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KK242 is the synonym for the
"official" Trichocereus Peruvianus of Britton & Rose who
identified it in the vicinity of Matucana, Peru.
This photo shows how it differs from the general class of
these I collectively refer to as "Peruvian Torch."
Bridgesii are nice, too. I think I sold all my seed grown
ones and now propagate from cuttings. I've started more
bridgesii from seed but it will take years to see what those
turn out to be.
The huge advantage of cuttings (plant cloning) is that you
get a specimen identical to the donor. Commercial fruit and
nut orchards are planted from rooted cuttings; never from
seedlings.
More information on this topic. |
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Here is my reference photo
for Bridgesii. I found a near dead plant under a bench
at Cactus Kate's place 3 years after she died. I guess
someone stole the lovely ceramic pot, leaving the plant to
die.
It took a year to bring it back to health. At first it
rotted when I tried to re-root it. Now, years later I have
many cuttings each spring but still cannot produce enough to
satisfy demand. After all, this is just a hobby. |
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San Pedro from Cactus Kate.
I purchased cuttings from her in 1987 from which I have
produced many tree sized clusters that were lost when the
place in Mountain View, California was sold for development
into town homes (row houses).
Kate said her San Pedro came from a botanist who brought
cuttings to California in the 1960s. They are vigorous
growing and to me the standard for San Pedro.
KK seed grown torch. I leave it to you to find an
"exact name" for that. |
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KK seed grown torch. I
leave it to you to find an "exact name" for that. |
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KK seed grown torch. I
leave it to you to find an "exact name" for that. |
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KK seed grown torch. I
leave it to you to find an "exact name" for that. |
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Trichocereus Glaucus. I bought
cuttings in 2003 from a creepy eBay guy who sent a battered
box of moldy, infected, etiolated cuttings.
With care they lived and through propagation have been
resurrected into vibrant blue-gray skinned Peruvian Torches
with abundant thick spines.
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Wild Andes, 2007. The best
seed I've ever raised. The germination was insanely high,
the seedlings very vigorous.
Half were disease resistant and thrived. maybe 10% of those
were superstars. The amazing variations in shape, spines,
skin color, etc. have provided me with several rare
variations being propagated by cuttings. |
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Trichocereus Peruvianus
(official) as identified by Britton & Rose back in the
1920s. Now assumed to be equal to KK242 because he
identifies that site as Matucana, Peru. However, I have yet
to see KK seed produce anything like the specimen at left.
My Peruvianus is derived from what
Bob Ressler had
growing in his yard because I bought many of the plants
(after he divorced & left California) that a local cactus
guy
rooted from there.
The photos of San Pedro and Peruvianus have long been a
resource for people to view- but they cannot help resolve
the identity of these varieties (in my opinion) to a high
degree of certainty. As I am trying to show you, my
visitors, there is a lot of subtlety in the variations.
My advice is to grow what you have into as big and
fascinating a specimen as you have space for; these do
become massive plants that live indefinately.
Interestingly these are identical to 2
plants
discovered at Cactus Kate's ghost town 3 years after her
death. They were barely visible in the waist high grass.
Peruvianus have lovely blue skin, long brown spines, and a
vigorous rapid growth habit. They
become tree size.
Peruvianus produces perfume scented white flowers
superficially identical in appearance to
San Pedro flowers. I love
these flowers so much I always bring them into the house to
allow the fragrance to fill the rooms. |
