The Candelabra Cactus of the Northern Atacamana.

A slow and steady climb East from the Pacific Ocean brings us through one of the most barren, non-polar deserts on Earth, up to a pretty fascinating wonder of evolution and a tower among its fellow cacti.
Browningia candelaris, so lonely at 7,000' in the volcanic landscape of Northern Chile. It produces spines up to about 8', defenses against some long-extinct herbivore, then produces a smooth woody trunk right above. The altitude range of this species here is roughly 2000 m to 2300 m here in the Southern part of its range, in Northern Chile.
Species list:
Cathartes aura
Equisetum giganteum
Baccharis sp.
Pluchea chingoyo
Cistanthe sp.
Trixis calcarioides
Nolana sp.
Ambrosia sp.
Solanum lycopersicoides
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Still happy to remove comments from angry grandpas, middle-aged creeps (all mostly men) pushing creepy political agendas, conspiracy theorists, pseudi-scuence quacks, and others who I enjoy trolling and pissing off. There's plenty of room for you to disagree, but do so like an adult rather than a spoiled toddler, otherwise you'll be removed like a dingleberry from a dog's ass.

[@BubblewrapHighway]

So glad I can ride out the last hour of my graveyard shift with the deep dish botanist.

[@nancynickerson4341]

Turkey vulture meditating and yarfing in the morning sun......and casting a suspicious glance at that human over there talking to himself.

[@DahVoozel]

Grats on 3 years man.

[@diggascryptoawarenessdownu7246]

What a fun time, only bloke who can make the surface of Mars seem like a hive of splendour!

[@benbrinkhurst8722]

Its amazing how many times during these videos ill pause to research something you say, only to fall into a wiki rabbit hole for hours. Appreciate it man

[@chriswalford4161]

Ben Brinkhurst ❤️

[@colinunwin7722]

Thanks Tony for another desert episode. I never knew that I would enjoy finding out about the desert so much. You make it compelling to watch and inwardly digest. This desert environment is much like my botanical mind, sparse in life but full of shimmery bullshit. Now thanks to you it’s starting to bloom a little. Thanks Tony :)

[@TitansTracks]

Man am I glad I found this low class bastid! Fills my boring ass day with about 10 minutes of something I genuinely want to learn more about. And he does it with a certain bravado that's just so hard to find these days. Keep it up brother, this is exactly the kinda shit I look forward to in my day! 💎

[@thelukeewan7602]

Tony, you are one of a very special kind. 😎 your insight on psychedelic experience in the mentally stunted homids is spot on. Free their minds of their ridged beliefs one plant at a time. Thank you for sharing your travels and insights with us.

[@Gurman8r]

I just started watching your videos. Excellent content, you're criminally under-viewed.

[@toddstropicals]

That cactus is amazing, I love plants that bite back.

[@StanTheObserver-lo8rx]

I would think the Browningia needs spines to both ward off Llama's and also to shade the sensitive trunk-- the UV must be ferocious. It might take it to get to a large size before the trunk gets woody. Spines shade,while needing almost no water or nutrients. I have T.terscheckii from Argentina..a huge cactus also,and young ones are spiny..but as soon as it gets a woody trunk..just smooth growing from there to 40' on.

[@dougveganparadisebuilder5808]

You should hop over to Brazil. I have the three books series 'Brazilian Trees' by Lorenzi. You could be busy for months there identifying only the enormous amounts of different tree species. Greetings from Paraguay!

[@damiangraham3571]

You make me squirt with laughter and I physically cannot and have not had children. Who’s throwing that shit, Tones?

[@rubynoils2872]

Please make a yearly calendar with your beautiful photos & captions!!

[@woodstockjon420]

We've all had mornings like that ,tell the bird where to find a meeting 🤣

[@briangarrow448]

One day, or plant, at a time.

[@snuugumz]

Jon Towers *URRP* wake up, no, come to, take a swig, barf, take anudder swig. That one stays down. Dis was my world until 2002. Minus da buzzard.

[@fop6033]

"llama lookin' bastard", gonna have to remember to call someone that sometime

[@AttackHak]

Best KZbin channel 👏👏

[@stuntone]

If you hit Ecuador let me know, I got Family there. Maybe they can show you some stuff. Or the other way around. 🤘🏽🌱🔴🎥🎙🌎🛸

[@mikeholmes5824]

Cactus dreadlocks @26:20. I have a T-shirt idea for you, botany guy. An enlarged, extended, graduated middle finger, with the question "Humanity, can you measure up?"

