Peruvian Torch big: Trichocereus peruvianus in a pot
Trichocereus peruvianus, placed under Echinopsis peruviana in current taxonomy, comes from the high valleys of Peru and possibly from northwestern Bolivia; centuries of cultivation have blurred its original range beyond reconstruction. In the wild it grows upright to two and a half to five metres, with branches six to fifteen centimetres thick. The column usually carries six to eight ribs, sometimes five or nine, and often seven or eight at the base of the stem. The areoles are round, about six millimetres across, grey to dark brown, and sit more than two and a half centimetres apart. Older areoles can hold as many as twenty needle like spines, among them three or four longer central spines of around five centimetres with darker tips. On well grown plants, flowers up to just over twenty centimetres long appear near the top of the column, with pale yellow to yellowish green tepals.
The species sits close to the San Pedro: both are now placed in the group around Trichocereus macrogonus, and older books even list the Peruvian Torch as Trichocereus pachanoi forma peruvianus. The difference shows mainly in the spines, which are longer and stouter on the peruvianus than on the San Pedro. This plant is the big size in the series and arrives rooted in a pot of cactus soil, so you can set it down right away or repot it in spring. Since every specimen has grown its own way, the plant you receive will differ from the photo.
Care
Give the cactus the brightest spot you have, ideally a south facing window; it can stand outside in summer, but let it get used to full sun gradually after winter or the skin will scorch. Use a mineral cactus mix with a good share of coarse sand, perlite or pumice. During the growing season water only once the pot is bone dry, roughly every ten to fourteen days, and never leave water standing in the saucer. In winter move it somewhere cooler and drier and water no more than once every three to four weeks, or less. Repot in spring when the roots fill the pot and keep the plant dry for a week afterwards. A column this size gets top heavy, so a sturdy, wide pot keeps it from tipping over.
A cactus with a long history
In the Andes several Trichocereus species have long been counted among the sacred cacti; the indigenous names achuma and huachuma belong to this species and to its relatives. How far back that connection runs is clear from Guitarrero Cave in the Peruvian region of Áncash, where pollen and plant fragments of this cactus turned up in the earliest occupation layers, dated to roughly 8600 BCE. Ritual use is also depicted on pre-Columbian Peruvian ceramics, with examples from about 1300 BCE.
More cacti at Avalon
Avalon Magic Plants also stocks the Peruvian Torch as a small potted plant, as an unrooted cutting in several lengths and as seed. Beside it you will find San Pedro as a cutting and potted, the Bolivian Torch, the knobbly monstrosus forms, the Cuzco, the Macrogonus and complete grow sets for cactus seed. All plants ship discreetly packed.
