Soehrensia huascha (ex. Trichocereus) | Flame of the North
€21,20
🌱 Morphology
Guaranteed red flowers... A low-growing, columnar cactus, heavily branched from the base, forming dense clumps of erect or slightly creeping stems with ascending tips. The fresh green stems reach approximately 1 m in height and about 5 cm in diameter. They feature 14–17 ribs and relatively large areoles, up to 1 cm in diameter. Each areole develops 9–11 yellowish to brownish radial spines and 1–3 more robust central spines, which can reach 7 cm in length. The spination, especially the central ones, can acquire very characteristic reddish hues.
🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
A species from northwestern Argentina, mainly from Catamarca and La Rioja, where it grows in dry scrublands and arid mountain environments, at altitudes of approximately 500 to 2,000 m. It belongs to the Cactaceae family, Cactoideae subfamily, and Trichocereeae tribe. The name used follows the taxonomic criteria of Joël Lodé in Taxonomy of the Cactaceae, volumes III–VI, 2026. Cereus huascha, Trichocereus huascha, Lobivia huascha, and Echinopsis huascha are historical combinations.
❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 8b–11b
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −9 ºC in dry, well-acclimated specimens. During winter, it is especially important to keep the substrate completely dry to prevent damage from moisture and cold.
☀️ Lighting
It requires very bright exposure, preferably in full sun. High light intensity encourages compact growth, more intense spination, and abundant flowering. As a guideline during active growth, a DLI PAR of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ is recommended.
💧 Growth cycle and watering
Winter dormancy. Active growth occurs during spring and summer, when abundant watering is recommended, allowing the substrate to dry out completely between waterings. In autumn, water intake is progressively reduced until it is kept dry throughout the winter.
🌸 Flowering
It produces large, diurnal, funnel-shaped to bell-shaped flowers that appear near the tips and can reach about 10 cm in length and 6–7 cm in diameter. There is significant color variation, from intense red and orange-red to orange and yellow, with rarely white specimens. The olive-green floral tube is covered with small brownish to blackish hairs. The fruits are globose or ovoid, yellowish-green or reddish, up to about 3 cm in diameter.
🌿 Nutrition
During the active growth period, a fertilizer with high levels of assimilable calcium and low nitrogen levels, such as Desert CHOICE® Cactaceae, is recommended, applied once a month when watering. Before flowering, it can be supplemented with Desert CHOICE® Flowering.
This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot, with substrate activated by mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.
14x14 cm pot
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