On my two previous visits to Chile, I had concentrated on the north, from Arica to Copiapó, in the company of the Chilean botanist Adriana Hoffmann. Travelling north via the Pan-American highway from Santiago there appear from time to time signposts directing one to areas all too familiar to Chilean cactus enthusiasts, their very names being synonymous with cactus. None more so perhaps than Carrizal Bajo. Time had not permitted us the opportunity on those previous visits to venture to this cactus haven for it is some hours drive from the Pan-American highway despite its relative close proximity -about 60km. In 1985 we would put this right and together with Adriana Hoffmann we worked out a schedule. For the first part of the trip we wanted to study the valley and mountains around Salamanca, heading north to Ovalle, turning again towards the mountains along the Rio Molles.

For the second stage we sought help at La Serena amongst the few botanists known to Adriana who work around there. Our aim was to travel from La Serena along the coast via Huasco to Carrizal Bajo and ultimately to Morro Copiapó. We were told that it would be possible provided we were not faint hearted, the vehicle robust enough, etc., etc. Upon reflection nobody seemed keen to join us and the prevailing attitude was “why don‘t you give it a try?“ Well, we were not faint hearted and our trusty steed a four wheel Land Rover had justified the utmost faith I placed upon it during some previous hazardous trips, so we set off in good heart. Leaving the Pan-American highway as it turns inland just north of La Serena we travelled along the coast via Cruze Grande, Choros Bajos, Carrizalillo and on to Sarco. The journey thus far had gone without serious incident but we were already in need of petrol; the distance from our last filling station at La Serena had failed to take into account the wanderings we had taken along various tracks in order to continue north and the amount of time we spent in four wheel drive. Sarco is a small fishing village and we were fortunate to be able to persuade some of the local fishermen to part with their stocks of petrol, delivered to the Land Rover in one litre Coca-Cola bottles.

They warned us not to attempt the journey north along the coast but we decided to give it a look, as Huasco was only 45km to the north. The warnings were well founded; the soft shifting sand that covers much of the Quebrada San Juan was impossible to travel through and there were no tracks to follow for, as the locals warned us, nobody had been this way before. We had no alternative but to head back to the Pan-American highway at Domeyko and on to Vallenar. At Vallenar the town was decked out with notices of a jeep rally the forthcoming weekend starting at Huasco and going on to Morro Copiapo, the same route that we intended to take. Surely then our chances of success were high. We sought more information; yes, a track existed and we could use it. In order not to get caught up in the rally we left early the following morning some two full days before the rally was due to commence.

Following the Huasco valley from Vallenar to Huasco the road is good standard as it is quite an important route. It is also the area for several well-known species such as Neoporteria vallenarensis, N. villosa; from the subgenera Neochilenia N. atroviridis, crispus, huascensis, duripulpa, lembckei and napina; and among the Copiapoa vallenarensis, fiedleriana, and alticostata. Whilst in my opinion not all these names indicate true distinct species it does nevertheless show how the area has been botanised. The valley bottom is very fertile being irrigated from the river throughout its length whereas the cactus are to be found higher in the surrounding hills. Upon reaching the coast at Huasco one bears north across a fIat sandy plain. It is this area that is used by hundreds of Chileans at vacation time and represents a magnificent beach. We allowed ourselves a brief siesta during what was now the hottest part of the day.

Continuing our journey north we passed the spot where we got stuck during a previous visit in a more conventional vehicle. We had been told that Friedrich Ritter had attempted this coast route some years previously and he too had to turn back. And it was only a year or two since Fred Katterman was not able to get beyond this spot. The track never really climbed but the small upgradients consisting mainly of sand were the downfall of the Dodge camper we had used previously. The road hugged the shoreline wandering no more than 100 metres from the seashore. Having made camp for the night we searched a small sandy area and were surprised to find a Thelocephala species. Surprised, because the sand was very loose and deep. Upon removing a plant it was clear that it had adapted to this over a period of time for the large tuberous root bore very etiolated heads that had continued to grow through the sand each time the wind had banked more sand upon it. In a number of cases these heads extended beyond 15cm. More typical representatives of this plant were to be found further away from the beach where the ground became firmed and thus the plant more compact. I gave this plant my reference number RMF 277 and it reminds me very much of the plant that is cultivated under the name “reichei” i.e. long and straggly stems. At this stage I should say that the plant generally cultivated under this name is a rogue plant and bears little resemblance to the original description of E. reichei.

