john b 2010

john b · Post by **john b** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 2:23 pm

Greetings all!

It's a start, sort of....Rebutia spinosissima is always the earliest to develop buds and bloom here. Just buds at the moment, but what a feeling of elation to see them again.

Cheers!

diamondstate · Post by **diamondstate** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:01 pm

That's a lot of buds! It's gonna be some show!

Post by **daiv** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:13 pm

We had a plant come up for ID that was very similar to this one. The "fuzzy-whiteness" of it made spinossissima seem odd, but here you have one too. Good to note the variation on this species.

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 4:45 pm

Lovely plant John!

But it makes me more confused than usual. I have one that was identified here as a Mammillaria spinosissima ssp. Pilcayensis, that looks almost the same but isn't as white and has flowers that look a bit more on the fuschia side of pink (the ones in the picture above look more peach).
Here are some of the blooms this spring:

Here is a shot of the plant a year or so ago before it was repotted:

So, is one of the things that help ID it as Rebutia the whiter spines (both here and in the other post)? Otherwise the plants look very similar!

john b · Post by **john b** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:48 pm

This one actually came to me as R. hoffmannii, which Anderson places under spinosissima. It has the orange flowers with outer violet-pink petals.

iann · Post by **iann** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:13 pm

Harriet, yours is definitely the Mammillaria. You can clearly see in your photo, and even more easily since you have the plant, that the flowers appear from the axil between the tubercles. This is more or less unique to Mammillarias. A common trait of Mammillarias is also to produce a flower simultaneously from every single axil in a ring of growth about a year old.

Although it isn't easy to tell from John's picture, Rebutia flowers come from the standard spot on the areole at the tip of the tubercles along with the spines. Rebutia flowers also usually appear around the base of the plant at soil level, but as you can see they may appear higher up on old plants which are allowed to become columnar.

There are other differences too, but you need a degree in botany to notice them! Flower colour can be a help. Rebutias like the orange palette while Mammillarias like the pink palette. Both can be virtually white but there really isn't a lot of overlap in the colours. Rebutia hybrids are common and often have pastel coloured flowers. Mammillaria hybrids are rare.

john b · Post by **john b** » Sat Mar 13, 2010 11:18 pm

Harriet,

I'll post pics when it blooms (or dig up my pics from last year) and you'll see the difference at once.

The spines are so fine and dense that you can't see much of the plant.

Best,

John

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 12:31 am

Thank you both! I did notice the flower color difference and their location on the plant, but that was all I could see in the picture to distinguish between them. Now I know a little more... but with subtile differences like that I wonder if I'll ever be comfortable IDing any cactus!

I will enjoy seeing the pictures of the open blooms!

john b · Post by **john b** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:02 pm

Here is a pic from last year.

Best,

John B

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 3:08 pm

wow, incredible flowers. beautiful!

peterb

Harriet · Post by **Harriet** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 8:04 pm

No mistaking the differences between the plants when the flowers are open. Those are beautiful!

john b · Post by **john b** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:24 pm

Thought you might like them.

Mamm flowers tend to be smallish and cute by comparison.

John B

john b · Post by **john b** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 10:18 pm

As promised, the first bloom (Rebutia spinosissima):

Best,

John B

Ocotillo · Post by **Ocotillo** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 10:41 pm

I love the fuzziness of that Rebutia. That's a good way to start the year!

john b · Post by **john b** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 12:14 am

Yes, lots of nice spines there. I forgot my Parodia chrysacanthion -- it has been behaving stangely. It started blooming in the dark during its winter rest:

Best,

John B