Echinocactus cinereus, described more
than 100 years ago, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful (and I would
also say well-known) Chilean cacti. The author of the description, R.A.
Philippi, was numbered among the greatest experts on the Chilean flora in
the past century. In his study of unusually interesting plants in his
native country, he dedicated himself to a considerable extent to cacti,
and so his name is associated with many species.
In the year 1860, he described several cacti, among
them Echinocactus cinereus. The author’s “broad” statements about
the habitat of this species must today be regarded as unconvincing,
especially at that point in the description where mention is made of a
continuous, cactus-covered area between the township of Taltal and
the settlement of El Cobre. All authors (including Hutchison and
Backeberg) later took over these original statements, although it is
immensely difficult even to get across the coastal desert to the north,
not to speak of a more detailed investigation; it is not a question of a
few kilometres, but a full hundred in very challenging, parched terrain.
The coast in this rugged landscape is broken up by
rocks, so that there is almost no continuous, sandy beach. The many
cliffs, as it were, often drop straight into the sea. The landscape opens
out in a wide bay, and among the hills, reaching up to 300 m high, lies
the township of Taltal. The only water-course here is the Quebrada de
Taltal, a small brooklet, often drying up, in the neighbourhood of
which, along the lower part of the stream, are the most important and most
abundant stands of Copiapoa cinerea. This area was
presumably not always so dry, a fact to which numerous dried-up river beds
testify, just where these very fine specimens grow. I have seen a thousand
acres of the whitish columns of these magnificent plants, a metre tall in
places. In the next part of the Quebrada de Taltal - at a distance of
about 5 km from the town - almost uniformly black-spined plants grow for a
space of about 3 km. Copiapoa cinerea also occurs plentifully on
the neighbouring hills, where however, I observed them to be different in
the colouring of their spines, especially on the crown. Among experts, the
plants which have black spines on the crown are considered as the Type.
On my own expeditions, I have found solitary plants
of this species, as well as crested plants and those which grow in groups;
a widely-branched cluster is not exceptional. Hutchison in his own work
mentions various forms and he designated several distinct groups, which,
all things considered, form a logical species complex. There remains only
the question of designating those variations which remain constant from
generation to generation. I also found pure white forms which correspond
to the Ritter novelty, Copiapoa cinerea var. albispina (FR
207, FR 207a); nearly all the specimens had white spines, only a few were
coloured yellowish or brown. The wool in the crown was whitish or greyish.
I do not regard this form as stable, because white spines occur - though
rarely - in a lot of other places. It is very interesting also to compare
the number of the spines, which are difficult to differentiate into
centrals and radials. Most common are the forms with 6 spines, the rarest
are those with one; the spines are generally stout, glossy, slightly
curved, up to 3 cm long. The epidermis of mature plants is chalky white;
in small seedlings up to 6 to 8 cm in diameter it is brownish to
reddishviolet.
There are also considerable differences in the
flowers, and in the form and number of the straw-coloured petals. The 1.2
to 1.7 cm long fruits have a cylindrical form and are as a rule hidden in
the wool of the crown. The fruit at maturity splits at the top and gapes
open, so that the seeds may slip out easily; unripe seeds are often
destroyed by ants, which will consume up to 90% of the crop.
The vicinity of Taltal, then, is the principal
discovery-place of Copiapoa cinerea, the last specimens of which I
found at a distance of about 8 km from the town (in a southerly direction)
near the sea, while in a northerly direction they occurred up to 5 km from
the town and even then only scantily; further to the north (18 to 20 km
from Taltal) I found yet another species, known as C. haseltoniana.
I believe that only a more detailed phytogeographical investigation will
define the real extent of the habitat.of Copiapoa cinerea.
