichocereus.net or you could try making a post in our Trichocereus Facebook group where it shows up every now and then as well.

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus peruvianus)

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus Peruvianus)

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus Peruvianus)

Alright, it´s time to work some more on this page. The ICARO DNA is not actually a clone. It´s a seed seller that is known for selling seeds of this amazing type. Those plants look very much like Trichocereus Peruvianus from Matucana and I am pretty sure that this is where their plant is originally from. Matucana Peruvianus have dark red spines and are among the most beautiful Trichocereus types I know. Personally, it´s my absolute favorite. There also is a clone that was grown from this type of seed but most of the plants available on the market with that name are actually not cloned material but grown from seed. I hope to show you some more pics of this great type in the near future. If you happen to have some more plants grown from this, please let me know or send me some pics.

These picture were donated by Prier. Thank you very much!

Plants that look like this were oftenly labeled as Trichocereus Macrogonus and chances are that you bought some of these labeled as such. Their growth requirements are identical to the ones from other Tr. Peruvianus and they should actually be pretty hardy and grow into very impressing plants. The ones in these pics were grown in Australia, where this type sometimes shows up in collections. It´s really rare and if you are looking for one, you could try making a post in our Trichocereus Facebook group where it shows up every now and then.

ICARO DNA (Trichocereus Peruvianus)

BK08612.4 Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru

BK08612.4 Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru

Trichocereus Peruvianus from Matucana. Very cool frosted blue type! Pic: Ben Kamm, sacredsucculents.com

This type is known for its frosted blue epidermis and chances are San Pedros from Matucana are actually the same plant that was originally described as Trichocereus Macrogonus. A whole lot of those Peruvianus specimens from Matucana would actually either be called Trichocereus Macrogonus or Trichocereus Glaucus, because of the Glaucous epidermis.

The Trichocereus plants in Matucana grow at around 2000 meters and Matucana was originally given as the typus location of Trichocereus Peruvianus when Britton & Rose made their description.

Karel Knize is selling Trichocereus Peruvianus from Matucana as KK242. But that´s actually a different type than the one you can see here. KK242 is the name for the collection site and Knize is selling more than 9 different cacti as KK242. Some belong to Trichocereus Cuzcoensis and some others rather belong to Peruvianus. The KK242 that I know have very little in common with the plants shown on those pics. The Matucana Peruvianus that Knize was offering was called Trichocereus Peruvianus KK242 forma Matucana. These pics are from the Sacred Succulents Field Trip om 2008 and they actually gave a whole lot of seed away. I hope to show some of the offspring really soon, because some of my friends were actually lucky enough to get some.

Where to buy seeds and plants of Trichocereus Peruvianus from Matucana?: Well, just like I said. The first place to ask would be Sacred Succulents, as they´ve been selling a whole lot of seed. I assume that in the next year or two, there will be some cuttings available from people who actually managed to raise some plants from that seed. Apart from that, you could theoretically buy some KK242 forma Matucana seed from Knize. I always tried to do business with him but everytime I sent him money, I either got nothing or unviable seed in return. I am not saying that all his seed is crap and that he is ripping off everyone he does business with but all my experiences with him were bad. I am 100% sure that there are Perus from Matucana available every now and then, though they probably wont be labeled as such. You can sometimes get really cool plants simply labeled as Trichocereus Peruvianus and if you see a dark blue plant with red& golden spines, jump on it. Sometimes, there are cuttings available in our Trichocereus Facebook group but it´s definitely a rare type. But it can´t hurt to ask for a cutting if you are interested in this cool type!

#

BK08612.4 Trichocereus peruvianus, Matucana, Peru

Other Cacti from the Sacred Succulents Field Trips

Other Cacti from the Sacred Succulents Field Trips

Hi Guys, in this post I will show you some of the other cacti from the Sacred Succulents Field trips. The copyright of all those pics is: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com

BK08530.1 Mahueniopsis boliviana, Tambillo, Bolivia

This majestic Mahueniopsis is from Bolivia. Sacred Succulents gave away seeds of that plant, which was visited during the 2008 Sacred Succulent Field Trip

Haageocereus sp, Matucana, Peru

This very nice Haageocereus grows in Matucana, which is the home of many amazing Trichocereus species as well. There were no seed collected from that species.

 BK09508.4 Borzicactus fieldianus, Chavin, Ancash, Peru

This interesting Borzicactus is definitely a Trichocereus Lookalike that you should have seen. At first, it looked a little big like a Rauhocereus but the strong segmented areoles are a lot more dominant than on other Rauhocereus species. This plant was visited during the 2009 Field Trips! Copyright: Ben Kamm

 Rebutia sp, Rio Lope Mendoza, Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Have a look at this barely visible cactus in between rocks and dead plants. That´s a pretty typical Rebutia population and it gives you a better understanding why cacti are sometimes so hard to find. I am pretty sure that there still are a lot of new species out there to be discovered, that are just not visible enough to be found. There were no seeds collection from those plants.

Lobivia sp, Puya habitat near Rodeo,  Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Cereus sp, descent to Chujllas, Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Echinopsis sp, descent to Chujllas, Cochabamba, Bolivia 

Neoraimondia herzogiana, descent to Chujllas, Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Neoraimondia herzogiana, circa Aquile, Cochabamba, Bolivia

 Harrisia, descent to Chujllas, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Opuntioid, descent to Chujllas, Cochabamba, Bolivia

BK10508.3 Harrisia tetracantha, Tiatako, Cochabamba, Bolivia

BK10506.1 Cleistocactus buchtienii, Cerro San Pedro, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Echinopsis sp, Cerro San Pedro, Cochabamba, Bolivia

Harrisia tetracantha, Cerro San Pedro, Cochabamba, Bolivia

BK08602.2 Lobivia sp. Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Oreocereus psuedofossulatus, Bolivia (N. Logan)

Haageocereus, Vilcabamba, Ecuador (N. Logan)

Matucana haynei, Matucana, Peru

BK08611.3 Haageocereus tenuis, Jardin Botanico, Parque de las Leyendas, Lima, Peru

BK08611.1 Cleistocactus xylorhizus, Parque de las Leyendas, Lima, Peru

BK08606.3 Cleistocactus sp. Pasto Grande, Yungas, Bolivia

BK08606.6 Yungasocereus inquisivensis, Pasto Grande, Yungas, Bolivia

BK08521.10 Corryocactus erectus

Echinopsis bridgesii, Huachjilla, Bolivia

BK08520.4 Austrocylindropuntia floccosa & BK08520.1 Festuca Taucca, Peru

Other Cacti from the Sacred Succulents Field Trips