Leucostele terscheckii
{{short description|Species of plant}}
{{speciesbox
|image =Echinopsis terscheckii 5.jpg
|image_caption =
|status = VU
|status_system = IUCN3.1
|genus = Leucostele
|species = terscheckii
|authority = (J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Schlumpb.
|synonyms =
- Cereus terscheckii {{small|Parm. ex Pfeiff.}}
- Echinopsis terscheckii var. montana {{small|(Backeb.) K.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley}}
- Pilocereus terschenckii {{small|(Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Rumpler ex Pfeiff.}}
- Trichocereus terscheckii {{small|(Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Britton & Rose}}
- Leucostele terscheckii {{small|(Parm.) Friedrich & G.D.Rowley}}
}}
Leucostele terscheckii, commonly known as the cardon grande cactus or Argentine saguaro, is a large cactus native to South America and popular in cultivation.{{cite web|url=http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Echinopsis_terscheckii.html|title=Cardon Grande (Echinopsis terscheckii)|publisher=Desert-tropicals.com|accessdate=14 January 2015|archive-date=5 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405113718/http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Echinopsis_terscheckii.html|url-status=dead}}
Description
It is a columnar, branching cactus that can grow over {{convert|7.6|m|ft}} tall. Its branches are about {{convert|25|cm|inch|abbr=on}} in diameter with 8 to 14 ribs. Branches are cylindrical, fleshy, light green. The branches are 10-20 cm in diameter, with 8-14 blunt ribs. It has large brownish areoles about {{convert|2.5|cm|inch|abbr=on}} apart with 8 to 15 yellowish spines, {{convert|8.3|–|10|cm|inch|abbr=on}} long, a central one, sometimes absent, and 8-15 radial. The nocturnal funnel-shaped white flowers can grow up to {{convert|15|–|20|cm|inch|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|13|–|15|cm|inch|abbr=on}} wide. Pericarp and flower tube with dense white or brown axillary hairs. The round or oblong blue fruits are about {{convert|1.3|cm|inch|abbr=on}} in diameter and contain black to brown, oval seeds approximately {{convert|0.76|mm|inch|abbr=on}} long.{{cite book|last=Rowley|first=Gordon|title=Reunion of the Genus Echinopsis|publisher=Crown Publishing|location=New York|year=1978|volume=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Succulents|isbn=978-0-517-53309-3}}
Echinopsis terscheckii 03.jpg| Spines
File:Echinopsis terscheckii-374833.jpg| Flowers
File:Echinopsis terscheckii 1.jpg|Growth
File:Cactus GardenSD2.jpg| Buds
File:Echinopsis terscheckii monstroso (8410101536).jpg| Crested plant
Native distribution
It is native to several provinces including Jujuy, Tucumán, La Rioja, San Juan, Catamarca and Salta provinces in northwestern Argentina, and is the eponymous cactus of Los Cardones National Park in Salta Province. Range continues to the western slopes of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia department of Tarija, and Ecuador. It is found growing on dry slopes of the Andean foothills at altitudes of 500 to 1500 meters.
Taxonomy
This species was first described as Cereus terscheckii by Ludwig Georg Karl Pfeiffer was published in 1837.{{cite web | last=Dietrich | first=Albert | last2=Otto | first2=Friedrich | title=Allgemeine Gartenzeitung | website=Biodiversity Heritage Library | volume=v.5 (1837) | date=1837 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14899517 | access-date=2024-01-15}} Heimo Friedrich and Gordon Douglas Rowley placed the species in the genus Echinopsis in 1974. The specific epithet terscheckii honors the court gardener Carl Adolph Terscheck of Japanisches Palais in Dresden. In 2012, Boris O. Schlumpberger reclassified the species into the genus Leucostele.Boris O. Schlumpberger: New combinations in the Echinopsis alliance. In: Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives. Nr. 28, 2012, S. 30.
Human uses
Leucostele terscheckii contains > 0.005-0.025% mescaline{{cite web|url=http://www.thenook.org/archives/tek/alklist.htm|title=Partial List of Alkaloids in Trichocereus Cacti|publisher=Thenook.org|accessdate=22 December 2017}} in fresh cactus and 0.01%-2.375%[http://entheogen.netfirms.com/articles/articles/Narcotic_Cacti.html Forbidden Fruit Archives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051128031148/http://entheogen.netfirms.com/articles/articles/Narcotic_Cacti.html |date=2005-11-28 }} mescaline in dry weight, so dried cactus is sometimes processed for mescaline hydrochloride.
References
{{reflist}}
- http://www.delange.org/CardonGrande/CardonGrande.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623043425/http://www.delange.org/CardonGrande/CardonGrande.htm |date=2016-06-23 }}
- [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:138976-1 Trichocereus terscheckii (J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Britton & Rose Plants of the World Online]
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Leucostele terscheckii| Leucostele terscheckii}}
- {{Wikispecies-inline|Leucostele terscheckii| Leucostele terscheckii}}
- {{cite web | title=Argentine Saguaro (Trichocereus terscheckii) | website=iNaturalist | url=http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/870252-Trichocereus-terscheckii | language=en | access-date=2021-04-09}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1280648}}