Espiritu Cabra means Goat Spirit. It is a hybrid between three species of trichocereus, Scopulicola, bridgesii and Pachanoi. Mark Albert’s Scopulicola #10, SS02, and a pachanoi from the Berkely Botanical Gardens of unknown orgins, but probably collected in Peru.

MA Scop #10 x (SS02 x BBG)

This cross was made by the late Mark Albert and Will Tomlinson of Oakland Cactus Company around 2018/2019 I think. The seedlot threw a lot of diverse morphology, Lumpy Space Princes from @symphony-Gardens (instagram) being one and possibly Gordita. I’m keeping my eye on a few others from the seed lot that look very promising.

This cactus is fairly flat sided, which it probably got mostly from SS02. It is much fatter than a bridgesii though, probably like a smallish diameter pachanoi. The spines are larger than a typical Pachanoi, but not too much.. As of writing this, I’ve never seen Espiritu Cabra throw any long spines. I would call the especially rich color dark green, but it develops a beautiful dark blue/green bloom. It has prominent chevroning. A chevron is a v shaped pattern, named after the horns of a goat (Che’vre is goat in French), thus the name. Chevrons are a common design element, think of the logo of the oil company. One spring day I hit my head on a chunky Juul’s Giant and had to sit in the yard for hours recovering. Everything was flushing out with new green growth. I noticed this cactus across the yard and was visually fixated on it’s chunky form, rich color and vivid chevrons. Shortly after, I potted it up, then ended up planting it outside. It has grown mostly 5 ribbed columns, with a percentage of 6 sided. It seems to grow a lot of “vagetative growth”, the vagina-like wrinkles that form between ribs.

In winter 2026 I got to observe cold effects on these rows of outdoor cactus in a hard freeze (don’t know temps, but frozen hoses and ice on standing water). Most showed at least some discoloration afterward, like frostburn without necrosis. Espiritu Cabra showed that and a few very small spots of necrosis. It was niether the best or worst outcome. I would not expect it to perform well outside in mariginal areas though.

I’m into this cactus. I am always showing it to people trying to get them to see how cool it looks. It delivers the goods. Blocky-ish, vividly dark blue-ish and decorated with chevrons. Via con cabra.