Isolated specimens of Copiapoa echinus started to appear. These sightings became more numerous as we travelled although the plant never appeared to be a dominant species largely on account of its small size. When we first met with these plants, we found some growing in a sandy grit that was so loose that there was no difficulty in scooping it out by hand. In this way we followed the roots down for up to half a metre. Copiapoa in general are very adaptable plants inhabiting a range of micro habitats - flat ground, rocky ground, or between rock crevices. This species was no different for although there appeared at first more by ratio in the flat grey sandy areas than in the rocks later (perhaps due to more competition on the flatter ground) the numbers seemed fairly well divided between sand and rocks.

Shortly we were to encounter one of nature‘s marvels, Copiapoa carrizalensis, without doubt one of the most impressive if not the most impressive plant I have ever seen. We were travelling at a modest speed, influenced as much by the terrain as by our intention to study the area as best we could, when this plant crept up on us! One is quite used to seeing outlying specimens before the population proper appears but here this remarkable plant dominated the landscape almost from its first appearance. Absolutely thousands of individual clumps could be seen erupting from every possible nook and cranny, clumps or more correctly mounds which grew to over two metres across and over a metre high possessing well over one hundred heads. The sheer magnificence that lay before me inspired me to run off three full rolls of film (some 108 shots). Some of these plants had a dirty green epidermis, others were a silvery grey; sometimes the clumps were all of one colour, sometimes the other, whilst elsewhere both sorts grew alongside each other. There was nothing obvious which determined the colour of the epidermis - it seemed to depend upon neither the rockiness nor the sandiness of the ground, nor the steepness of the slope, nor the shade or absence from Eulychnia. Many of these Copiapoa were in flower, but as usual the ants seemed to have rifled the fruit for the seeds. As indicated above, Copiapoa tend to inhabit quite a range of micro habitats, but here the plants were restricted to rock crevices and sloping ground. The slope only needed to be modest for the plants to appear but they were at their best as one climbed higher to reach the top of this small range of hills, little more than one hundred metres high. Dwarf woody bushes, shrubs and herbs, Copiapoa echinus and C. dura, as well as tall Eulychnia breviflora, accompanied Copiapoa carrizalensis, but all rarely so close together that one could not easily walk amongst and between them. Over the hill top, where the ground fell away somewhat, nothing grows. Is this where the coastal mists cease to provide any moisture? Unlike their relatives from further north (cinerea, haseltoniana, longistaminea) they did not grow close to the shoreline where herbs and shrubs of Frankiana, Euphorbia, and Calandrinia took over from C. carrizalensis and dominated the shoreline vegetation. As we travelled along the coast this pattern of vegetation was not continuous, but disappeared then re-appeared for no obvious reason.

Amongst this mass of veritable giants our aim was to search for Ritter‘s Neoporteria laniceps. It had long been my belief that this species could not be separated from the older well known species from Huasco, Neoporteria villosa. We had not come across this plant anywhere since we left Huasco, despite stopping at many quebradas where we left the vehicle and climbed uphill to see what each held; but at this spot amongst rock crevices we at last came upon it. These plants had only small heads with a relatively large tap root, appearing to differ from those at Huasco simply in spination. Here the plants have a much finer and more hair like appearance. This simply is not sufficient to warrant two names and whilst I can not confirm my earlier beliefs that there was a continuation geographically from one to the other, the distance that separates them is modest. Neochilenia carrizalensis started to make an appearance here and again this appears to be a complex of names that are only determined by location. These plants which possess some of the most beautiful flowers of all the Neochilenia grow close to the ground with a well developed tap root. Only rarely can they be found among rocks and certainly their adaptation appears to be more specialised or less varied than that of Copiapoa. Thelocephala glabrescens was also found; it is remarkable that in an area dominated by huge Copiapoa one is prepared to spend several hours stooping, eyes firmly fixed to the ground searching for semi-visible plants some 3cm in diameter!

