Opuntiads of the USA

Go to Oblog, the Cactus Blog

Tuesday Sept. 15 (Day 9)

We had missed our last stop yesterday because we had gotten down the mountain so late. So today our first stop would be that one. This stop was north of Caraz on the road to Huallanca and I'm glad we didn't miss it. There were plants everywhere. Armatocereus matucanensis, Espostoa nana, Austocylindropuntia exaltata, Mila pugionifera, Melocactus peruvianus, Furcraea andina, a large Opuntia, and Trichocereus santaensis. This last one has been lumped with pachanoi by the Lexicon, but not sure why, it has smaller stems with more ribs and just doesn't look the same. And yes I know Trichocereus no longer exists, but I find the name useful. As a bonus the E. nana and A. matucanensis were in bloom.

Up until now we had been traveling in the Cordillera Negro, we would now enter into the Cordillera Blanco at Llanganuco National Park. Our first stop was inside the park to see Matucana yanganucensis, now M. haynei ssp herzogiana. These were growing on boulders in a large boulder field in dense brush. There was also a small Opuntiod growing in the moss on the rocks. The Lexicon has lumped most of the Cumulopuntia in Peru into 2 species. Floccosa used to be a Tephrocactus, but is now in Austrocylindropuntia. My best guess is that the plant I was seeing here used to be O. yanganucensis, which is now floccosa. This plant resembled floccosa, but had absolutely no hair.

Most of the rest of this section of the park was for the bromeliads, there were also flowering orchids and passionflowers. We did see another small Cumulopuntia flowering in the rocks. And on the way back out of the park we spotted more of the Matucana's in flower.

We made one last cactus stop to see a population of Trichocereus pachanoi and T. santaensis. Then on to our hotel in Huarz.

Craig Howe

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Austrocylindropuntia floccosa

Melocactus peruvianus

Melocactus peruvianus, Armatocereus matucanensis

Matucana crinifera

Matucana crinifera

Tricocereus pachanoi

Tricocereus pachanoi

Matucana yanganucensis

Matucana yanganucensi

Tricocereus pachanoi

Tricocereus satanensis