Species
Validus
A published name with a real nomenclatural record behind it and a very thin field record.
The name
The International Plant Names Index records Trichocereus validus (Monv. ex Salm-Dyck) Backeb. as a validly published name, first published in 1955. The treatment now in use does not keep it as a species of its own: it is carried in the synonymy of Leucostele terscheckii.Reported by one source, and not corroborated anywhere else.
What has been found in the wild
Asked for Trichocereus validus by name, the collectors' own field-number lists return 3 distinct collections from 3 collectors, all three at Bolivian localities.Reported by one source, and not corroborated anywhere else.
How thin that is
Three collections is a thin record for a name this well known, and it is set down here as thin rather than dressed up.
Names in the library filed under this species
These are entries where a source names this species for the plant. An entry is not listed here because its name looks like the epithet — that would be a guess, and a guess is what this library exists not to publish.
Every feature on this page moves with age, sun and water: a thirsty plant in hard light grows longer spines and a heavier bloom than the same clone in the shade. None of it settles an identity on its own, a clone name is not proof of a species, and a photograph is a pointer rather than an answer.