From here we headed towards Carrizal Bajo, by now less than a km away. Now it is but a shadow of its former self and possesses about a dozen shanty houses and a church. There are obviously enough inhabitants to support a basic football team who were in action when we arrived! In Europe we can have little idea of the nature of South American football pitches of this type. Not a blade of grass can be seen, the pitch blending perfectly with the road and all its surroundings. Carrizal Bajo does offer a holiday retreat, or so one is led to believe. From the Pan-American highway a road of reasonable standard runs to here and just as wherever the Pan-American links with the coast one is directed to “Playa de la ......”. It was by these very link roads that Alfred Lau had turned off at various places during his trip through Chile in order to reach spots on the coast. Pretty well the same route was followed by Ritter and Buining on their joint trip, really the last swansong for both collectors. Behind the village of Carrizal Bajo the foothills, 3/4km away, are still dominated by Copiapoa carrizalensis. In between there are few plants that survive domestication or the flatness of the terrain.

Heading north again towards Totoral we soon lost sight of Copiapoa carrizalensis mainly due to the fiat, sandy terrain, a very difficult surface to travel along. Hugging the coast line we stopped at a small ravine; here there was no sign of C. carrizalensis but cactus were represented by Eulychnia, N. carrizalensis and a strange tall reddish Copiapoa that I took at first to be a very old specimen of Copiapoa dura. Certainly the name seemed to suit it as it really did appear durable. Further specimens were encountered around here, some more greenish and some clump forming. However the population was modest, no more than 20 plants including two very reddish-brown seedlings. I had encountered nothing similar further south other than the consistent form of dura i.e. flat, rarely as tall as wide.

These taller plants preferred to grow up against a vertical wall of rock, even if it was barely one meter high, so they were usually found against a rock outcrop in quebradas or gullies, whereas carrizalensis took the slopes. After climbing a short way up this quebrada I was amazed at the relative wealth of small plants there so we stopped at this spot for a full day.

Continuing on to Totoral Bajo the cacti were not present on the flat coastal plain and it was only close to Totoral Bajo that they appeared in modest numbers. Here again the taller form of dura appeared in very restricted numbers. The dwellings at Totoral Bajo lie at the mouth of a broad and dry valley; Totoral Bajo is now almost deserted but at one time it must have supported a larger population; villages in the arid area of Chile could only survive where there was a regular water supply, hence the name of Totoral. Following the old river bed up to Totoral little was found in the way of plant life. Wild donkeys and goats roamed the area but I suspect that the lack of plants is not entirely down to them. At Totoral we were able to buy wine (by now much needed) but little else. From here we headed back to the coast to continue north. Travelling was extremely difficult; the sand was soft and shifting with small humps crossing our path continuously. These humps are usually the major obstacle; we encountered several on our journey up to this point but they were becoming too regular for comfort. Should our momentum be lost we would be stuck in the loose sand with no wheel grip; by now we were reaching the next hump before the vehicle had time to recover from the previous one. It would have been foolish to continue; nightfall would soon be upon us so we headed for an area that appeared firmer; those few kms had taken an hour. We made camp by torchlight and as the wine flowed we discussed our options. We had seen very few plants so far that day and none at all for the better part of the day. More importantly we had not seen any area where cactus might be - the hills were completely bare with many scars cut by the wind. What would lay further north? Would it be worth the effort? Should we go back inland and follow the route taken by the rally? This was further inland where we knew of no cactus. There was but one choice, to return to Carrizal Bajo only this time we would take the higher road.

Morning came and we left the campsite promptly. The return to Totoral appeared easier as we passed masses of Frankiana bushes strewn across the sand. We took the opportunity to look for Thelocephala fulva, which was supposed to be found “on hills in sight of Totoral“, according to Ritter‘s travelogue so we scrambled up the hillside and on to the sloping ground above. It is a very tedious job to try and find these plants because they are level with the gritty surface of the ground, usually with several grains of grit lying on top of the plant as well. Sometimes you come to the conclusion that you are looking in the wrong place altogether so you move on. It usually takes a long time to find the first plant; one or two hours is nothing for this sort of task. Once you have got your eye in then it becomes less difficult to see these plants. Among the herbs we came across specimens of Leonchira ovalli, which also grows from an underground tuber. This rare plant is only known from the area around Totoral and even here it is seen all too infrequently. One of the shrubs is Oxalis gigantea, which possesses a swollen underground tuber. This shrub puts out its flowers first and after flowering the leaves appear.

