Quick facts
| Rank | Genus |
|---|---|
| Family / Subfamily / Tribe | Cactaceae / Cactoideae / Trichocereinae (subtribe of Cereeae), per the 2025 phylogenomic classification used elsewhere on this site; historically the broader tribe Trichocereeae (Hunt et al., The New Cactus Lexicon, 2006) |
| Accepted genus | Echinopsis Zucc. — a broad (sensu lato) circumscription that includes the former genus Trichocereus as a synonym. As of an October 2025 POWO update, the same broad Echinopsis also includes Soehrensia, Chamaecereus and Lobivia as synonyms (Wikipedia). |
| Type species | Echinopsis eyriesii, now treated as Echinopsis oxygona (Wikipedia) |
| Accepted species (genus-wide) | About 80, per Plants of the World Online as reported by Wikipedia (November 2025). Only the species this Codex has separately verified are listed below. |
| Genus-rank synonym | Trichocereus (A.Berger) Riccob., Boll. Reale Orto Bot. Palermo 8: 236 (1909) — a synonym of Echinopsis under Kew's primary treatment; accepted as its own genus under WCVP's Govaerts et al. (2021) "alternative taxonomy." |
| Separate accepted genus | Leucostele Backeb. emend. Schlumpb., Cactaceae Syst. Init. 28: 29 (2012) — erected on the strength of Schlumpberger & Renner's 2012 molecular phylogeny, which found Echinopsis sensu lato (as then circumscribed) to be polyphyletic. Covers the Chilean, northwestern-Argentine and Bolivian "white-spined" Trichocereus-type columnars, including terscheckii. |
Description
Three names cover this generic complex, and current authorities do not fully agree on how to divide it. Kew's primary treatment accepts one broad genus, Echinopsis, and places Trichocereus as a synonym of it; the same Kew dataset separately documents WCVP's "alternative taxonomy," which instead keeps Trichocereus as its own genus. A third genus, Leucostele, was split off in 2012 on molecular evidence and is accepted by Kew as distinct from Echinopsis regardless of which treatment of Trichocereus is followed; it covers the terscheckii/atacamensis-type columnars rather than the pachanoi/peruvianus/bridgesii group. A genus label by itself is not evidence of a particular clone's parentage — see each species page for its own synonymy and horticultural-name history.
de Vos et al. · Cactus phylogenomics (2025) ↗ · Schlumpberger & Renner · Molecular phylogenetics of Echinopsis (2012) ↗
Accepted species
Limited to the species this Codex has separately verified against Kew POWO; see Wikipedia's Echinopsis overview for the full ~80-species genus.
| Name | Author | Native range | Codex page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Echinopsis pachanoi | (Britton & Rose) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley | Ecuador, Peru | Trichocereus pachanoi |
| Echinopsis macrogona | (Salm-Dyck) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley | Bolivia, Peru | Trichocereus peruvianus |
| Echinopsis lageniformis | (C.F.Först.) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley | Bolivia | Trichocereus bridgesii |
| Leucostele terscheckii | (J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Schlumpb. | Bolivia, northwestern Argentina | Trichocereus terscheckii (now genus Leucostele, not Echinopsis) |
Synonyms and horticultural names
| Name | Status | Treated as |
|---|---|---|
| Trichocereus (A.Berger) Riccob. [genus] | Synonym under Kew's primary treatment; accepted under WCVP's alternative taxonomy | Echinopsis |
| Trichocereus pachanoi Britton & Rose | Synonym (homotypic) | Echinopsis pachanoi |
| Trichocereus peruvianus Britton & Rose | Synonym (heterotypic) | Echinopsis macrogona |
| Trichocereus macrogonus (Salm-Dyck) Riccob. | Synonym (homotypic); accepted name under Albesiano's alternative taxonomy | Echinopsis macrogona |
| Trichocereus bridgesii (Salm-Dyck) Britton & Rose | Synonym (heterotypic) | Echinopsis lageniformis |
| Trichocereus scopulicola F.Ritter | Synonym (heterotypic) | Echinopsis lageniformis |
| Trichocereus terscheckii (J.Parm. ex Pfeiff.) Britton & Rose | Synonym (homotypic) | Leucostele terscheckii |
| "PC" / "Pachanot" | Horticultural clone nickname; not a validly published botanical name | A Trichocereus/Echinopsis pachanoi-type clone — see PC / "pachanot" |
Distribution
Collectively, this generic complex spans the Andes from southern Ecuador and Peru (pachanoi) through Bolivia and Peru (macrogona) and Bolivia (lageniformis) to Bolivia and northwestern Argentina (Leucostele terscheckii). Search historical literature under both old and current combinations, and keep a publication's original name next to your current identification, with its source and date. Learn how to read names and numbers →
References
de Vos et al. · Cactus phylogenomics (2025) ↗ · de Vos et al. 2025, open-access PMC copy ↗ · Kew POWO · Trichocereus (genus synonymy) ↗ · Kew POWO · Leucostele terscheckii ↗ · Schlumpberger & Renner · Molecular phylogenetics of Echinopsis (2012) ↗ · Wikipedia · Echinopsis (type species, species count) ↗