San pedro - pc or not

[Tadacacti]

I'd like to know is it a san pedro pc variant or not?
Thank you for the answer!

[nachtkrabb]

Hello Tadacacti,
sorry, your name is not clear to me, never heard it. For clarification see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_cactus:

San Pedro cactus may refer to several species or infraspecies of cactus potentially containing mescaline, particularly:

Trichocereus macrogonus var. pachanoi, synonyms including Trichocereus pachanoi and Echinopsis pachanoi

but also:

Echinopsis cuzcoensis
Echinopsis lageniformis
Trichocereus macrogonus
Trichocereus macrogonus var. macrogonus, synonyms including Trichocereus peruvianus and Echinopsis peruvianus

With this at hand, I hope somebody has an idea if the cactus on your picture belongs to one of the species listed above.
N.

[DaveW]

As Nachtkrabb says there are quite a few similar Trichocereus. In fact I believe Kurt Backeberg even introduced a virtually spineless one as a grafting stock that was easier to graft onto having no spines. Many of the Trichocereus contain alkaloids, therefore were cultivated and spread around in S. America, meaning their original habitat is often uncertain.

In addition to Nachtkrabb's link see for descriptions of the species.

https://www.sanpedrosource.com/blogs/th ... ield-guide

https://sacredcacti.com/san-pedro/

https://samuelsgarden.com/identify-san-pedro-cactus/

Both plants of Cereus and Trichocereus can look the similar out of flower, but an easy way to distinguish them in flower is that Cereus has a naked flower tube, whereas Trichocereus has a bristly or hairy flower tube (botany - tricho = hairy)

In the UK we adopt the sensible legal situation if you don't chew it or try and extract the psychoactive ingredients you can grow them as an ornamental, apart from cannabis which is banned here. Those outside the UK may need to check their own laws, particularly for Lophophora's. In any case the psychoactive alkaloids do not do your future health much good, particularly since they originally ev0lved to deter or kill any insects sucking the plants sap.

"The psychoactive compound found in San Pedro cactus, is a controlled substance in the United Kingdom. It is classified as a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which makes it illegal to possess, produce, sell, or import mescaline without a license. While the cactus itself is legal to own and grow in the UK, it is illegal to extract or prepare the mescaline from the plant."

Which is a good job since it is the grafting stock under many grafted cacti we buy. We can also grow Opium Poppies and Lophppphora's in the UK as ornamentals, provided we don't consume them or extract the alkaloids and luckily the "smack heads" use more modern designer manmade highs, therefore have always left our plants alone in the UK..

[FredBW]

I believe Jerry on youtube to be an expert on the subject.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX-iLSW0nCI
I believe your cutting to be a true San Pedro. But I know just enough to be dangerous

[NiklasTyreso]

I think it is a pachanoi.

Your picture isn't that sharp on my phone but the areoles don't seem to be pointing up, so I don't think it's a pc (predominant US clone).

This video explains what a PC is and its characteristics:
https://youtu.be/C6P6SEw4aG0?feature=shared