At an altitude of 2,400 meter it became
so dark that it became difficult that we could hardly see our
hands in front of our eyes. There was a sort of bus stop for the
service that passes here once per week and a kind of native eating
establishment. We used a frugal oil burner to prepare something
unrecognisable and ducked into the car for the night. The next
morning, the fog had lifted a little, so that we could collect a Erdisia
species, which had had secured herself with a large
caudiciform root tightly squeezed between rocks. Farther on we
were able to collect Haageocereus turbidus Ritter,
until suddenly, at 3,200 meter the sun appeared again, brightly. In
a small dip, we found magnificent plants of Oreocereus
rilteri with a whole range of variation in spine and
hair colour combinations. We also started to see Neoraimondia roseiflora.
Having first found Matucana hystrix,
we were now seeing the many colour forms of Matucana multicolor
in large numbers in the alto plano at around 3,600 m. We
tend to regard M. hystrix
as a form or variety of M. multicolor, while the
published varieties of M. hystrix
can hardly justify forma status under M. multicolor.
We wandered around this area for quite a while and were able to
confirm the huge variability of this species. In addition we found
beautiful specimens of Tephrocactus floccosus and T. corotilla.
On the way back, at around 3,200 meter
altitude, we disappeared once again into the fog that persisted to 1,800 meter in
this arid coastal region.
On the road to Ica we drove through the
famous Pisco valley, where many famous wines originate, as well as
the famous very strong 'Pisco-ltalia', a kind of jenever. The
valleys become wider and benefit increasingly from irrigation, so
that we came across wonderful citrus, sweetcorn and cotton
cultivation. There were even artificial meadows of alfalfa and we
came across cattle in completely bare enclosures, that were being
fed with this alfalfa. We slept that night in Canete (pronounced Canjete).
The last day before our arrival in Lima Ritter
took us to the unknown habitat location for
Loxanthocereus convergensc of which we were able to collect
flowers, fruit and seed. Farther on, close to the coast on very
dry hill sides grows Backeberg's Haageocereus
olowinskianus, or rather, some grow, as at least 75% were dead
(completely dehydrated. After a brief visit to Lima, to meet a
friend of Prof. Rauh, Mr. von
Appen, we returned to the mountains and made for the town of Chosica, were
we found a small hotel.
Through the famous Rimac valley dal we
travelled the next day to Matucana and collected Haageocereus
chosicensis, which occurs here in every possible colour form.
It seems impossible to imagine that this plant was not published
earlier under a different name. Ritter will certainly throw some
light on this subject in the future. Also found here was Loxanthocereus acanlhurus
and, a little higher against the hillsides, near Matucana, the
well known
Matucana haynei.
