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Micromegas

Huachuma in the Mosna Valley, Peru

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Hi folks, I finally had a chance to upload some photos. Check em out if you want. These Huachuma plants are all from the Mosna Valley, Chavin de Huantar, department of Ancash, Peru. In some photos you may be able to see the site of the Chavin Temple itself. I haven't had time to label anything and I probably won't have the time. As you can see there is a great deal of variation amongst plants that I would slot into the Trichocereus pachanoi complex, for example one variant seems to encourage the accumulation of Tillandsias on its branches, and there are differences in spination, size etc. These may be wild plants or cultivars, it is hard to say. They are growing in the mountains adjacent to the Chavin Temple, where Huachuma shamanism reached its absolute apex around 1300 BC until the birth of Christ. Elevation is between 10,000 and 11,000 feet and rainfall is probably nudging 900mm per year with distinct wet/dry seasons.

https://picasaweb.google.com/116699573615984867919/HuachumaMosnaValleyChavinDeHuantarPeru?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfBudyU9ZubgwE#

Cheers, Micro.

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Just awesome!

~Michael~

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AWesome, Thanks for sharing.... hey are these bromeliads that live on some of the cacti?

Edited by mutant

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great pictures

so are these plants that grow on the cacti stems like parasitic plants or is it a symbiotic relationship?

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Awesome, thanks for taking the time to upload these. Will enjoy looking at all the photos.

Edit: What date were these taken?

Edited by tripsis

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WOW :drool2: Thankis for sharing man, good to see you around, now get back to living it up down South America way :)

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Dude, awesome!

Thanks for sharing, I love the panoramic shots, they really give you a feeling for context. Interesting to see an old corn cultivar growing in the area, did you ever try any of the ancient food crop cultivars like corn and potatoes? I have heard only but good things about their ancient varieties.

Oh, and I love the epiphytes! The lichen are awesome, but I would have never thought I would see Bromeliads(?) growing on cacti! And never in such density and numbers, super-awesome-rad.

EDIT: on the Bromeliad comment; just looked up Bromeliads on wikipedia, one pic showed them growing on lines in Bolivia, maybe its not such a feat for them to grow on cacti after all haha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromeliaceae

Edited by Illustro Verum

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Thanks for sharing such amazing photos bro - hope to catch up with you at EGA once more...

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Spectacular! Again, thanks for sharing them! :)

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great pictures

so are these plants that grow on the cacti stems like parasitic plants or is it a symbiotic relationship?

 

if they are indeed bromeliads, then they simply hang, 'get a grip' from the plant they're on, so I don't think they are parasitic in general.

Philo, and everyone, by the way, should check The Private Life of Plants

probably the best docu on plants evar... and it's got some cacti and mushroom stuff too!

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The plants growing on the cacti are Tillandsia sp. which are in the Bromeliad family, but better adapted to being non-terrestrial. They are neither parasitic or symbiotic, that's just how they grow. Occassionally in the Amazon, large trees will shed bark to rid themselves of high densities of Bromeliads but it is not the case as it is with Mistletoe, that the Bromeliads are harming the plant on which they grow. In California there is an interesting relationship between Coast Live Oak and spanish moss, the most cold-hardy Tillandsia.

Illustro, that is not an ancient varient of maize, that Huachuma is growing next to a small corn field!!! Most of the highlands around Chavin have been cultivated and there are patches of vegetation interspersed with small extremely steep fields. Pockets of frost-free arable land are especially favoured as this means maize can be grown. In other places several landraces of potato and some interesting Oxalis tubers are grown, as well as plants such as lupine, amaranth and quinoa. The landraces are very important to local populations and are a fertile area of plant research generally.

The flora of the entire Coredillera Blanca itself is rather spectacular and diverse in general but I haven't had a chance to trawl through the photos.

These photos were taken in early may, during the wet season in the central andes. This was the first time I have visited Chavin during the wet season and I almost jumped out of my boots when I found ripe fruit on the plants; in the dry season I am accoustomed to seeing heaps of flowers but no fruit.

Quill it would be good to be in S.America now, but actually, instead, I am in SE Arizona wedged between three unstoppable wildfires, one of which is the biggest in Arizona's history at more that 500,000 acres. And they say it won't go out until the monsoons in mid-July! Where I am staying is in the middle of 150,000 acres of burnt ground and all the roads are closed. So my plans to check out the flora of Arizona has scored an epic fail, I haven't even yet seen a Saguaro in the wild! And if the rains don't come there won't be any toads hopping about either!

Glad you enjoyed the photos, I enjoyed taking them!

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These photos were taken in early may, during the wet season in the central andes. This was the first time I have visited Chavin during the wet season and I almost jumped out of my boots when I found ripe fruit on the plants; in the dry season I am accoustomed to seeing heaps of flowers but no fruit.

