Trichocereus riomizquensis (Ritter)

Trichocereus riomizquensis (Ritter)
Trichocereus riomizquensis is a Bolivian Trichocereus closely related to Trichocereus bridgesii. It is a regional form of T. bridgesii that only endemic to one site in Bolivia near the Rio Mizque.
The species was discovered and described by the German cactus...
Trichocereus riomizquensis (Ritter)

Trichocereus huanucoensis

Trichocereus huanucoensis
The first occurrence of Trichocereus huanucoensis goes back to a nursery owner called Harry Johnson senior, who brought this plant into the USA in the 1950s. Unlike popular belief, Trichocereus huanucoensis is NOT an official species. There is no official description an...
Trichocereus huanucoensis

Crowdfunding Campaign TRICHOCEREUS VOLUME 1

Crowdfunding Campaign TRICHOCEREUS VOLUME 1

Hi guys, I just wanted to take the time to let you all know about the status of my crowd funding campaign for the printing costs of my book TRICHOCEREUS VOLUME 1: THE SAN PEDRO GROUP. I´ve been working on this book for a few years now and it´s finally getting close to a release date. It´ll have more than 400 all-color pages and will contain hundreds of color pics showing plants from the genus Trichocereus in the habitat, botanic gardens and collections worldwide. There were dozens of well known people helping me with photos for this book and I am extremely proud that I was given the chance to write it! I´ll make sure it´ll be a high quality book that will look awesome on your shelf! There will be descriptions, photos and cultivation advice as well as a detailed guide on how to germinate difficult seed. The book takes a close look at flowers, fruits and old names that are no longer valid. This book contains a whole lot of different species and commercial varieties like Trichocereus pachanoi, Trichocereus peruvianus, Trichocereus bridgesii, Trichocereus scopulicola, Trichocereus tarmaensis, Trichocereus cuzcoensis, Trichocereus huanucoensis, Trichocereus pallarensis and many, many more!

The printing costs are somewhere between 10.000 – 12.000 Euros and that´s why I started the campaign on Indiegogo two days ago. Now after just 2 days, the campaign already reached 50% of its goal and is getting new supporters every single day.

My thanks go out to everyone who supported my campaign…either by buying a copy or just sharing the link or talking about it. I wrote a lot more about the creation process of my book on the campaign page on Indiegogo. You can also buy a copy of it through the following link:

https://trichocereus.net/product/trichocereus-book-vol-1-patrick-noll-buch-cactus-echinopsis


There also are package deals and re-seller packages to make it easier for shops or group-buyers to buy it. The books will be printed in June and the shipping phase begins in June or July. If you are not able to participate in the campaign due to whatever reasons, just let me know and I´ll try to find a way to make it work. It´s important to me that everyone who supports this project will actually get one.

Alright guys, it counts now and if I can´t get the campaign funded, the books won´t look as brilliant as they will when it reaches its goal. So please support this amazing Indie Trichocereus book. The crowdfunding campaign will run for 60 days and I hope to reach the goal within the first 2-3 weeks. If you have any questions or just want to get in touch with me, you can reach me through EG [ät] trichocereus.net. You can also get in touch with me through our Trichocereus Facebook Group!

Trichocereus Riomizquensis

Trichocereus Riomizquensis

Now let´s take a closer look at this interesting species. The Plant that is understood to be Trichocereus Riomizquensis is a pachanoid column that would most likely not even be considered a variety, because it is very similar to the description of Trichocereus Pachanoi.

The fact that there are many Bridgesiioid Tricho´s growing in the direct neighborhood of this Pachanoid is probably responsible for the fact that there also are Bridgesii´s that are labeled as Trichocereus Riomizquensis. The “Species” was discovered by the german cactus field botanist Friedrich Ritter, who gave Chuyllas near the Rio Mizque as the typus location and mentioned it would grow on steep slopes in the provence Campero.

His Field Number was FR 856. Friedrich Ritter ran a Seed Shop and sold this species as seed to people all over the world. I will add a picture of his “Riomizquensis” later.

Trichocereus Riomizquensis was also visited during the Sacred Succulents Fieldtrips and they found a couple of different types growing around that area.

This is a pic of a botanical sample of Trichocereus Riomizquensis, Copyright Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com . The spines on this herbarium paper look definitely bridgesoid. Please not what is written on the first pic about the plant being “aff. lageniformis/pachanoi”, which is really interesting! So apparently this is either a very untypical Trichocereus that can have traits of both species or there are more than one plant that are called Trichocereus Riomizquensis.

Where to buy seeds and plants of Trichocereus Riomizquensis: Well, this one is kinda hard to find. Sacred Succulents were giving away seeds after their Field Trips and some plants might have gotten into the hands of collectors. Unfortunately, I havent seen any plants raised from their seeds. Some of the plants they encountered with this label were Bridgesiis while some others were Pachanois. They usually occur in Bolivia. You can ask Ben of Sacred Succulents. http://sacredsucculents.com.

I am always looking for seeds of Trichocereus Riomiquensis.

This is a description that is based on Friedrich Ritters description, including remarks on how to keep it apart from Scopulicola. Trichocereus Riomizquensis is 6-8 centimeters thick (while Trichocereus Scopulicola is 8-10 centimeters thick), it has 5-6 ribs, (Scop: 4-6), flanks 2 centimeters wide (scop 3-4), less rounded than scop. It has rounded areoles (while the ones on Scop are usually ovally). The areoles have a very visible fluff with a diameter of 2-3 mm. The 1-5 spines are honey-colored and between 1-3 mm long. Sometimes even missing.