[@nonoluigi]

Traveling with Tony to the rare Botanical Wonders of the Earth! (Or what is left of them.) Its like being there (almost), without ever leaving home! What a treat and education! Makes my day!

[@NewMessage]

Good to know that lizards are so health conscious.

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

That guy had a fitspirational page. He gave me the page name.i checked it out. It was corny as hell, as they tend to be. But I didn't tell him that.

[@oossum]

@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt brother 1 could watch your videos for days excellent

[@nonoluigi]

The anoles in Florida (which look like "chameleons") do the same thing. I think it is about claiming territory, or something.

[@andreasheij]

Just wondering how you specify all these different plants.... Do you key they out in the field or is this all ready knowledge? In the latter case: wow... In the first case: Please teach us how to key out these things!! :-D

[@opl500]

Rodney Dangerfield teaches botany.

[@TheNaturalProgressive]

Ok, Joey, I really need to interview you! Please consider? You can cuss all you want..

[@bluetoad2001]

used to use Equisetum to sand clarinet and saxophone reeds back in high school days.

[@TheRobotViking]

What a pleasant surprise this morning. Thanks for the video, mayne

[@RalfStephan]

Grandpa gets his horror trip when they pump him up with opiates and valium after his first hospital OP. It's called post-operative delirium, and he will stay in that condition because he didn't train coping by taking psychedelics in his youth. You pay for every sin.

[@geoffbreen2386]

Have wanted to see more than just black and white photo's of Browningia since first viewing it in the Cactus Lexicon by kurt Backberg years ago. This is a dream to see them in habitat. Thank you you made my day.

[@thomasrobertmalthus7277]

Such a polite ending! It must be the altitude. Any Echinopsis pachanoi (syn. Trichocereus pachanoi) up there?

[@WayneTheSeine]

Wow.... the Nolana is beautiful....including the foliage. Amazing the cactus evolved to a point it doesn't waste precious resources building spines that really are not needed that high up....how did it know? But.... whatever used to feed on it down low must have been a bad ass persistent bastard. Then..... we have the little tot..... little 80 year old brat. Life is a marvel. Again....thanks for sharing with this old grandpa.

[@lucyb15]

Wow! thank-you! I would never have known about these weirdos if not for you. fascinating flora!

[@LindaB651]

Did not know that all cactus fruits are edible. I grow New England native prickly pear cacti in a sun-scorched sandy spot on the south side of my house- grows well and is yummy!

[@Saroyus]

We see horsetail in the uk too, it's a rather alien sight to see (in clay soil), an amazing living fossil!

[@debbiehenri7170]

Ha, you're watching this from Britain too. What a breath of fresh air this guy is compared to our dry, dull TV gardeners, agree? Desert plants have fascinated me all my life, and this programme is great because it's not just about the same few plants that we 'always' see in multiple documentaries (so that you'd think there were only a dozen plants in existence over there) - there's so much more than I imagined.

[@__hetz]

Glad to see you found some variety in the barrens. You sounded almost disappointed in the vast nothing speckled only with tilandsia previously. I suppose it comes with the terrain, forgive the pun, that in searching inhospitable places you might only be met with a handful of plants at best. I'm nominating candelaris for the Tuff Sumbitch Award too. Seems impossible for anything to get that tall in that environment without considering how long they took to grow to such size. That medusa-looking one is unreal. I wonder if that is just the result of age and accumulated weight or if it's phenotypically unique to the others. Beautiful plant either way.

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

Never disappointed. Certainly amazed

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

*Never disappointed out here. Society is a never-ending disappointment, on the other hand. However I've grown accustomed to it 😂 💩. Lots of good material for satire and comedy.

[@__hetz]

@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt I'm happy to hear. Was worried something you'd hoped to see didn't pan out. But you're right, even if that happens it's hard to be disappointed in the whole journey, eh? Maybe society will undergo some sort of new enlightenment, pull heads from the collective ass, and start down the path of unfucking things? If not we enjoy it while it lasts and be grateful to be worm food before things really get ugly!