 

Awesome. I hunted in vain throughout the central and northern Peruvian Andes, but I was there at the wrong time of year and all I got were flowers and funny looks from local villagers as I prodded and poked their cacti. Have to make sure I am there in the wet season next time :).

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fantastic! but how will you fit all that seed into your backpack..? *raises hand* hahah

what a buzz that must've been!

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This was the first time I have visited Chavin during the wet season and I almost jumped out of my boots when I found ripe fruit on the plants; in the dry season I am accoustomed to seeing heaps of flowers but no fruit.

Collect any seed?

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The place is incredible and your pictures are amazing ! Chavin is indeed a sacred place...

Thank you for allowing us to have a look.

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i wonder, the seeds Trichocereus sp. BK09509.2 were said to be collected on rocky cliffs of western slopes above the north end of the modern town of Chavin at 10,600 feet in Ancash Peru. Do these seeds correlate to this location and some of the populations depicted in links provided in this thread?

I believe I've sown this type but the seedlings are too young to be distinct.

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wow. some incredible pictures and plants! i believe there is a short mention of Tillandsia in the Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants by Christian Rätsch, and a picture of some winged shamans holding a Tillandsia sp.

Great to see so many thriving wild plants, you must have scored some good seed stocks!

cheers!

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Absolutely beautiful micro! Thanks for sharing.

I must second fez and trip though, wheres the seed lol :P

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Sensational pics micro! Cheers mate, I'd never seen epiphytic Tillandsia's (or anything else) on cacti like that before.

It's probably quite common and Tillandsia's may be mostly epiphytic but I've never been to the area so the photos are very interesting and useful to see these plants in their native habitat.

The Lichen on the cacti is familiar though, I think it's the same as Lichen we have here but it may just be similar. I think I'll intentionally add some to older specimens in the garden.

I'd love to know what a bit more about the geology there which would give an idea of the soil, I presume it's reasonably free draining but am not sure.

Thanks again for sharing, looks like a very beautiful and fertile area :)

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Hi guys I,ve been on the move so I now have poor access to Internet.

Archaea, that description would fit almost exactly but it seems there is more than one type of plant growing up there so your seeds could be one or more of the varieties.

Seeds were collected and I am hoping to be home by ega to begin growing some but that will be touch and go given my itinerary. Separating seed from gunk in a hotel room with limited time is challenging!

The geology of the mountains is predominantly blue granite. The soil is not especially free draining but the slopes are very steep and rocky, the soil is loamy but not really sandy. The valley outside of huaraz is especially steep and contain what I would call trichocereus woodland but these plant are rougher and spinier than those in chavin.

Bromeliads are really common at this altitude and are especially prevalent on cacti and in the magnificent polylepis forests.

On another related note I made it to the Sonoran desert and the saguaros did not disappoint. I even gather two beautifully ripe fruits from a massive branch growing upside down toward the ground. I sacrificed half of one to taste and it was absolutely delicious, no wonder they are held in such regard by the indigenous people there. The saguaro forests really are up there with the most beautiful landscapes I have had the fortune to visit.

I would post some more pics but it's not that easy right now.

Anyway glad you enjoyed the pics. Excuse all the spelling mistakes I am sending this not from a friend,s iPad and they,re a bit funny to type with.

All the best, micro

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Thanks again for sharing micro. How long are you travelling for and how long has it been already?

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Looks fantastic. I even recognise one cactus in particular that after consumption led to 14 hours of awesome which included meeting the dragon spirit that lives at the base of the mountain.

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That's interesting fenris. I have an intuitive feeling which one it may be so it's nice to hear your report. I hope you had a chance to get inside the temple during the experience. Interestingly most San pedro used by practitioners in Peru today is from what I can gather material cultivated in Salas or collected wild/wildcrafted around huancabamba but they are often not looking to create or even possibly unaware at times of the upper end of what is possible with Huachuma. My guess is many "strong" strains exist which are not utilized primarily because of the syncretic healing modality most commonly practiced around Peru, where the ritual takes precedence over delivering a strong visionary experience. Both methods obviously have great merit. Prior to the impact of Christianity on the Mesa, however, I am certain chavin and others pre inca societies (most notably the Moche and Sican) were turning the dial way way up and it would be fascinating to see the change in cacti varieties being used over time.

tripsis I had the good fortune to be granted a year's leave without pay from my job to take what I like to think of as a year of retirement in advance. Of the year a little over ten months is overseas of which I have completed a few months. I am hoping to coordinate a two week return to oz in December to coincide with ega before heading to nz for the last two months ofmy trip but it may not work out. I'm in southern Utah at the moment checking out a few national parks, which are quite beautiful. But I do miss australia!

Micro.

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