Icaros

“Icaros”, aka “Ikaros” or “IkarosDNA” is not a single clone, but rather a Nativar of Peruvian *Trichocereus*. A Nativar is a group of plants that exist in a close range in habitat that have interbred and adapted to their local conditions together. While they have unique genetics, they do generally exhibit many of the same traits.

Generally, plants grown from this seedline present a classic Matucana region traits including blue farina, fat and girthy columns, brightly colored spines, rib count from 6 to 9, and some variation in depth of notches. Areoles are rounded and can vary from light grey to brown felted. Spination is highly variable depending on the specific pollination event, ranging from short, honey-colored spines to long, stout, dark brown or grey spines. Variegated mutations have also been documented and selected from these seed batches.

The seeds are sourced and distributed by a provider named Julio (via local resellers), who harvests them from wild mother stands located in a specific valley in the Matucana region near Huarochiri in Peru. The spelling of the name was officially transitioned from “IcarosDNA” to “IkarosDNA” by the distributor around 2023 (approx). This spelling change is suspected to align with the Quechua language, which uses “K” instead of a solitary “C”. An “ikaro” is a traditional healing song often sang or played during ceremonies.

Due to the open-pollinated nature of the wild mother stands, the genetic makeup of the seeds varies from season to season depending on which plants contribute pollen. Several well-known names in the *Trichocereus* community are selections or distributions of this same genetic group, including “Los Gentiles,” “Verne's Wild Andes,” and the accession number “BK08612.4.”

Highly sought-after named clones have been selected from these seed batches, such as “Althea” and “SWIM.” While some community members have speculated that the famous clone “Sharxx” (or “Sharxx Blue”) is also an Icaros selection, historical records indicate that Sharxx originated from the Dawson farm in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to Julio distributing seeds under the Icaros name. However, it is considered highly likely that Sharxx shares regional genetics, originating from the same geographic area in Peru.