Travelling into the hills to the south of Totoral we encountered Copiapoa carrizalensis yet again. In a few ravines the columnar Copiapoa with the blackened stems clung to the vertical walls, some plants reaching a metre in height. Young seedlings appeared here and there, a clear sign of regeneration. But what was this plant? The seedlings had every appearance of Copiapoa dura, and the more typical forms of dura were evident on the flatter areas of ground - yet Ritter in his descriptions made no mention of plants growing to this height. As his description of dura does quote, they were grey green, sometimes brown, very hard, so are they simply old specimens that Ritter has either never seen or declines to mention? They are certainly not plentiful but also not rare. Why were these taller plants not found more frequently amongst the more typical dura? The typical taller forms were more often than not single, with very black base and lower growth, crown brownish, sometimes greenish. Ribs 13 to 17 very clearly defined at the top and becoming very obtuse lower down the stern. None of them were seen in flower or fruit. The typical C. dura was flattened globular and perhaps there was an in between form that clumped and reached 25cm maximum height.

Much later still I had a suggestion from H. Middleditch for the identity of this columnar Copiapoa with the black body. All told we expected that it would take a couple of weeks to make a thorough examination along this route. In the event our two weeks was up before we had reached the Copiapo valley.

The name of Thomas Bridges has appeared in the pages of The Chileans on several occasions when discussing cacti from the North of Chile. It seems to be quite possible that his name should also be linked with the initial discovery of Copiapoa echinoides. We now seem to have a fairly good idea of the basic route taken by Bridges on his collecting trip through this area, which probably started off from the Copiapó valley. Evidence for this is provided from several sources.

It may be advisable to consider the economic importance of this particular part of Chile at the time of Bridges visit, which was undertaken in the period of around 1840-1844. In his “Desert Trails of the Atacama“ lsaiah Bowrnan reproduces a map made before 1835 of Copiapó and its surroundings. This map shows Port Copiapó at the mouth of the River Copiapó whilst on the coastline to the north of Port Copiapó it also marks Caldera, Obispo, Flamenco, and Chañaral, all of which handled some ship-to-shore traffic. In Darwin‘s “Journal of Researches“ he records the three weeks which he spent in 1835 in and around Copiapó, towards the close of which I heard of the Beagle‘s arrival at the port . . . The port consists of an assemblage of miserable little hovels, situated at the foot of a sterile plain. At present, as the river contains enough water to reach the sea, the inhabitants enjoy the advantage of having fresh water within a mile and a half. On the beach there were large piles of merchandise and the little port had an air of activity.“ At the time of Darwin‘s visit in 1835 most of the supplies for the inhabitants and mines around Copiapó would pass through this port; at that date it was probably handling more trade than all the rest of the mining ports in northern Chile put together.

This led to further economic development on that coast. In his “Reise nach der Wuste Atacama“ undertaken in 1853-54, Philippi observes that the harbour of Caldera had already been inaugurated by the Decree of August 23rd 1842 and authorized for export trade. With still further increase in mining production around Copiapó, the second railway in South America was built between Caldera and Copiapó in 1848-51. This railway line was built by William Wheelwright who had previously established a regular sailing service between Panama and Valparaiso. When Bridges went to northern Chile in 1841 to collect plants he would be able to select one of the boats which traded regularly up and down the coast and so he would be able to travel the outward leg of his journey by sea, probably as far as the mouth of the river Copiapó.

With the facilities available in these parts of Chile at the present time, it is perhaps difficult to appreciate even the pioneering nature of Bridges trek from Copiapó to Huasco; the practicalities of travel such as the absence of maps, the few places where provisions were available, must be related to 1841 and not to today‘s situation. Before setting out on his journey Bridges would be able to obtain mules, guides and provisions at Copiapó. To the north of Copiapó there was little population and certainly no commerce apart from the occasional settlement supporting either a family or a handful of Indians. To the north of Copiapó there was certainly nowhere that provisions for a southwards journey could be obtained. Thus under the circumstances reigning at the time, Copiapó was the northernmost point in Chile from which a cross-country journey could start out. By traveling southwards, Bridges would be daily coming nearer his home and he would gradually encounter less and less difficulty in obtaining water, food, and fodder - surely a prudent method of planning a journey starting off through wild, inhospitable, and almost unexplored territory.

