Bleary eyed, we got out of our
tents and before too long were on our way, on foot, walking into the Quebrada.
Rudolf and Attila had been here before and were keen to explore further. The
cacti that were growing at the mouth of the valley had been tentatively
identified as Copiapoa varispinata but later, on our return to England
and after a visit by Rudolf and myself to the Herbarium at Utrecht (Netherlands)
where Ritter's original type material for this taxon had been deposited, we
realised that this was not the correct name. So, for the time being it became
Copiapoa sp. Botija #1 (mound forming).
As we progressed up the valley,
another Copiapoa, C. atacamensis was found, and further still (S067),
Rudolf and Attila pointed out another Copiapoa - long stems, hanging from
the rock face. This was at this time referred to as Copiapoa sp. Botija #2
and has since been described by Graham Charles and Nigel Taylor as Copiapoa
decorticans (in Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives 13:15, 2002). Although
this plant has been known at least since 1990, it had never been formally
described.
We walked on, until the Valley,
that had run east so far, seemed to form a T junction with a high dark hill,
covered in large, healthy looking clumps of Copiapoa (Subgenus Pilocopiapoa)
solaris (S068). It
was remarkable that where as C. solaris grew on the dark soil, C.
atacamensis was only found on the lighter coloured rocks. I'm not sure if
this observation is significant, but it was certainly striking. Copiapoa
are not generally known to have particular soil requirements in cultivation and
we failed to collect specimens of each type of soil to take back for further
analysis.
This is where the party split up.
Michelle and Attila stayed to collect some seed, before exploring the turning
north while Rudolf lead a party south. His objective was to follow this
narrowing canyon that, according to our maps, would lead to a saddle in the
hills and, once crossed, would lead them into the next valley south, the
Quebrada Izcuņa. Marlon and I had agreed to walk back to the cars and drive one
of the cars to the mouth of the Izcuņa Valley, where we would pick up the
walkers.
On our walk back, we again found
evidence the presence of mice, including a couple of dead ones in varying states
of decay. This probably explained the presence of a couple of very shy foxes
that we had spotted playing a game of hide and seek with us.
There was just one small flaw in
the otherwise wonderfully thought out plan for the day - it had not allowed for
my inexperience of driving a 4 wheel drive car through talcum powder like dust,
so that the car became stuck in this, a few hundred yards away from the mouth of
Izcuņa. There was little that the two of us could do. We made some futile
attempts at digging the wheels out with our hands and tried to use the plastic
cover for the back of the pick-up to try and give us some grip, but to no avail
- until the walkers appeared out of the valley and Attila and Michelle turned up
with their car to pull us out, so that we could return to Taltal.
