In 2001, one of the Copiapoa taxa that had
'escaped' us was Copiapoa megarhiza. Acting on information received at
the time, we had been looking for 'a granite hill in front of the mine at
Paipote. When we got there, we counted at least 18 mines in and around the
small town and each appeared to have a granite hill in front of it. This time,
we had better information, from Rudolf, and so set out, taking the turn inland
from Ruta 5, signposted for 'Mina Adriana'.
As had become the norm, there was a low cloud base,
perhaps 50 m. above the road, and we drove a good 20 km before stopping at a
location where Rudolf had told us we would find Tillandsia lembckei, (S190) yes - not a Copiapoa, not even a cactus - but a welcome change for
most of us in the flora of Chile. These wonderful airplants have a distinct
advantage in cultivation - they do not need repotting!
We were approaching the location given to us by
Rudolf for C. megarhiza, but the landscape did not look very promising.
Still, best to stop (S191) and take a look. We were right - we only
found the omni-present Cumulopuntia sphaerica, but at least a few
plants were in flower, so cameras clicked. We had to be close, so stopped
again a few kilometres further on (S192) although the scenery was still
unpromising. Benjy was so convinced that we'd draw another blank that he
stayed in the car, complaining that we should not be wasting our time at stops
where clearly nothing could grow. Cliff and Ian were the first to call
out that they had found something and Benjy was out of the car like a flash!
They were not the healthiest, best looking plants I had ever seen, but never
the less, a box on my virtual list of Copiapoa-species-to-see could be ticked.
Were there better plants further on? The only way to
find out is by making another stop (S193), but again, only found
Cumulopuntia sphaerica. We had been given details of one more
location, close to Copiapó (S194), a spot
that I'd driven past on four previous occasions, usually disappointed that
once again C. megarhiza had beaten us. Following Rudolf's scribbled
notes, we turned up a track that seemed to lead through and to agriculturally
developed land. Not good. The track then turned into an area that resembled
the Copiapó municipal rubbish tip - we had read of many cactus populations
that were endangered by such operations. Not good. Fortunately the track
continued and we were now at the foot of the south facing hills of the Rio
Copiapó valley. This seemed better and soon we could spot the plants from the
car, in large numbers and in much better shape, particularly when we poured a
bottle of water over one plant - with the dust washed off the wet spines stood
out magnificently!
We found plants of all
ages and could not resist our curiosity about the size of the tuberous root
that gives the plant its name. I selected a small individual, some 2 cm
(approaching 1") in diameter and started removing stones and blowing away
gravel. It took quite a while to expose the 25 cm (c. 9 ") tap root and a bit
longer for us all to take its picture. When we told Rudolf later, he
smiled. This had been a population of 'micro-megarhiza'. Elsewhere, the
taproots were much bigger! There are great similarities between
fishermen's tales and those of 'cactus-explorers' meeting up over an alcoholic
beverage. Those who know him, will recognise Leo's expression: 'Man, you
should have seen them!!!'
I do not need many excuses to return to Chile in the
future, but just in case, I added 'find 'mega-megarhiza'' to the list of
potential excuses.
