Fatty trichocereus to ID

[terraferma]

Hi everyone!

Here's some photos of a plant I'd like to ID.

I already posted these photos on a different forum, and only got a reply from Tangich (he's also on that other forum). He said it looks like a Terscheckii to him, does everyone here agree?

[Evil Genius]

It looks very similar to a terscheckii but i am pretty sure its a Trichocereus tacaquirensis. Supercool plant!

[DiscoStu]

just a big fatty boomba

that's a nice garden, where is it?

Edited September 30, 2014 by DiscoStu

[M S Smith]

It looks very similar to a terscheckii but i am pretty sure its a Trichocereus tacaquirensis. Supercool plant!

Naw, spine color and thickness all wrong from T. tacaquirensis. I'd agree with T. terscheckii, but could be a T. atacamansis form. I have a hard time with these giants as they seem to have many intermediaries.

~Michael~

[Evil Genius]

Hi Michael, everything fits for Tacaquirensis and unlike with some other Plants that are close to Terscheckii, i am TOTALLY sure about this One because i know the Spination very well. Check out the Pics in Backebergs Cactaceae! Look at the Spination on the lower right, which is Trichocereus Tacaquirensis. Needlelike, almost like long spike hairs. Color of the spines vary from Gray to yellow, depending on the strain.

Please note that this is a totally different Plant than the light green waxy Trichocereus Taquimbalensis with it´s red spines.

Please compare it to a Picture of Trichocereus Tacaquirensis in Habitat in Bolivia:

Edited October 1, 2014 by Evil Genius

[Berengar]

Aren't T. taquimbalensis and T. tacaquirensis supposed to be synonymous? And both refer to the shiny green plant with thick red spines?

Obviously you've read a lot more scientific texts on the subject, and I trust you, I just never heard plants like this being labeled as T. tacaquirensis. Don't some people call plants similar to this one T. validus?

Anyway, thanks for the explanation and the pictures, it's always interesting to learn something new!

[Evil Genius]

Well, yes and no. The current Taxonomy includes them into Taquimbalensis with the subspecies Tacaquirensis but that´s not entirely correct. Yes, there are various Forms of this around Bolivia of which some of them are synonymous with Taquimbalensis But this particular Type is not. I´ve seen some Tacaquirensis that were clearly Intermediates or simply Varieties of Taquimbalensis and hence could be called synonymous and i think i spoke about them a few times before. But as you can see, your Plant is totally unlike the light green Taquimbalensis and is rather close to Trichocereus Terscheckii. So, i totally agree that this should probably be seen as some Type of Terscheckii / Pasacana Relative.

But i am very sure that this is the Plant that Backebergs picture shows. Personally, i would NEVER include this Type of Tacaquirensis in the Taquimbalensis Species and i SO don´t know what they were thinking when they came up with that Idea. But at the same Time, i´ve seen Forms that looked like some kind of Intermediate between Tacaquirensis and Taquimbalensis and which probably were synonymous.

Michael is right that this would probably be called Terscheckii today and that it´s absolutely not the same Plant as Taquimbalensis, but at the same Time this is the Plant that Backeberg and Ritter called Trichocereus Tacaquirensis. Regardless of what it should be called today.

[Gunter]

I would like to add there are according to Ritter two forms of terschekii, one is his terscheckioides. This plant does appear to be similar to the latter.

[M S Smith]

Hey EG, I'm familiar with Backeberg's spine pictures, but I've often wondered if the spines were more indicative of plant maturity over variation as there are significant differences in spination as the plant gains height. I would like to see a little better shot of the wilted flower on the plant in terraferma's picture as they look a little too small to be T. tacaquirensis to me. Plus the rib formation sees off.

As for the plant in Bolivia you posted, is there any location information attached to it, besides "Bolivia" of course?

~Michael~

[terraferma]

This is the only photo of the wilted flowers I've got at the moment. I can take other photos if you want.

[mushroomman]

Very nice plant! I'm no expert but looks like a terscheckii to me are you able to get any of those fruits when they are ripe? I'd love to buy/trade some seeds if you can.

Edited October 2, 2014 by mushroomman

[M S Smith]

Hummm, plant looks like a T. terscheckii form to me, but those flowers seem way too wooly for the species. Someone seriously needs to do a monograph on the giant of central and southern Bolivia and northern and central Argentina, including intermediaries.

~Michael~

[Evil Genius]

Yes, agree with michael that on the last pic it looks more like a terscheckii ! Impressive 360!