Flower: The flower of Trichocereus Riomizquensis is 20 centimeters long (while Scopulicola is 16-20) and has dark brown wool with large scales. The fruit looks kinda bumpy.

Typus Location: Chuyllas near the Rio Mizque, on very steep rock walls in the provence Campero, Bolivia. Discovered from Ritter  in 1958 – FR 856.

There are more pics of Trichocereus Riomizquensis on those pages.

BK10508.7 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora , Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

BK10512.4 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora,  Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

BK10512.1 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora, Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

 

This is one of the plants from the Sacred Succulents Field Trips:

Copyright Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com

 

Trichocereus Riomizquensis BK 10.08.7

 

Trichocereus Riomizquensis

BK10508.7 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora , Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

BK10508.7 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora , Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Copyright: Ben Kamm, Sacredsucculents.com

Really cool Plant! Looks a lot like a Trichocereus Bridgesii and is probably one but I´ll have to analyse this one first. But yeah, Great Plant!

The spination is very likely not that unique to justify regarding it as a seperate species. Compared to Trichocereus Bridgesii, there are hardly any differences and it´s very likely that this plant was labeled TRICHOCEREUS RIOMIZQUENSIS because that´s the name that the locals or collectors in the past 50 years called it that. Ben from Sacred Succulents is perfectly aware of this plants similarity to Trichocereus Bridgesii and it´s safe to say, it actually is one. The plant is NOT the same plant that Friedrich Ritter described in 1958 as Trichocereus Riomizquensis.

Ritter wrote that the typus location of Trichocereus Riomizquensis is CHYLLAS, near the Rio Mizque in the provence Campero, growing on Rocky slopes.

Ritter assigned the FR/Winter seed code (after the name of his sister, who ran his seed business) FR856. Please note that Ritter´s plant is more like a Trichocereus Pachanoi and was regarded a relative of Trichocereus Scopulicola. So far, there are no reported specimens of Ritter´s authentic Trichocereus Riomizquensis and if there is anybody out there who grows a plant labeled Trichocereus Riomizquensis FR856, PLEASE CONTACT ME! I own a bad pic of a flowering specimen that literally looks like a Pachanoi. Please note that there are peruvian samples of Trichocereus Riomizquensis that look VERY much like a Trichocereus Bridgesii too. So chances are, there are various plants that can be encountered with this label. If you raised seed of this plant from the Sacred Succulents Field Trip 2010, please let me know because I am constantly looking for better pics. But yeah, like I already mentioned, this is probably a Trichocereus Bridgesii.

BK10508.7 Trichocereus riomizquensis, Totora , Cochabamba, Bolivia 2010

Trichocereus huanucoensis

Trichocereus huanucoensis

The first occurence of Trichocereus Huanucoensis goes back to a nursery owner called Harry Johnson senior, who brought it back to the USA in the 1950s. 

This is an older version of an article from our Trichocereus database. Check out the link to read the complete article:
https://trichocereus.net/trichocereus-huanucoensis-echinopsis

The first thing I want to mention is that Trichocereus huanucoensis is DEFINITELY not a real species. The modern taxonomy would definitely consider Trichocereus huanucoensis to be some form of Trichocereus pachanoi or maybe, an intermediate between several different species, like Trichocereus pachanoi, Trichocereus scopulicola or Trichocereus peruvianus. To me, it´s just one of the countless forms that exist of Trichocereus pachanoi. Trichocereus huanucoensis tends to be extremely fat and has a very bloaty look, compared to some very thick Trichocereus hybrids like the “Super Pedro” clone that´s been around for years in Australia. Its spine length is extremely variable and the specimens can have no spines or long spines but it usually has very few spines per Areole. I have no idea of there is a botanical description of Trichocereus huanucoensis but I am pretty sure every taxonomist would have labeled this plant Trichocereus pachanoi. Nonetheless, it is a very attractive plant and it´s one of my favorite types. It is commercially available from Sacred Succulents or Misplant but it´s still a rare type and I would love to see it being passed around in the Grower Community some more in the near future.

One specimen of Trichocereus huanucoensis is also growing in the Huntingtons Botanical Garden in California. The specimen that Sacred Succulents use for their Huanucoensis crosses was originally from Ed Gay, who was a friend of Johnson & Huntington. Trichocereus huanucoensis is very thick and sometimes resembles Trichocereus bridgesii. There is a variety of this plant on the market labeld H80361, which is said to come from Johnson as well. There might have been the chance to find out more about the origin of the plant in the Huntington Botanical Garden but unfortunately, they dont have any info on where some of their older Trichos came from. I also heard that their ID cards were stolen or lost, so it is probably out the question to find out more about where Trichocereus Huanucoensis originally came from. It is out the question that Trichocereus Huanucoensis belongs in the near relationship of Trichocereus Pachanoi, but Trichocereus Huanucoensis is very fat and exceeds 4.5 or 5 inches in diameter and oftenly reaches around 6.5 inches. Most Pachanois dont tend to get so thick.

It is very easy to keep it apart from Trichocereus scopulicola because Trichocereus huanucoensis is spinier.

Check out those amazing Pics, including flower pics on misplant.net. If you can, get yourself some crosses from him because misplant is definitely one of the best hybrid growers out there:

Trichocereus Huanucoensis