Cacti from Neuquén, Argentina
A german version of this text can
be found here.
Thinking of cacti, the first regions that come into mind are certainly Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, as well as the northern parts of Chile and Argentina. But Patagonia? That's the land of wind and ice, rather hostile environment for cacti. Sure it is, but as always, there are exeptions. And indeed, cacti can be found till as far south as the Magellan Straight! When I first visited the province of Neuquén in western Argentina in January 2000, participating in a seismological field experiment, I did not expect finding cacti that far south. Consequently, I didn't even bother to inquire any further and went totally uninformed about the plants of the area. Sure, I had heard about some weird cacti called Maihuenia supposed to grow there, but I had no clue how they looked like, nor where to look for them. One day I was installing a seismic station in the hills west of Zapala and almost stepped right into a clump of what I now believe is Austrocactus gracilis. That was really an amazing experience! Later I came across cacti (all Maihueniopsis) at several other places.
The following are images of cacti which I came across during my latest trip to the Province of Neuquén in March 2001, for maintainance of a network of seismological stations operating in the area. This time I went well prepared for where to look for cacti. There are at least twice as many cacti species in the area than what I actually found, but of course I had come for work and therefore could not cover an area big enough to find more cacti species. However, 7 species in 4 days is not that bad either I believe. Note that I went in March, and that none of the cacti shown are in flower at that time of the year. Occasionally I could find remnants of flowers, but only for Maihuenia poeppigii I was able to harvest a few seeds.
Click on any photo for a larger version.
Maihuenia
The first cactus to come across when entering Argentina from Chile is Maihuenia poeppigii which is in fact a cactus more typical of the high altitudes of southern Chile. Nice plant forming large cushions but not very common in Argentina, limited to elevations above 1500 meters. Supposed to be cold hardy in Germany but I haven't tried that yet.
Maihuenia poeppigii habit |
Maihuenia poeppigii detail |
Without doubt, the most widespread cactus in this part of Argentina is Maihuenia patagonica. It is ubiquitous. Hard to find a place where it does not grow, exept the high altitudes above about 1500 meters. The "nests" are almost always inhabited by ants (symbiosis?) and I was told that sheep and goats are crazy for their fruits. It is locally called chupa sangre (blood-sucker) certainly because of its vicious spines.
Maihuenia patagonica habit |
Maihuenia patagonica detail |
Austrocactus
Between Primeros Pinos and Zapala I found a plant which I still don't exactly know what it is. It is probably Austrocactus gracilis or patagonicus. But I can't say for sure because I haven't seen any of them myself in cultivation, and the few pictures, which I found in books and on the web, show plants with much weaker spination than "my" plant. There is another candidate, namely, Pyrrhocactus straussianus which looks similiar and is known from Neuquén, but only from low elevations in the eastern part of the province, at least to my (very limited) knowledge. "My" habitat is at a rather high elevation of 1200 meters. Quite cold and windy. After all, we are in Patagonia! Here are some pictures:
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Austrocactus in habitat |
Hills between Primeros Pinos and Zapala |
Pterocactus
There are a number of Pterocactus species present in the province of Neuquén, these being P. australis, fischeri, araucanus and valentinii if I remember correctly. Probably a couple more. Dave Ferguson mentioned there is a new species recently discovered near the border to Mendoza but this time I had no chance to get that far north. Last year I was working in exactly that area without even knowing what a Pterocactus was! That's life. Anyway, as March is not quite a good time for finding these dwarfs (autumn!) I only managed to find two species, more out of pure luck, a few kilometers west of the town Cutral-Có. I have not identified them yet but surely there are people who will immediately know what it is. Thus for the time being I call them A and B. [Meanwhile I got responses from various experts of the genus, who believe that "A" is most probably Pterocactus valentinii, while "B" is Pterocactus fischeri.]
Pterocactus A (probably P. valentinii) |
Pterocactus A (probably P. valentinii) |
Pterocactus B (probably P. fischeri) |
Pterocactus/Maihueniopsis habitat west of Cutral-Có. This is the typical landscape of Patagonia. |
Maihueniopsis
A rather widespread cactus from Patagonia is Maihueniopsis (sometimes called Tephrocactus) darwinii. As I am not able to distinguish between all these species and varieties within this complex, I will just show you what I found. This year I saw Maihueniopsis at two locations, these being the hills north of Las Lajas (M. darwinii) and the same locality near Cutral-Có (M. platyacantha) where I also found the Pterocactus, making the latter habitat a place where at least four (including Maihuenia patagonica) cacti species grow within a radius of 50 meters! The habitat north of Las Lajas is exciting because of the abundance of Maihueniopsis darwinii on a rather steep mountain slope, at an altitude of about 1100 meters. The cacti are all over the place and can form huge groups of easily a meter across! Interestingly, many flower remnants were still on the plants in March, but despite searching for fruits (seeds), I could not find a single one. This might indicate that all plants belong to a single clone and no cross-pollination takes place. Given the large number of lose segments, vegetative reproduction could be rather efficient, further supporting that idea. But not only the cacti make this place interesting, but also the fossils (Trigonia shells, ammonites) that can be found there in large numbers. Note: The species on the photos might be another, closely related species, namely Maihueniopsis ovata, which might reach into northern Neuquén.
M. darwinii. Many lose segments are seen, many of them dried out. |
M. darwinii |
M. darwinii |
M. darwinii. Huge group, with many flower remnants still visible. |
Habitat north of Las Lajas |
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M. platyacantha near Cutral-Có |
M. platyacantha near Barrancas, at the Neuquén-Mendoza border |
Please feel free to send me your comments about this page, particularly about identification issues. I am not at all a cacti expert, but I would like to learn more about the cacti of this interesting part of the world.
For further informations on the subject, I recommend the following sites:
- Opuntia Del Sur by Klaus Gilmer, Roland Langenberger and Hans-Peter Thomas in Germany
- South American Cacti Page by Franz Kühhas in Austria
- Tephrowelt by Michael Kießling in Germany
- Tephroweb by Cyrill Hunkeler in Switzerland
- The National Plant Collection of Pterocactus