[@allonesame6467]

SILIQUE!! That's the safe word I was looking for that denotes the seed structure for brassiacea! Thank you!! And congratulations on 3 years of sobriety! AWESOME!

[@marensaffell8864]

People think the saguaro is something else and then you see those cacti! Holy crap so amazing!

[@landobaggins]

Joey how often do you get outside to learn all these things?

[@Thylamis]

maann i hope you got up to the altiplano, the bofedales are a fucking sight to see

[@melflow19]

My favorite part of every video is your descriptions. Real knee slappers in there lol thank you for spreading the good word.

[@RSxMVxSN]

21:10 some people just need a lil dose don't they ;))

[@hxctalent]

Scroll throw your comment section to find the one angry grandpa every other video; wow them bastards can type

[@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt]

I love it. I don't they know how hilarious they are.

[@kirkjohnson9353]

"Go ahead man, we all remember mornings like that " hahaha A distant memory yes. And not fond.

[@kendude8089]

"Cuddly as a Cacatus" 🌵

[@samlipsit517]

Yum ....Puke up those bones :)))

[@swaddington9399]

Whoa that fruit look so much like dragon fruit, that's cool

[@barbaracovey]

Calafate, I hope you get a opportunity to see a calafate while your in Chili.

[@dabodoes9563]

Great video you make learning fun

[@jasminewood395]

Quickest half hour of my life man! Love it, thank you do much for sharing so much content... Botanists do this all the time, and in the name of science yet they fall so short compared to this in terms of providing interesting info of all kinds!

[@paulmitchell4372]

Come to the UK.

[@gardnersmith3580]

Pall Malls, Outstanding...and they are MILD. 26:11

[@The_Crucible714]

Whoa! I’ve never seen horsetails growing in-situ before, only as fossils in books. *amazebawls!*

[@PhoenixProdLLC]

"Somebody's throwing shit." 😂😂Your videos are great, as usual. Don't let it go to your head ok gfy 😊 I tossed up a short walk if you want to check out the flaura and shit. OK NOW you can gfy, nicely ;)

[@dhs232hd]

Thank you for the extremely informative videos you have posted; your knowledge of botany and the genus of so many species is amazing; the micro climates and the variation of locales is very enjoyable; you put a lot of effort in these videos and it shows. You exceed PhD level of expertise in your descriptions. Thanks again

[@closeupchannel4365]

You could measure the growth rate over a year, and extrapolate back to a ball-park age I guess. Rates of growth probably vary a lot between years though and are correlated with the size. An older cactus would have the ability to extract more resources and would probably grow faster unless it had reached the limit to sustain its existing growth. So yeah, you are right, a bitch to try and determine their ages. Some cacti that experience vast seasonal changes in growth do exhibit bumps in their girth going up that can be used in some cases to help determine age.

[@rocki_bb]

If you're ever in SC, I would love to go on a nature walk with you brother

[@drewdemien481]

i like what you're doing. thanks spanky. you aren't triggering anybody...but dare i say: Berwyn?! (svengoolie reference) i caught some chicago references in another clip post. thanks for sharing your story n shit.

[@TimNevins]

Love the cactus habitat footage!

[@2.7petabytes]

8 people, so far, that took “go fuck yourself” to heart... you da best man! Love your videos! And good on you for 3+ years brother!! I just put in a request to follow you on IG as well BTW.

[@fenrirgg]

So amazing how those plants just don't go full graminea and invade every bit of their habitat. There is one here.... another one 20m there... xD

[@katiekane5247]

The text called it a "backrest". Latin doesn't translate well apparently, good for a chuckle though.

[@arnaudmenard5114]

Indeed, it’s hard to date cactuses. They are stiff and a bit prickly, but if you take good care of them. With time they bloom beautifully.

[@willietheboggle3954]

Don’t know a thing about anything you are talking about, that said I could listen to your ramblings all day.

[@Grateful_Dad_54]

This old man can relate, although listening/watching as much as I do, some of it actually sticks to the gray matter.

[@smcic]

I’m liking the geology narration as well as the botany. Maybe you should change the channel name to

[@ZE308AC]

These yuppies are trying to gain Instagram famous or Instagram validation like myself

[@DougT2]

I've been on that exact road- even stopped at the same spot where you were seeing the second species of solanum. Great stuff- only disapponitment is that I'm just now seeing your stuff. I wish I had seen this before I went to Chile.

