Other Trichocereus

El Willow

Partially documented

El Willow is a New Zealand kept for sheer girth, with two plants measured at 49 cm and 52 cm around the column and growth that stays thick right up to the tip. It sits within the Martin group, which its own grower says are rather than of one mother, so plants under those names differ from one another. Its appearance also shifts noticeably with climate, which the wiki page names as a common source of confusion when growers compare notes.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

exceptional girth
thick to the tip
climate sensitive

Other TrichocereusNamed clone: One original plant and every cutting taken from it, given a name by a grower.

Of the 11 things this page says, 2 name who reports them and 9 are marked as something we cannot confirm. Where a line is not settled, it says so underneath.

Updated 24 Aug 2026Added 23 Aug 2026

Species

Not recorded

No botanical name on file. What the sources do say about its species is in the writing below.

Filed under Other Trichocereus

Parents

Not recorded

No source names a mother or a father for this one.

Origin

The clone belongs to the New Zealand cactus community and sits alongside the Martin group of clones, labelled A, B, C and D.

no source says whether it is seed-grown or a cutting line

In the yard

Not in the yardAsk if you are after one

Family line

what the record holds

No source in this library records a confirmed cross for El Willow, and no other entry here names it as a parent. What the record does hold is below.

That is the record, not an oversight: of the 749 names in this library, 693 have no recorded relation either. Most named clones were selected, cut and passed along without anyone writing down what they came out of. A parent goes in here when a source states it and never because a name looks like one — a wrong pedigree would travel further than a blank one, because pedigrees get copied.

If you know where it came from, tell us — a person reads everything before it appears.

Seed-grown. The related Martin clones A, B, C and D are described as siblings raised from seed rather than cuttings off one mother, so plants under these names are not identical.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

The longer version

Species, as our sources record it: , species not stated; the care notes treat it as .Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

Martin Walker states those clones were grown from sibling seed rather than being cuttings of a single .Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

The name attaches to a community member known as El Willow.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

Where the name comes from

The clone belongs to the New Zealand cactus community and sits alongside the Martin group of clones, labelled A, B, C and D.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

Character

A bar is drawn only where one of the lines below states it — never from the species, never from a photograph.

Not documented yet.
Not documented yet.
Not documented yet.

Spines: Prominent spines low on the plant that are awkward to reach.One source states this, and our house botanist has checked it. Heavier spination on lower, older growth is ordinary in the genus.
Growth habit: Remarkable girth, staying thick even close to the growing tips, with specimens recorded at 49 cm and 52 cm around.One source states this, and our house botanist has checked it. Those girths fall within the thickness range stout Trichocereus columns actually reach.
Flowers: Growers describe the flowers as looking very special, without further detail.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.
Notes: The plant varies a lot in appearance depending on the climate it is grown in.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

What the sources say

Because the Martin clones are siblings rather than one clone, growers comparing plant A with plant C have been comparing different genetics; the wiki page treats this as the explanation for years of confusion.Too little stands behind this for us to confirm it.

A Trichocereus column, drawn. We don't grow this one, and we will not borrow anybody else's photograph of it.

Filed under the same family, Other Trichocereus. The better-documented ones come first.

Keep exploring

Cultivar histories in this hobby are passed between growers; where sources disagree we say so rather than pick a side.

Learned from

sanpedrocact.us, the community Trichocereus wiki (CC BY-NC 4.0)

This entry rests on one record. Every fact above traces back to sanpedrocact.us, the community Trichocereus wiki (CC BY-NC 4.0). No second, independent source has confirmed it, so read it as one account rather than as a checked fact. Where we do find a second source we name it here, and the register shows how much of this site rests on each.

Links go to the channel, the subreddit or the front page of a site — never to one video, one post or somebody else’s product page. Nothing above is copied from any of them: every entry is written fresh from a fact list, with the source recorded against each fact as it went in.

Written from scratch off a cited fact list, never copied. Learned from the sanpedrocact.us community wiki (CC BY-NC 4.0), @sanpedromastery6262 and @IMDAVESBUD on YouTube, r/sanpedrocactus and medicactus.com's buyer guides, then checked against university extension horticulture, botanical gardens, cactus and succulent societies and the published botanical record. I will not name a plant from a photograph.

Every source behind this site →

At a glance