Published in volumes of 3 issues, the journal of the Chileans is a wealth of interest for the grower of cacti, be he a relative beginner or advanced follower of the hobby. Articles are translated from various foreign journals both old and new, many never having been published in English before. The skilled choice of material together with comments from growers in Britain and overseas makes fascinating reading. Original descriptions are combined with travellogues from recent years and from the past to build up a picture of the genus or species under discussion. Aspects covered include climate, associated flora and fauna, topography and soil in habitat, as well as cultivation.
The Chileans Journal aims to bring together ideas about South American cacti and their cultivation as well as their identification and relationships, alongside information about the environment in which they live in the wild. In addition to comments about cultivation of plants, there are articles about raising from seed, which often deal with those sorts which are not always the easiest to germinate and grow on.
Numerous observations made in habitat by present day travellers are also included, recounting how they found plants in the course of their travels, what they looked like in nature and also describing their surroundings. Although much more is now known about the distribution of many cactus species, and especially about their variability of appearance in the wild, it can still be difficult to decide which name to give to a plant, not only in cultivation, but especially one seen only in the dry season in the wild and out of flower. In particular there are many problems involved in deciding how best to apply a name which was erected prior to the middle of the present century. These sort of problems are also discussed within the pages of The Chileans, whilst at the same time endeavouring to avoid taxonomy for its own sake.
Nowadays large areas of South America are covered by good maps which gave the traveller reasonably accurate information on international boundaries, on provincial and departmental boundaries, as well as names of rivers, mountains and other features, all in addition to place names. Specialist flight maps as well as other general purpose maps frequently incorporate contour lines which illustrate clearly the nature of the terrain. Not only do most of these maps plot the roads, there are also some specialist road maps available for certain countries in south america, such as those produced by the Argentine automobile club.
However, the present-day abundance of mapped information still poses problems for any cactophile who wishes to know the whereabouts of this or that habitat location for a particular plant. The size of these maps does not make storage and reference an easy matter and their cost is not insignificant. Visiting those libraries which do hold some maps of cactus growing areas is not always very convenient. Once having gained access to the required map or maps, how does one then locate any particular place name for a cactus habitat, among all the mass of roads, rivers, place names, and contour lines? The Chileans maps are intended to make this task much easier work of this, by providing a convenient means of finding the location of a great many cactus habitats. Names and data extraneous to this prime purpose are kept to a bare minimum, in order to facilitate reading of the map and retrieval of the information sought.
All the maps which are included in this Compendium have already appeared in back numbers of the Chileans journal. Many of the maps include here have been updated since their original publication by the inclusion of additional place names, and one has been completely redrawn. In consequence, a large number of those place names which appear in The Chileans Field Number Compendium can be located on one or other of the maps in this Compendium.
Certain areas of South America which support the growth of cacti are not yet covered in this publication, however it is anticipated that a number of these areas will be covered by further maps which are expected to appear from time to time in future issues of the Chileans.
This useful reference lists thousands of field numbers for South American cacti with the identification and location given by the collector. The list comprises the discoveries of the following:
Arzberger (AA); Bates & Kirtley (B/K); Bercht (LB); B & K Schweitzer (BK); Borth (BO); Ferryman (RMF); Gerloff (GF); Gertel (G); Hamester (MGH); Herzog (DH); Hillmann (RH); Hofacker (AH); Horst-Uebelmann (HU); Hughes (RKH); Jenkins (TJ); Knoll & Klein (WO); Lambert (JL); Lau (L); Madsen (JM); Metzing (M); Nilsson (MN); Piltz (P); Preston - Mafham (PM); Rausch (R or WR); Ritter (FR); Schweich (DSW); Stockinger (FS); Van Vliet (DVV)
The 1996 Supplement to the above includes additions to existing lists as well as new lists as follows:
Bates, Down & Hughes (BDH); Charles (GC); Herzog (DH); Erikssen (ME); Ferryman (RMF); Gerloff (Gf); Gilmer (TG); Kasinger (K); Katterman (FK); Neuhuber (GN); Pot & van Boxtel (JK); Watson (WCB); Watson (P&W)
The latest list is the 1998 supplement which has the following additional contents:
Bates, Lowry, Marshall & Tomlinson (BLMT); Charles (GC); Fahr (JF); Ferguson (DJF); Gemmrich (WG); Gerloff (Gf); Gilmer & Thomas (TG); Kühhas (KF); Neuhuber (GN); Rausch (R); Slaba (SL); Swoboda (HS); DeVries (VZ); Wahl (RW); Zlatco (ZJ)