Trichocereus macrogonus subsp. sanpedro
M.H.J.van der Meer (2022)
Etymology
| 🌵 Author(s) | Maarten H.J. van der Meer | 🌵 Published in | Cact. Phantast. 2022(1)-1: 7 (2022) |
Spanish cactus de San Pedro ‘Saint Peter’s cactus’, the local vernacular name for the species. David Yetman (The Great Cacti: Ethnobotany & Biogeography: 222. 2007): “Legend had it that the Christian priests sent into the Andes by the conquering Spaniards condemned the ceremonial use of the catus and forbade its cultivation. […] The indigenous people responded by honoring the cactus with the name San Pedro, hoping that by invoking the name of the supposed founder of Catholicism, they might assuage the clerics’ stern opposition to the ritual consumption of the plant. Another explanation for the name is that the cactus was like St. Peter, authorizing admission to heavenly visions.”
This is a new name for Trichocereus pachanoi.
Maarten H.J. van der Meer (2022 Mar 04). Trichocereus macrogonus subsp. sanpedro. Dictionary of Cactus Names. Retrieved from https://www.cactusnames.org/trichocereus-macrogonus-subsp-sanpedro