Cleistocactus buchtienii

Cleistocactus buchtienii is a species of columnar cacti in the genus Cleistocactus.

Description
Cleistocactus buchtienii grows as a shrub with branched, rigid shoots at the base and reaches heights of growth of up to 1.5 meters (rarely up to 3 meters) with a diameter of up to 5 centimeters. There are about 16 to 19 (rarely up to 22) low ribs present, which are conspicuously notched. The needle-like, reddish-brown to straw-yellow spines are difficult to distinguish between central and radial spines. The 4 central spines are spread out and up to 3.5 centimeters long. The radial spines, which are 8 to 15 to 2 centimeters long, are slender and spread out.

The wine-red to bluish pink flowers are up to 6 centimeters (rarely up to 8 centimeters) long. The tips of the bracts are burgundy or greenish to dark green. The flowers are straight or very slightly curved, pointing slightly upwards, and are covered with short, dense hairs arising from the scale axils. The stamens do not protrude or hardly protrude, the style protrudes slightly to clearly from the flower. The spherical fruits tearing open at the base reach a diameter of 2 to 3 centimeters. They are yellowish green at the base and light purple above.

Distribution
Cleistocactus buchtienii is found in the Bolivian departments of Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Santa Cruz at altitudes of 2500 to 2750 meters (rarely up to 3100 meters).

Taxonomy
The first description was in 1936 by Curt Backeberg. A nomenclature synonym is Echinopsis buchtienii (Backeb.) Anceschi & Magli (2013).