Species
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Trichocereus macrogonus (Salm-Dyck) Riccob.

Sacred Column Cactus

Climate known 11 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Echinopsis macrogona, synonym Trichocereus macrogonus, is a species of cactus found in Bolivia and Peru. Echinopsis macrogona is one of a number of similar species that may be called San Pedro cactus and is also known as the Peruvian torch cactus. Indigenous names include achuma and huachuma, although these too may be applied to similar species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Echinopsis macrogona”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Trichocereus

Trichocereus is a formerly recognized genus of cacti native to South America. As of November 2025, it was considered by Plants of the World Online to be a synonym of the genus Echinopsis.

Text from Wikipedia, “Trichocereus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cactaceae
Described by
(Salm-Dyck) Riccob.
Native to
Bolivia, Peru
Wild records
408 in range· 91 open

At a glance

Warmest month
18°C
Sep, mean day; nights 8 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
865mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Mar 161 mm (CHELSA)
Light
31–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Cactaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, December to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (0.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 865 mm a year, wettest March at 161 mm, driest July at 12 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 5.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cereus macrogonus Salm-Dyck; Cereus rosei Werderm.; Echinopsis macrogona (Salm-Dyck) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley; Echinopsis peruviana (Britton & Rose) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley; Echinopsis peruviana subsp. peruviana and 12 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by Cactaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, December to April at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (0.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (613 mm of 865 mm) falls in December to April. The temperature curve is flat, 0.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 865 mm a year, wettest March at 161 mm, driest July at 12 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

865 mm a year at the habitat, 613 mm of it December to April. Wettest month March at 161 mm, driest July at 12 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 93 mm to 1478 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 5.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 5.4 °C, the absolute minimum 3.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 21.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.5 °C in July (across the envelope cells 0.2 °C to 14.3 °C), warmest day 17.6 °C in September (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 5.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 17 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Sep; mean night from 8 °C in Jul to 10 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 865 mm of rain a year, most in Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 178 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 3.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 21.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-5°10°15°20°25°frost21.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)3.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 31–41RH 57–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 178 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C17 / 12–2317 / 12–2417 / 13–2317 / 13–2317 / 12–2217 / 12–2217 / 12–2217 / 13–2318 / 13–2418 / 13–2318 / 13–2317 / 13–23
Night °C9 / 4–1810 / 4–199 / 4–189 / 3–179 / 2–168 / 1–158 / 0–148 / 1–158 / 1–159 / 2–159 / 3–169 / 3–17
Rain mm124 / 20–216142 / 20–210161 / 17–24190 / 6–17732 / 3–11015 / 3–7312 / 3–4719 / 4–4738 / 4–8263 / 3–12073 / 5–12696 / 9–164
DLI36 / 30–4435 / 30–4334 / 30–4134 / 29–3933 / 28–3831 / 27–3632 / 28–3836 / 32–4139 / 34–4541 / 34–5041 / 33–5239 / 30–49
RH %66 / 62–7067 / 62–7167 / 62–7065 / 60–7162 / 54–6959 / 50–6858 / 49–6857 / 49–6759 / 51–6862 / 51–6863 / 54–6965 / 59–70

Each figure is the median across the 178 grid cells holding the 318 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1824:2027 (-1.225, -78.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 3.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 5.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 21.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 178 distinct grid cells holding the 318 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1824:2027 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -1.00_-78.750, lapse-corrected -284 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2674 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Peru· introduced: Baleares, Spain, Canary Is., Colombia
Kew's description“succulent tree” · “desert or dry shrubland”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-11.863, -76.511 · in the densest population, 186 records (46% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 408 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 91 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 104 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 90 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 408 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Trichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonusTrichocereus macrogonus

Photographs: Jay Pruett, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; wilmotsenaratne, CC0, iNaturalist via GBIF; Alex Doyle, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; cstobie, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Monics Paredes, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF; Frank Dietze, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Trichocereus macrogonus, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Toward a More Sustainable Sample Preparation in Phytochemistry: Case Studies in Four Subclasses of Alkaloids
Lucas Apolinário Chibli, Bruna Ribeiro de Lima, Ariadne Magalhães Carneiro, Harley Cardoso Figueiró (2024) · Journal of Natural Products
Taxonomy and Grafting of Ornamental Cacti: A Review
R. Perumal, M. Prabhu, M. Kannan, S. Srinivasan (2021) · Agricultural Reviews
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Contribution of Magical-Religious Practices to Ethnobotanical Knowledge in Peru
José Mostacero-León, Jesús Manuel Charcape Ravelo, Anthony Jordan De La Cruz Castillo, Carmen Lizbeth Yurac (2026)
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: not asked: 11 wild photographs already from the GBIF download
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 25 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.