Rather like my notes for
our explorations of Quebrada San Ramon, my stop numbers for the Botija Valley
are nothing more than points where concentrations of particular taxa are
found.
S139 was our campsite and it was a
delight to put your head out of the tent to be greeted by clumps of Copiapoas
right in your face. In the 1996 Schulz & Kapitany book, these plants were called
Copiapoa variispinata and although this name would be more than apt for a
plant with a great variability in spine length and colour, it was suggested
from various quarters (and agreed by the authors) that this name applied to a
small member of the Humilis complex that grows at the mouth of the next valley
south, the Iscuña Valley. This left the rather unusual and
unsatisfactory position that there were now two undescribed possible species
from the Botija Valley, as Rudolf and Attila also show pictures of a 'Copiapoa
sp. Botija' in their book. The mystery remains how Ritter, otherwise
apparently so thorough and keen to report new species, had 'missed' these two.
Had he never been to Botija? He certainly had been to near by El Cobre and
Blanco Encalada.
Nigel Taylor and Graham
Charles resolved the problem by publishing descriptions for both as new
species (Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives 13: 15, 2002)
where the plants found at the mouth of the Valley were named Copiapoa
ahremephiana. Further into the Quebrada some, mainly solitary,
plants of Copiapoa atacamensis were found while about half way to the
end of the valley (S140), the other newly described species,
Copiapoa decorticans was found. Note that these are newly described
not newly found, as plant have been in circulation in Europe for a
while, either under the name 'sp. Botija' or perhaps, for C.
ahremephiana, labelled simply RMF 53 or Copiapoa rarrissima.
Stop
S141 was at the end of the Valley, also
known as 'the T Junction' as from here, one valley heads north while another
runs south. The view approaching the T Junction is impressive as a fairly
steep, hillside consisting of a dark coloured rock blocked our progress
eastward. This hillside is literally covered by large clumps of Copiapoa
solaris. In 2001 we were struck by how healthy these plants looked,
particularly as we had only seen other stands where the majority of plants
were dead and had probably been so for quite some years. This is another
strange feature of the area, decay through rot, as we are used to see in GB
just does not happen. Rudolf showed us some pictures taken in 1994 that
included some mounds of dead plants. Nine years later, the scenery, including
the dead mounds, looks identical. With so much death in evidence, it's easy to
worry about the ability of the living plants to survive.
Having said that, it seemed to Benjy and I that the
C. ahremephiana plants at the mouth of the valley did not look in such
good shape as they had done in 2001. I cut one small stem (sure that it
did not help the health of the plant! and found that the tissue inside was
orrangey - yellow, under UK cultivation conditions a sure sign of a fungus
with death eminent.
The C. decorticans plants by contrast looked a
little happier than in 2001, or perhaps I just took more time as once again
Angie & I decided to go at our own pace, rather than to follow the main party
for a march up the Valley, just as in 2001. I remember at the time, when
suggestions for a name were bounded around that one person (was it Paul
Hoxey?) suggested C. moribunda (excuse incorrect latinisation) as it
seemed from the plants that we saw then, that its chances for survival in the
wild were slim with no evidence of regeneration (seedlings, fruit or even
flowers or flower remains) found. Later, an article in the excellent Cactus &
Co indicated that high up the hill the situation was more promising, with
pictures of the plant in flower. I looked at the steep, crumbly hill side,
looked at Angie and walking on to the end of the valley to look for C.
solaris seed proved the more convenient option.
Like C. ahremephiana earlier, the C.
solaris at the other end of the valley too did not look as healthy as in
2001, with many (more?) clumps of dead plants. As mentioned earlier, these
dead plants do not appear to rot, but rather seem to oxidise, turning first
into a black wax like material before turning to grey ash, as though they had
been burned.
On the way back in the car, Benjy and I chatted about
how many possible 'intermediates' between the two new species and possibly
C. atacamensis we had found. While others were still packing their tents,
I took a stroll to Caleta Botija, or rather, back to the coast track to see
what grew between it and the Pacific Ocean: more C. ahremephiana!
(S142)
We made one more stop (S143) when the
first (unusually small) Copiapoa haseltoniana appeared and 'took tea'
(well Nescafe instant coffee actually) at the small shop and restaurant at
Paposo, before arriving tired but happy back at Caleta Hueso for the night.
