[Sacred Succulents] returned from the Andes

[Sacred Succulents]

5/24/10

Greetings,

We returned about a week ago from our month of studies in Andean 
Peru/Bolivia.
We are getting caught up with orders this week, so if you placed an 
order while we were away, it will ship to you in the next couple 
days.

We made about 100 seed collections this trip, and expect some 
additional collections from our colleague Neil Logan who is 
remaining in the region until June. Our first seed batch has 
arrived and we are awaiting the second to pass USDA inspection. We 
are working on some final identifications and beginning to organize 
our photos and collection notes, which should be available in July. 
We made enough collections to continue to offer additional seed 
shares in support of our studies. This is an opportunity to onbtain 
seed we will not be offering elsewhere. See the PDF attachment at 
the bottom of this email.

A few plant highlights from the Peruvian half or our travels - 
Near Huilloc, in the Patacancha Valley, Cusco Dept., Peru we found 
robust populations of the lovely rosette succulent Echeveria 
decumbens. This is the first time it has been reported from this 
area. Kimnach originally described the plant from east of Calca, 
though neither ourselves nor our Peruvian colleague Guillermo Pino 
has been able to locate these original populations. In 2008 we did 
find this species growing on rocky slopes above Lares Hotsprings, 
so it seems the plant has a wider distribution than originally 
reported. Echeveria are known regionally by the Quechua name 
“loraypo” and the leaf juice is highly valued for treating 
cataracts and earache.
In the same region we found what appears to be a wild form or 
ancient escaped cultivar of Ullucus tuberosus (“Papa Lisa”), one of 
the tastiest of the little known Andean tuber crops. We found them 
on the vast overgrown Incan terraces between Pumamarca and 
Munaypata, 10,500’, then further up the Patacancha watershed near 
the village of Patacancha itself, at 13,000’. We also found them 
growing in Bolivia at the remote Incan site Inkallajta in 
Cochabamba. All had small round lavender colored tubers and longer 
decumbent stems than any cultivar we’ve seen. 
Along the Rio Trapiche near Lares we were able to photo-document 
more of the rich flora (our camera battery died here in 2008) and 
make seed collections of the tasty Andean huckleberry Vaccinium 
floribundum, the Crataegus relative Hesperomeles, and the always 
alluring medicinal Begonia veitchii, to name a few. 
Next email we will continue with our time in Cochabamba, Bolivia, 
highlighting our search for intact highland Polylepis forests, 
Trichocereus riomizquensis, a disjunct population of Prosopis 
pallida, and Coca Colla!

RARE PLANT & SEED LIST - Issue 29 is available. A very large and 
diverse issue, don’t miss it! If you are not subscribed or have let 
your subscription lapse, we encourage you to sign up now. 4 issues 
for $5 or 8 issues for $8. This is where we list our offerings of 
rarities and specimens. 

GIFT CERTIFICATES - are always available!

NEW OFFERINGS coming soon
South African seed- We recently got a large shipment of interesting 
new and unusual edibles and medicinals from Southern Africa. We 
should have descriptions and prices available by mid June.
Andean Collections and Photos 2010- CD/DVD with 300+ photos from 
our Spring travels in Cusco, Peru, and Cochabamba, Bolivia. List of 
our seed seed collections with ethnobotanical notes and cultivation 
suggestions. Available by mid July. Pre-order now. $10 postage 
paid, foreign orders add $2.


NEW BOOKS
We’ve added over a dozen new titles. For the complete list see- 
http://www.sacredsucculents.com/books.html


SHIPPING & HANDLING:
Seeds– First class mail USA $2.00; Air mail international $4.00
Plants (USA only)– First class priority mail= $6.00 for the first 
plant $1.50 each additional plant.
Seeds ride free when ordered with plants.
Add $1 per plant if you want them sent potted.

CA RESIDENTS ADD 8.25% SALES TAX
We still only take Cash (USD$ or Euros), Money Orders, or Checks.
You can print out an order form- 
http://www.sacredsucculents.com/orderform.pdf
and mail it with payment to our Po Box

SACRED SUCCULENTS
PO Box 781, Sebastopol, CA 95473 USA

Email: sacredsucculents at hushmail.com
http://www.sacredsucculents.com
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