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Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:04 pm
by RichR
The first picture shows this plant last March.

The second and third show how it looks today.

It's pupping and "dividing." (I don't know the correct term for growing two crowns / apices.)

Is this normal for this species?

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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:42 pm
by peterb
I don't think that's lasiacantha. I can see that the flowers are slightly similar, but all the other characters point to comething else. Not enough of a Mam guy (so to speak!) to know what though.

peterb

Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:46 pm
by daiv
RichR wrote:(I don't know the correct term for growing two crowns / apices.)
dichotomous division - can also go 3 or 4 ways

I agree it has more of an M. perbella look to it.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 6:47 pm
by iann
Flowers are wrong from M. perbella. I think this is M. formosa ssp microthele.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 7:49 pm
by RichR
Well, when I bought it (at Mesquite Valley Growers in Tucson) it was labeled "M. lasiacantha" but it didn't look like any of the lasiacanthas I had ever seen.

Thanks to all for your input.

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 11:42 pm
by tumamoc
Now you know you shouldn't trust the labeling from Mesquite Valley Growers. They're more like Home Depot, in that they get their cacti from a third party ("Cactus Dan", I believe). They certainly don't grow cacti from seed, unlike B&B Cactus Farm, located up the street.

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:32 am
by RichR
Duly noted, Tumacoc. I'm not sure I really trust labeling from anywhere, including B&B, who often have plants without any labels at all. I even got a plant from (gasp) Mesa Garden recently whose identification (i.e., subspecies) was called into question by a very knowledgeable member of the CactiGuide forum.

Not to demean MG, however. If anyone knows what plants he is selling it's Steve Brack.

I'm still pretty new at this and while I usually check a plant's ID against the various reference books I have, I can't always make distinctions from photos in a book. Not to mention there seem to be a gazillion species of Mammillaria, many of which look the same to a beginner. That's when I like to post it here and almost always get a definitive answer, or at least a highly educated guess.

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 1:46 am
by peterb
well, for me, there's always the consolation that it's a beautiful plant.

peterb

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:01 am
by Peterthecactusguy
some of us would buy our plants cause they look nice?

As for that Daiv is correct the "botanical" term for that is "dichotomous division". I think what Daiv is trying to say is that there can be more then one dichotomous division on a plant.

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:11 pm
by RichR
peterb wrote:well, for me, there's always the consolation that it's a beautiful plant.

peterb
My main criteria for buying!

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:33 pm
by peterb
I think there is a difference between a collector and a grower. Of course, in different personalities, there's an overlap, and usually some of each going on. But I have enjoyed the passion more as I have become more of a grower and less of a collector. If that makes any sense.

peterb

Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:31 pm
by Peterthecactusguy
PeterB, it does. I am transitioning into becoming a grower from being a buyer, if that makes sense. I am going to sow a bunch of seeds soonish.

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:25 am
by Arjen
I don't fully agree, as I'm becoming more of a 'grower' there are still a lot of plants I would like to collect and then later grow myself
I don't think that ever ends

Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2012 5:13 pm
by Cereusly
Beautiful plant . . . loves these.

Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:30 am
by GermanStar
I don't care which Mamm it is, that is a mind-boggling transformation. I'll hope you'll keep updating the thread as it progresses.