[@avariceworldwide7827]

show us some copiapoa 😍 some of the most amazing plants

[@mthc86]

Hey dude! Great videos. Thanks!

[@barrett5195]

If u dry those horsetail leaves u can make a rly good tea called emoliente with barley, alfalfa, flax, lemon, and sugar. Tastes great.

[@AGDinCA]

"Endless forms most beautiful..." Yes, sir! 👍

[@jodyconnolly4541]

Your awesome!! Thanks

[@XoroksComment]

Some Citrus species do the same thing. The main trunk is covered in spines until a certain height. Most people don't know this because the grafted trees you buy in nurseries use cuttings from above that point. So the plant thinks it's up in the air and doesn't develop spines. It's a good way to identify seedling trees.

[@deathlydarkness]

I wonder what it'd be like to be dosed with a psychedelic. I always wonder. I mean, I have nerve disease in my 30's so I may never know lol

[@vibeandride2984]

It's great working at a garden center and witnessing first hand the stupidity of people botanical wise , knowledge is not very respected either , people just wanna know how much round up they can use to kill all the other plants and plant there own , gotta love it

[@cynergy4]

Love me sum Equisetum! Living fossils. I've eaten the RIPE berries of Solanum douglasii and several other nightshades, they taste exactly like tiny tomatoes, which of course they are. Wow, I'm pretty well versed in California native plants, and the local tribes, but have never heard of Trixis, much less of it being smoked! You school me more with every video! Looks like a Dr. Seuss cactus. I absolutely agree with ya, dose 'em before it's too late! That grandpa Browningia looks kinda Rasta

[@CTCAC2000]

nice work, tony, as always!

[@jasminewood395]

Can't wait to see what Chile holds for us! This is great

[@Rob-ze1wi]

I used to do EIR/EIS for the mining industry. Love the Atacama.

[@JenniferLupine]

Really cool cactus and other plants! Thanks for the great tour!

[@infoninja]

Terraform Mars with these cacti

[@SMARTEARMIN]

thanks for these beautiful videos. educating and entertaining

[@setblink6200]

I read "Atacama" and say "mah boi it's in my country" then I was disappointed.

[@LunaRendezvous]

One of your best, who doesn't love the desert! What happened, did your battery die?

[@roycepeniston5012]

Bolivian torch does like the candelaris as well. After raching a certain height the stems become bear.

[@Frank-zs1wk]

plants alive before the western human tumor even arrived in the new world...cool AF

[@dbrowne9341]

all I can say to this one is WOW...

[@theogdirkdiggler]

I'm sober 3 yrs too, congrats. I love your smart ass!

[@Totalinternalreflection]

Well done! Hope you’re still doing good.

[@sl5311]

Atacamana the driest desert in the world. You should learn paleontology and teach us that too wherever you go.

[@MrEiht]

I NEVER skip your intro. Its the best. Besides my wife.

[@jfkusa123]

Are you in Chile because you were planning on being at kop?

[@THEpineapples101]

Bummer, if so! 😕 But plenty of flora, fauna, and exploits to be had and better off out of the city at this point...

[@hyperflares2879]

I never took you for a hugger

[@lukewand]

Them be widowmakers above yet head, schmuck..

[@bengraham4603]

"Endless forms most beautiful and what the shit."

[@davidbarts6144]

The largest extant Equisetum species in the world grow in approximately the same part of South America you are presently traveling through.

[@davidbarts6144]

My bad, it's the 2nd largest, E. giganteum. The larger E. myriochaetum is well north of you, in Central America.

[@alohathaxted]

After the vulture we went to Mars.

[@savvassimitsis9090]

I'm always amazed by the number of genera you can recall !

[@daveeckblad]

I keep wondering if you're talking to us or to the dogs.

[@kristcon3234]

"Caution!, People throwing shit"

[@Harveywhite209]

Am I the only one disappointed that we didn’t get treated to the sexy parts of that Nolana?

[@justinadona5088]

something about deserts are so mystical...

[@jorgefortes6674]

They keep the spines to convey the ocasional fogs or rains.