Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

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RichR
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Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Post 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?

Image

Image

Image
peterb
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Post 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.

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daiv
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Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Post 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.
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Post by iann »

Flowers are wrong from M. perbella. I think this is M. formosa ssp microthele.
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RichR
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Post 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.
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tumamoc
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Post 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.
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RichR
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Post 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.
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Post by peterb »

well, for me, there's always the consolation that it's a beautiful plant.

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Post 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.
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RichR
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Post by RichR »

peterb wrote:well, for me, there's always the consolation that it's a beautiful plant.

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Post 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.

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Post 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.
Here's to you, all you insidious creatures of green..er I mean cacti.
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Post 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
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Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Post by Cereusly »

Beautiful plant . . . loves these.
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Re: Normal behavior for M. lasiacantha?

Post 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.
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