Podcast Episode 4 - Carlos Ostolaza

Carlos Ostolaza is likely the most influential author on Peruvian cactus. We’ve just released a podcast interview with Carlos, but Carlos also did us the favour of answering our questions in text form as well as in person, which we share with you below.

Carlos has two entirely completed cactus books, ready for press “Cactus and Succulents in Art and Literature” and “Botanical Illustrators of Cacti and Succulents.” Sadly, it is beyond Carlos’ means to fund the printing. Carlos is 86 years old and it would be a beautiful thing if we could help Carlos see these books in print in his lifetime. If you think you can help, please get in touch.

Carlos Ostolaza and his wife Carmen Rosa. Photo by Gpinoi.

Am I correct in thinking you live in Lima, Peru? How has the local environment changed in your life and how is this impacting cactus?

Yes, I live in Lima, Peru since I was born 86 years ago without impacting me but impacting the cactus a lot. Most of them hashave disappeared for several reasons.

What lead to your interest in cactus and how has your relationship with cactus changed over time?

I’m a Medical Dr. and my interest in cacti began when a patient gave me one as a gift and trying to find out more about it. I realized that in Peru no one knew about this family and that was  a challenge to me so I began to study them.

How has your medical background influenced your work and perspective on cactus?

My medical background told me that I need to search for information and I do it.

What cacti do you like to grow at home the most? What are you working on in your garden?

I’m not a keen grower. I grow more other succulents than cacti.

What cacti are you most excited to see in situ? What cactus did you most recently visit in the wild?

I’m not going to the field recently because of my age.

Can you tell me about your experiences writing A Cactus Odyssey? Have you gone on any other particularly memorable cactus expeditions?

The idea of the book as a voyage chronicle was from James Mauseth. I wrote the peruvian part and he and Roberto Kiesling wrote the argentine and bolivian part.  

Yes, twenty years ago I was in Sondorillo iIn the highlands of Piura, in northern Peru where I found all the cacti species (7) that Humboldt described in this place 200 years before. I was very pleased and excited. 

Todos de los Cactus del Perú is renowned as one of the best texts on Peruvian cacti. What important lessons about Peruvian cacti does this book bring to the world?

This book has 550 pages and the first 150 pages of the book deals with Introduction, Ethnobotany, History, Conservation, Categorization and Cites, Ecology, Importance, Uses and Cultivation of Peruvian cacti. Then comes the Taxonomy with 42 genera and 270 between species and subspecies.

Can you tell me more about cactus mistletoe? Are mistletoe ever beneficial for a cactus? Are there any mistletoe that grow on Trichocereus?

No they aren’t. James Mauseth found a mistletoe in a cactus in Chile I don’t remember the genus and one in Peru in Corryocactus brevistylus, not in Trichocereus.

I imagine you have an impressive cactus library. I know you have tracked down obscure texts on Trichocereus, like Cruz Sanchez’s 1948 thesis where T. pachanoi was mislabelled as Opuntia cylindrica. Do you have any other interesting or rare Trichocereus or other cactus literature?

Yes I have a good library. No, I haven’t other interesting or rare cactus.

Do you like to eat nopal? Are there any other edible cactus products you like or dislike?

No, I don’t eat nopal nor other cactus products.

Do you know of any other interesting non-edible cactus products or novel applications of cactus material? Fishhook spines, hairbrushes, etc.

I wrote about Neoraimondia arequipensis subsp. roseiflora fishhooks spines at Chilca, south of Lima and as combs and needles in ancient Peruvian Cultures like Paracas and Inca.

I’ve heard Laurel Sugden speak about San Pedro overharvesting and replanting efforts with Trichocereus. What are the threats to Trichocereus and how can people help manage these threats?

The threats about mescaline Trichocereus are that now they are selling it as San Pedro flour and 50 K. of plant are needed to get one K. of flour and this powder has mescaline.

So we are not only exterminating these species, we are exporting a drug without any control. In my mentioned book I urge the Peruvian authorities to include these mescaline species in CITES Appendix I so they can’t be sold or exported.

How can people becoming interested in psychedelics engage with San Pedro in a way that is ethical?

I don’t know the answer. Perhaps, not consuming it.

What cactus are under threat where you live? How can people help protect these cactus and their habitats?

All cactus species living around Lima are threaded so we collected and took them to gardens and parks to avoid their extinction.

People are not interested in plants, only in surviving themselves.

Have you ever consumed San Pedro or Peyote? What are your feelings about the psychedelic industry and how do you anticipate it will impact on the environment and peoples and cultures around cactus? Are you worried about local impacts of this?

No, I haven’t consumed them. It will impact only people engaged with them. Of course, I already mentioned my worry.

Can you tell me some detaisldetails about traditional Trichocereus cultures in Peru? How do they compare to Trichocereus cultures elsewhere around the Andes?

All our ancient cultures knew empirically about the hallucinogenic content (mescaline) of Trichocereus and used them in their magic-religious ceremonies. Also now in some provinces of northern Peru are midnight pseudo medical ceremonies where the participants take the drug and “fly”. There are no other Trichocereus cultures in the Andes. They are different from Mexican ceremonies with Peyote.

You founded the Peruvian Society of Cactus and Succulents (Sociedad Peruana de Cactus y Suculentas). What inspired this founding? Can you tell me about some of the achievements of  the Society?

Before founding SPECS I went to the USA twice and learned from them about there organization.

Our Society (SPECS) is now 36 years old and our yearbook called Quepo has now 35 vols.

Also SPECS published in 2017 my Diccionario etimologico de cactaceas and in 2019 the second edition of Todos los cactus del Perú.

Can you please tell me about your experience naming Trichocereus peruvianus subsp. puquiensis?

The basionym is from Rauh & Backeberg Trichocereus puquiensis 1957. I only included it in T. peruvianus as a subsp. 

I feel like many excellent cactus works are written in Spanish. Are there any Spanish texts you could recommend I hunt down and try to get translated into English so I can read them? How about important cactus works in other languages people might not have heard about?

You can study Spanish and enjoy the cactus works.

Now that the most renowned English and American authors like David Hunt, Gordon Rowley and Myron Kimnach have passed away, I think the recent books from the French expert Joel Lode about this family called Taxonomia de las Cactaceas, with a new approach, are excellent and you can get them in English.