Opuntiads of the USA

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Wednesday Sept. 9 (Day 3)

Today is the official start of the tour (but it is day 3 of our journey from the United States). We will travel from Chiclayo northeast to Jaen.

A large flowering Erythrina tree covered with bromeliads triggers our first stop. Nearby are some Armatocereus cartwrightiana and a Pepperomia. There was also a selenicereus hanging down from the cliffs above us. There are houses nearby and several people go to their front doors to watch the crazy tourists climbing all over the hills. One woman and her three children walk out to the road and sit on the guardrail to watch us. She asks what we are doing. Several of the people have brought notebooks and pencils to pass out to the kids. They've heard that these can be in short supply in rural Peru and these get passed out to the kids.

A little further on we made another stop, mostly for bromeliads, but there was a very handsome ceroid growing here as well, I'm still don't sure what it was.

We stopped for lunch east of Olmos next to a steep hill. We climbed the hill while lunch was being prepared. Here we found Armatocereus laetus, Browningina chlorocarpa, and Espostoa lanata. Near the top of the hill there were several nice stands of all three. I also found several small clumps of Opuntia pubescens and on my way back down I found a lone Melocactus peruvianus.

We got stopped for road construction and noticed some Opuntia quitensis in bloom, so we all piled out of the bus and had a look around. There was also a Jatropa in bloom and many small Espostoa lanata. We were so enthralled that we missed the fact that they had let the traffic go and by the time we got back in the bus they had closed the road again. I think our drivers were a little perturbed at us. We had two drivers, Orlando and Rolando. One would usually drive in the mornings and the other in the afternoon.

At another stop north of Jaen we climbed a hill to the ridge and walked a trail hacked into the brush along the ridge top. Here we saw Browningia altissima, Cleistocactus tenuiserpens, Espostoa blossfeldiorum, Espostoa superba, and Melocactus bellavistensis. There was also supposed to be Pereskia horrida here. I had been looking for a tree. One of the last people up the trail said he had seen one on the way up. He showed it to us on the way down. It was about a foot tall with no leaves except at the very tip. It grew right across the trail and we almost certainly pushed it aside on our up the trail.

Not a bad first day.

Craig Howe

Armatocereus rauhii, Browningia chlorocarpa

Armatocereus rauhii, Browningia chlorocarpa, and Espostoa lanata

Armatocereus cartwrightianus

Armatocereus cartwrightianus

Browningia chlorocarpa

Espostoa lanata

Espostoa lanata

Hylocereus sp.

Hylocereus megalanthus

Hylocereus megalanthus