The original casting of this 8 ribbed beauty was taken in the Chihuahuan desert, a region with much colder winters than south Texas. Tenaciously weathering freezing winters by growing on the southern, sun-facing slopes of its mountainous home, this individual embodies the power of its kind.
   Some scholars have classified this as a distinct subspecies, more potent and slower growing than the varieties found in the south Texas areas known to the Native Americans as the "peyote gardens".
   Dr. Terry’s ground-breaking research has shown this northern variety to be genetically distinct from its southern relatives.