Château de Malmaison
As with many of the early described cacti the history is somewhat unclear. Sims and Edwards state that it was discovered by the celebrated travellers Humboldt and Bonpland in April 1801, near the small village of Turbaco, near Cartagena, Colombia. It was reported by Bonpland to have first flowered at Château de Malmaison and at the Botanical Garden of Montpellier, France. However, this species was illustrated much earlier. Both Hernández (1651) and Plukenet (1691) illustrated the species.