Further evidence for the actual track of Bridges‘ journey is contained in the “Catalogue of Plants found in the Province of Coquimbo, Republic of Chile, Collected by Thomas Bridges 1841“. The original manuscript in the British Museum (Natural History) was damaged by fire in the Blitz and some entries have been partially burnt away but the copy which is before me as I write still enables the finding place for the great majority of entries to be read well enough. Apart from the occasional place name not yet located on the map, those field locations which are included in this list all lie between Copiapó in the north and Illapel in the south. Thus for example entry 1382 is a plant “found along the coast in rocky places near the port of Copiapó“ . It would be hereabouts that Bridges collected plants which, upon their later arrival in Europe, were named Echinocactus (later Copiapoa) streptocaulon, rnarginata, columnaris, and bridgesii.

When Darwin rode north to Copiapó, his last leg started from Vallenar in the Huasco valley. From Vallenar “We rode all day over barren and sterile country. In the evening we arrived at a valley in which the bed of the streamlet was damp; following it up, we came to tolerably good water. It was a good place of bivouac for us but for the poor animals there was not a mouthful to eat. On June 11^th we rode without stopping for twelve hours till we reached an old smelting furnace, where there was water and firewood; but our horses again had nothing to eat. The next day we reached Copiapó. .. . I was heartily glad of it for the whole journey was a continued source of anxiety  the animals had had nothing to eat for fifty-five hours. “It is quite probable that Bridges would be aware of the absence of animal fodder on this leg, so that animals would have to be kept moving all the time. In turn this would afford precious little time for botanising and he was probably aware that there was almost nothing to botanise. So what would he do?

We do know from R. Ferryman‘s account that there are a few houses at Totoral and that to have this name it must have had a reasonably good supply of water to support the reeds; so at this spot, roughly half way between the Copiapó and Huasco valleys, there would be water and fodder. In Bridges‘ Field list he records plants from “sandy plains between Huasco and Copiapó“, “dry valleys and hills between Huasco and Copiapó“, “in valleys near the coast between Huasco and Copiapó“, and “along the coast near Huasco“ . These entries would suggest that he reached the Huasco valley at Huasco i.e. on the coast. not at Vallenar. His field number 1304 is “found near El Totoral between Huasco and Copiapó“. So he probably travelled from the Copiapó valley to Totoral to obtain fodder and water; then went south from there, along or close to the coast, as far as Huasco. In the vicinity of Totoral he would come across the columnar Copiapoa seen there by R. Ferryman; these blackened columns could hardly have looked like a good sales proposition and he had to have something to send to Europe to sell in order to recoup his outlay. Baggage capacity would also be at a premium. So what more likely than he would chop the presentable looking top few inches off some of these plants and just take that. If we compare the original illustration of Copiapoa echinoides which was published by Pfeiffer in 1847 with the slides taken by R. Ferryman near Totoral, (as we did at the Chileans‘ Weekend) the similarity immediately becomes obvious. The somewhat flattened crown, the broad ribs with a wide gap between the radial spines from adjacent ribs; the upright central spines; even the blackening of the columnar part of the body which starts immediately below the crown, is just shown by the artist at the base of the plant in Pfeiffer‘s sketch. So now we really do know where Echinocactus echinoides comes from.

Following my return from Chile I showed slides of the tall Copiapoa to H.Middleditch. He suggested that the plant depicted in my slides showed a marked similarity to the illustration of Echinocactus echinoides in Pfeiffer, Abbild. Beschr. Cact. 2, Plate 29 and further copied in Britton and Rose The Cactaceae III p.88 Plate 100. The illustrations could in fact be of the uppermost part of the plant I found although on further studying the illustration it does appear that the nature of the base or stem of the plant is indicated by the way the bottom tends to fold inwards. The suggested identification from H.Middleditch is further advanced by N.Taylor‘s earlier statement in his treatment of Copiapoa (C & S J G B) Vol43, 49-60, 1981 that Echinocactus echinoides Salm Dyck is the same plant as that described by Ritter as Copiapoa dura. The original plant described by Salm Dyck and Pfeiffer appears to be a plant collected by Thomas Bridges during a visit to Totoral. From Totoral to the shore Bridges may well have followed the same quebrada that we travelled when he would indeed have come across the plant Ritter calls Copiapoa dura. He may well have come across the taller growing plants which grow high on the steep sides of the quebrada but if this is the case it is to my mind very strange indeed that he did not also collect the very abundant Copiapoa carrizalensis.