ISI 2023-2. Lobivia hertrichiana Backeb.

Three years ago we offered a particularly showy form of this species, ISI 2020-3, as Echinopsis hertrichiana. We are happy to revert to the Lobivia combination, which is still widely preferred among collectors and may yet gain support from botanists when molecular data have been analyzed. The generic name is, of course, an anagram of Bolivia, though the genus also ranges into Argentina, Chile, and Peru. Given the great variability of this species, there is a spectrum of beautiful forms worth growing. This is especially true for the Huntington as the species honors William Hertrich, founder of the Huntington’s Desert Garden in the early 1900s when he was Henry Huntington’s ranch foreman and right-hand man. Today, we are on a bit of a quest to represent the diversity of this species and, perhaps, some other collectors will choose to join us in that mission. The clone offered here has red flowers with a white throat and, as they age, the red fades to a red-violet hue. It is HBG 83515, that came to us with the Atlanta BG collection in 1994. Data is as follows: Originally grown from seed collected by Karel Knize, KK 431, Peru; Cuzco Prov.; near the village of Anta, at ca. 3500 m (11,483 ft!) elevation. $8.