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sagiXsagi

How does a Trichocereus differentiate from an Echinopsis by definition?

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How does a Trichocereus differentiate from an Echinopsis by definition?

yep. I wonder if anyone knows. I know of course some people regard Trichocereus melded with echinopsis, but taxonomically speaking, what are the differences of echinopsis to trichocerei?

Sure its the size, but there are a couple short trichocerei that are still called trichocerei. is it the sheer height, the pronounced columnar habit as opposed to spherical to cylindrical ?

Does anyone know?

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Taxonomically speaking, Trichocereus does not exist. Its absorption into Echinopsis isnt just a matter of opinion, its the current scientific definition.

So, lacking that, its just an issue of what you choose to look at. You can group them on growth form, size, floral characteristics (the word trichocereus, itself, roughly means 'torch cactus with hairy flowers'), you could even choose to group on spination characteristics or supra areolear stem markings. Ever notice while some have a "V notch" others have like a seagull or a bar or cow horns sticking out of the areole. It would be amusing to see if grouping on that would show any other associated patterns.

Take your pic and follow your preferences :P

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yeah it's a strange one but I think trichos should be. and echinops should be. thats just me. it rhymes to we he.

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When they're labelled Trichocereus they sell for a better price.

Edited by Sally
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How does a Trichocereus differentiate from an Echinopsis by definition?

100% dependent upon who is doing the defining!

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They will always be Trichs to me!

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There are so many different types of Echinopsis and Trichocereus, which is why you just can´t give a definite answer to that question and the fact that they wanted to combine Trichocereus and Echinopsis underlines it. The flowers of most clumping Echinopsis species are different and smaller than the ones on Trichocereus, the fruits are different and a lot of them are clumpers instead of the columnar Trichocerei. Trichocereus flowers are hairy and covered with scales in a way that doesnt occur in most Echinopsis species. But even taxonomists have to concentrate on DNA testing to get definite answers these days. Hybrids can change the look of a plant just within one generation. Just take a look the genus Soehrensia for example. Just recently, a lot of species that were recently placed into Echinopsis were put back into Soehrensia after DNA tests revealed that they come from a totally different descent. So there is no definite answer to that question and when speaking about Trichocereus and Echinopsis, there obviously is a lot of relationship that makes it hard to draw a firm line. The idea to combine them wasn´t totally bad, but ended up as a poorly done mishmash that combined plants that had nothing to do with each other.

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Thanks for the replies, all kinds of it.

I am aware that the consensus had melded Trichos with Echinos so that Trichos is now a defunct name, according to the scientific consensus. Well I dont know about you, but despite being a strong atheist I dont take the scientific consensus as a dogma, for a variety of reasons but that's another long discussion.

EG

The flowers of most clumping Echinopsis species are different and smaller than the ones on Trichocereus, the fruits are different and a lot of them are clumpers instead of the columnar Trichocerei. Trichocereus flowers are hairy and covered with scales in a way that doesnt occur in most Echinopsis species

the only clear difference I get from this is that Echionopsis flower tends to be smaller and that trichocereus are big as opposed to clumping spherical of Echinopsis.

you also include those tho phrases

there obviously is a lot of relationship

and

plants that had nothing to do with each other

come on it cant be that difficult. they used to be separate before melded by the scientific consensus. So the previous sonsensus must have included a definition for each and obviously some differences... TBC

Edited by sagiXsagi

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