I have been in Peru several times and on some of these travels I have taken the time to study the cacti in their natural habitats. Some impressions.
2005 travel
Inca trail and surroundings.
Columnar cactusZuilcactus, probably Trichocereus, at the beginning of the inca trail, close to Piscacucho.
A seedling of Corryocactus or Cleistocactus, at the bridge over the Urubamba in Piscacucho.
Austrocylindropuntia subulata ssp. exaltata, a more compact form of A. subulata with heavier spination.
Lobivia hertrichiana, Piscacucho.
As well close to Piscacucho, these heavy spined culomnar cacti.
A bit further on the trail this forest of mainly Trichocereus
Corryocactus erectus close to Llactapata, but these are frequent till Huayllabamba.
Corryocactus erectus, in every valley the plants differ a little bit in flower colour and spination.
Peperomia lanuginosa? growing on some dead wood.
Oxalis sp., near Warmihuañusca at 4000m altitude
Oxalis sp., on the ruines of Sayajmarca.
Oxalis sp., on the ruines of Sayajmarca.
Peperomia galioides on the ruines of Macchu Picchu
Near Pisac and the sacred valley
Tephrocactus floccosus in the cameloid museum
Corryocactus erectus on the ruines of Ollantaytambo
Very dehydrated Lobivia hertrichiana on the ruines of Ollantaytambo
2007 travel
In june 2007 I have traveled Peru during 3 weeks, partly for the beautiful culture, but also to expore the cacti habitats.
The travel consisted of two weeks mainly cacti in Northern Peru: Cajamarca and Amazonas, followed by one week in the south: Puno and Cusco where the culture was the more important part.
puente Crisnejas and surroundings, the town Aguas Calientes and La Grama, between San Marcos and Cajabamba.
Surroundings puente Crisnejas
Surroundings puente Crisnejas with views on Aguas Calientes
Espostoa lanata ssp. lanianuligera
Espostoa lanata ssp. lanianuligera with fruit
Espostoa lanata ssp. lanianuligera
Espostoa lanata ssp. lanianuligera with some crested heads
Melocactus bellavistensis
Melocactus bellavistensis flower detail
Seedling of Melocactus bellavistensis with a remarkable heavy spination already.
Melocactus bellavistensis
Armatocereus matucanensis with the typical segmented growth
Armatocereus matucanensis, watch the nice blue epidermis
Opuntia pestifer
Matucana intertexta
Matucana intertexta
Weberbauerocereus longicomus (?)
The following cactus site was the valley of the river Marañon near the town of Balsas. Our travel (on foot!) that day started around 3400m altitide to descend till about 900m. In the heighest regions we mainly say Peperomia, Echeveria, orchids and bromeliaceae. Lower grasses and Matucana became more frequent and in the last part we entered the paradise for Melocactus huge columnars. The other side of the valley had a similar pattern, but with some different species.
Peperomia cymbifolia var. goodspeedii
Peperomia galioides ssp. glauca
Echeveria eurychlamis and a nice succulent plant (Pilea?)
A wonderful succulent plant, Villadia sp.
Matucana celendinensis
Once arrived in Balsas these were the plants we found.
Melocactus bellavistensis ssp. onychacanthus; I assume it's this subspecies.
Melocactus bellavistensis ssp. onychacanthus
Espostoa blossfeldiorum
Espostoa blossfeldiorum
Espostoa mirabilis
Espostoa mirabilis with ants taking away the seeds.
Browningia pileifera
Browningia pileifera
Armatocereus rauhii ssp. balsasensis, FYI, I'm about 1m90 tall
Armatocereus rauhii ssp. balsasensis
Matucana krahnii or M. formosa? Both grow on that place, but as we did not find flowering plants so it was almost imposible to distinguish them.
Matucana krahnii of M. formosa? Both grow on that place, but as we did not find flowering plants so it was almost imposible to distinguish them
Matucana krahnii of M. formosa? Both grow on that place, but as we did not find flowering plants so it was almost imposible to distinguish them
Matucana krahnii of M. formosa? Both grow on that place, but as we did not find flowering plants so it was almost imposible to distinguish them
Leaving Balsas, direction of Leymebamba, we say a nice assortment of Peperomia.
A well hidden Peperomia hutchisonii, the surrounding rocks had the same colour as this plant, talking about camouflage...
Peperomia dolabriformis
Peperomia trollii
Calymnanthium fertile
Calymnanthium fertile fruit, called pithaya by the locals and thus consumed by them. This is proably the cause we did not find a single ripe fruit nor did my French friends that visited the place 6 months earlier.
Now we take a wild ride in/on a truck till Leymebamba to continue the day after to Chachapoyas.
Peperomia sp., on the ruines of Kuelap
The recently described Echeveria utcubambensis, in Kuelap as well
Echeveria utcubambensis
Cleistocactus sp. nova, pink flowering and will soon be described as Cleistocactus hutschisonii
The further travel leads us to Puno and Cuzco with less cacti and more culture.
Tephrocactus floccosus on the la Raya pass, at about 4400m altitude.
Lobivia hertrichiana on the ruines of Pisac
Corryocactus sp., as well in Pisac
During the summer of 2009 I had another chance to visit cacti in the Peruvian habitats: PART 2
