Earlier
this year, the British Cactus & Succulent Society's Journal contained
a review by Paul Hoxey of Copiapoa humilis and its many wide
spread locations, where small differences with plants at the Paposo
type locality had created a series of taxa, some of which Paul
recognised as subspecies.(BCSJ 22(1):29-42). He had added a new one,
Copiapoa humilis ssp australis - the most southern form, from a
hill top south of Huasco. I was highly sceptical. Plants from the
Humilis group are generally regarded as not coming down this far south
and the Huasco river is regarded to be the northern border of the
Coquimbana group, with C. fiedleriana the common form around
Huasco.
Rudolf Schulz, Ingrid Schaub and Ricardo Keim
had carried out some searches in the area earlier in 2004, without
positive success, although, as a 'negative success', they had narrowed
down the number of hill tops that still required exploration, to a
manageable number.
We decided to start at our usual stop (2001/S024
and 2003/S118), this time
S308. Here too, we were amazed at the
amount of greenery and wild flowers, especially as previous visits had
been to soot covered scenery and plants. It was easy to spot the first
Eriosyce napina as they were pumped up and either in flower or
with recent flower remains (but no ripe fruits yet). As we started to
take their pictures it soon became clear that there were so many
napinas that it was difficult not to stand on a few while taking
pictures of the others. Copiapoa fiedleriana was also looking a
lot happier than on previous occasions when the plants had looked so
dry that it had been difficult to identify the genus, let alone the
species to which these plants belong. The patch that had been in
contact with Euphorbia latex on previous days started to itch
again - a sure sign that there were more of these plants to be found,
confirmed by E. thinophila weeping with latex next to the
napinas that we had just photographed.
But the real reason that I had come back to
Huasco was to look for Copiapoa humilis ssp australis, We
decided that if this plant exists, it had to be reasonably near by and
that we could discount hill tops already checked out by Rudolf, Ingrid
and Ricardo during the summer. Looking at the maps on my laptop left
one candidate, for which I took an approximate GPS reading. We drove
up a track away from the coast and with the aid of Bart's and my GPS
readings identified the hill that for most of the morning had been
shrouded in clouds. At this spot (S309)
the ground was carpeted with a white to light purplish lily that has
tentatively IDed as Zephyra elegans. A wonderful excuse for
some marvellous pictures, while the cloud over the hill slowly lifted.
The clouds actually made sense - C. humilis
likes to grow in high altitude fog zones. We found a suitable place to
park (S310),
so that our ascend would be as short as possible. Bart and I were the
only cactophiles mad enough to have a go. I was amazed at the speed
with which Bart disappeared up the hill. I remembered previous climbs
and the need to pace oneself, plus my scepticism acted as a powerful
break. If C. humilis did grow on this hill, there would be no
need to go all the way to the top, but at Bart's speed, there was
little chance of his spotting any growing at lower levels, or of my
keeping up with him. I followed at a more leisurely pace.
There seemed to be a smallish plateau at around
300 m. altitude. I decided to take some scenic pictures, to at least
prove to Paul H. that we'd been on 'his' hill and to make a thorough
search (hands & knees) of this area, but only found more typical C.
fiedleriana. I felt sure that Paul H. and his companions (Clark
Brunt, Jonas Luethy and Simon Mentha) could tell these from humilis.
I carried on, up the hill, more sceptical than ever. Another 'wrong
hill'? Or was Paul's diagnosis incorrect? I was shaken out of my
thoughts, as a snake (only the second that I had encountered on the
three trips) dashed past me. It seemed as shocked as I was. I was
comforted by the belief (true or not) that there are no poisonous
snakes native to the north of Chile, but there is nothing like a face
to face confrontation to start questioning your believes. And
poisonous or not, I'd rather avoid a bite. The last time I had
encountered a very similar looking snake had been on level ground,
near the entrance to Fray Jorge N.P. The one today had found me
clambering up a fairly steep hillside with lots of lose rocks and the
shock of our encounter had made me slip some metres back down the
hillside, so I was actually 'face to face' with my reptile friend,
although some distance apart. We looked at each other, as though to
size each other up. I managed to take its picture, but Snakey had
quickly moved out of sight by the time I had found a better, more
stable position to take further pictures. The encounter had left me
quite exhausted and, added to my scepticism, was enough to dissuade
me from continuing to the top.
There was no need, as the sound of small rocks
rolling down the hill announced Bart's descend, long before I caught
sight of him. Leo, Rudolf: I think you have another candidate to
compete with for the official title of 'Copiapoathon Mountain Goat'!
Bart amazed me by confirming that he had indeed
found Copiapoa humilis growing at the top of the hill. He had
taken several pictures, but we'll have to wait for the slides to be
developed and duplicated / scanned before knowing exactly what Bart
found, but some heads that had become dislodged by his climbing
activities had come down the hill as evidence and were duly
digitalised so that Alain can include them in his daily images.
This population, by far the most southern of any
previously known humilis locality, appears to indicate that
once upon a time humilis was a widely distributed taxon, but
that, as the climate became drier, is currently only to be found at a
number of quite widely distributed remnant populations. So how many of
these are there left to be discovered? Surely enough to warrant
further visits to Chile. And the prospect of speculating when and
where during dark winter evenings back in Europe with a few bottles of
Pisco Sour and Cabernet Sauvignon is another thing to look forward to.
Satisfied to place another 'tick' on my initial
wish list for the trip, we had lunch and drove to
Freirina for some sightseeing and another 2003 stop (S117),
at Maitencillo, where alongside C. coquimbana and / or C.
fiedleriana (these plants still looked very dry) we found
Eriosyce napina ssp lembckei (S311).
The rate at which Maitencillo was expanding and the agricultural
development that seems to accompany this are worthy of praise, while I
fear for the future of the cacti at this locality. So how far did it
extend? We drove some 5 km along the track, sign posted for Ojo de
Agua and found many more plants in much healthier condition (S312),
and confirmed these observations again some 5 km further on (S313),
before returning to Huasco and our farewell meal with Bart & Marijke.
Time for our return to Europe was approaching.
