Synonyms

Cereus schickendantzii, Soehrensia schickendantzii, Trichocereus schickendantzii, Echinopsis fabrisii, Soehrensia fabrisii, Trichocereus fabrisii, Echinopsis friedrichii, Echinopsis manguinii, Trichocereus manguinii, Echinopsis narvaecensis, Helianthocereus narvaecensis, Trichocereus narvaecensis, Trichocereus shaferi, Echinopsis smrziana, Soehrensia smrziana, Trichocereus smrzianus, Trichocereus tenuispinus, Trichocereus volcanensis, Echinopsis walteri, Lobivia walteri, Soehrensia walteri, Trichocereus walteri

Distribution

Argentina (from Catamarca to Jujuy), Bolivia (Chuquisaca, Tarija)

Conservation status

(3)   Least Concern, LC

Comments

The current concept of Echinopsis schickendantzii F. A. C. Weber (Hunt et al. 2006, text: 100-101), includes plant populations that occupy a wide geographical area, extending from northern Argentina (from Catamarca to Jujuy) and southern Bolivia (Chuquisaca and Tarija). The taxon also shows a great variety in forms of growth. In fact, in addition to the form of the type, found in the province of Tucumán (Argentina), a low bush with slightly cylindrical stems 15-20 x <6 cm, there can also be found the forms known as Trichocereus shaferi Britton & Rose, a bush of large dimensions with stems < 60 x 10-15 cm, forming groups of 1-2 metres, or as Echinopsis fabrisii (R. Kiesling) G. D. Rowley, another bushy plant, producing branches from the base, with stems up to 100 x 20 cm. The surveys on the species were conducted in Argentina and Bolivia between 2007 and 2011 by us, broadly confirming the distribution areas already known and the variability of the forms, with specimens that achieve <140 cm in height (A&M 507, photos 33-34, 38). In May 2011, we were in the Province of Salta (AR), in the areas between Cachipampa, La Cuesta del Obispo and the Quebrada de Escoipe, to try to clarify the relationships between E. schickendantzii, Echinopsis smrziana Backeberg and Echinopsis walteri (R. Kiesling) H. Friedrich & Glaetzle. This reminds us that while in Anderson (2001, 280; 2005; 2011) E. smrziana is still recognized at species level, in Hunt et al. (2006, text: 101) it is assimilated into E. schickendantzii. Instead E. walteri is recognized as a good species both Anderson (2001, 280; 2005; 2011), and Hunt et al. (2006, text: 103). A note by Charles, accompanying the text (ibid.), reports that E. walteri hybridizes with E. smrziana in the Quebrada de Escoipe, which is also the type locality for the first taxon. The note adds that the photo used for the taxon in NCL (Hunt et al. 2006 atlas: 255, fig. 255.4), shows a plant grown in cultivation (Rausch 12), identified by the same Rausch in its field numbers list as Lobivia smrziana! The question that arises is: does E. walteri exist, and how does it differ from E. smrziana = E. schickendantzii? In its current definition, the expanded description of E. schickendantzii, it overlaps with all the characters of E. walteri, except for the flower, white for the first taxon, and yellow or red for the second. However, as mentioned before, we believe that the colour of a flower, by itself, is not a key factor in recognizing a species (Anceschi & Magli 2010, 17). So let's go back to the surveys in May 2011. Coming from Cachi, via Cachipampa, and proceeding towards the Cuesta del Obispo, down into the Quebrada de Escoipe, the only populations of Echinopsis Zuccarini detected, forming groups of a certain size, can be identified with E. schickendantzii (we remember that E. walteri forms groups with globose stems 16 x 16 cm, with about 11 ribs, with <15 spines or more, 1-2.5 cm). On the Cuesta del Obispo, the first population detected lives between the locality La Herradura and Peña de Caracol (A&M 505). The population in the highest area (La Herradura) is made up of groups with stems of about 12.5 cm in diameter, an average of 12 ribs, with 3 central spines, the lower 3.3 cm, and 9 radial spines <2.3 cm (photos 13-15). In the same population, down towards Peña do Caracol (photos 19-26), the stems become stronger <25 x 18.5 cm, with 13-15 ribs, 1-2 central spines <4.5 cm, and 8-10 radial spines <3, 4 cm (photos 19, 24-25). Past Peña do Caracol, some groups become even bigger still, with higher stems <40 x 19 cm (A&M 506, photos 27-28), while continuing to show also the globular form, detected at La Herradura, but with a greater number of ribs (photos 31-32). Once you arrive in the Quebrada de Escoipe, the stems can reach up to 140 cm in height, with an average of (13 -) 14 cm in diameter, about 14-16 ribs, areoles with 1 central spine and 6-8 radial (A&M 507, photos 33-38). In our opinion, we are not faced with distinct taxa interbreeding with each other but with E. schickendantzii, a single taxon that varies in the dimensional characters in the different distribution areas it populates, living between Cachipampa and the Quebrada de Escoipe. The more similar forms to the description of E. walteri are those of the upper part of the Cuesta, as noted by other researchers (see Lobivia walteri on Ralph Martin’s field number seach). We would like to point out that in 2007 we found similar forms to E. walteri on the top of the Quebrada de Las Conchas, at 3600 metres above sea level, near La Cieneguita (A&M 198, photos 1-3; A&M 198b, photos 5-8). Even here (photos 4, 9-10) we see the same changes noted in the Cuesta del Obispo / Quebrada de Escoipe, even here we believe that all the specimens belong to a single species: the dominant and variable E. schickendantzii. As highlighted, as well as E. smrziana, E. walteri is to be considered as a synonym of E. schickendantzii. (Quoted from: Anceschi & Magli 2013b, 50-52)

Genus

Echinopsis

Other species

acanthura
acrantha
albispinosa
ancistrophora
angelesiae
aurea
balansae
baumannii
bertramiana
bridgesii
bruchii
buchtienii
bylesiana
calochlora
camarguensis
candelilla
candicans
caulescens
celsiana
cephalomacrostibas
chalaensis
chrysantha
chrysochete
cinnabarina
decumbens
ferox
formosa
guentheri
haematantha
haynei
hempeliana
hennigiana
horstii
huascha
hystrix
kieslingii
korethroides
laniceps
lateritia
leucantha
leucotricha
mamillosa
marsoneri
martinii
maytana
melanostele
micropetala
mirabilis
nothochilensis
nothohyalacantha
obrepanda
oxygona
pachanoi
pamparuizii
parviflora
pasacana
platinospina
pomanensis
pseudomelanostele
pugionacantha
quadratiumbonata
randallii
rauhii
rhodacantha
rojasii
rondoniana
rowleyi
samaipatana
santacruzensis
schickendantzii
sextoniana
smaragdiflora
spiniflora
stilowiana
strausii
strigosa
tacaquirensis
tarijensis
terscheckii
tetracantha
thelegona
thionantha
tominensis
trollii
urbis-regum
volliana
weberbaueri
werdermanniana