Where did everyone go.

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chinanjcml
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by chinanjcml »

DaveW wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 9:42 am Truth is you don't grow your own "weeds", just other countries as exotics! :D

A quote from the preamble of that BCSS ZOOM talk mentioned.

"The Chinese Cactus and Succulent Union is the first national Society for cactus and succulent enthusiasts in China. It was founded in 2017 by the Zhangzhou Longhai Cactus and Succulent Botanical Garden and was aimed at the dissemination of knowledge and information. As a young Society, they currently have around 400 members and publish a monthly journal. On behalf of the Chinese Cactus and Succulent Union, Xiaobin Yao will a talk about ‘Interest in Cacti and Succulents in China over the Last 30 Years’.

Unfortunately they or the botanical garden don't seem to have a web page, or "Google" cannot find it?
Remarks like yours would be considered aggressive in China, but I'm online a lot, so I don't care too much. I don't know what you mean by weeds, succulents?

It's normal for anyone to have what they're good at and what they're not good at, and I think we'd be better off talking about happy cactus together!

That so-called alliance, maybe it's really just what I heard -- just a seller's organization
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chinanjcml
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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One Windowsill wrote: Sat Apr 30, 2022 7:48 pm
chinanjcml wrote: Sat Apr 30, 2022 1:59 pm I've heard of the China Cactus and Succulent Union.which as far as I know is an organization of merchants who don't represent enthusiasts, just a subset of sellers.

There are not many types of succulent in China. Due to climate reasons, there are about 200-300 species of sedum in mainland China, and there may be some in Taiwan, but I don't know much about them.

In general, we are not very interested in the succulents produced in our country, but I think is good, because getting too much attention means they will soon become extinct
The Union was described in the talk as a club for all growers:
The Chinese Cactus and Succulent Union is the first national Society for cactus and succulent enthusiasts in China. It was founded in 2017 by the Zhangzhou Longhai Cactus and Succulent Botanical Garden and was aimed at the dissemination of knowledge and information. As a young Society, they currently have around 400 members and publish a monthly journal.
There are five Kalanchoe species in China, one of them (Kalanchoe ceratophylla) gave its name to the Kalanchoe genus. That was cultivated as an ornamental 300 years ago.

Seven species of Sinocrassula, the genus name meaning "Chinese crassula". 233 species of Crassulaceae, the Flora of China recognises 121 species of Sedum in China.

32 species of Hoya. 5 species of Dischidia. 17 species of Ceropegia. 2 species of Calotropis. One species of Sarcostemma.

4 species of Portulaca.

Lots of succulent Chenopodiaceae.

Those are just the ones that came to mind immediately. Online Flora of China
Very detailed! In China you can't get them legally. (except for very few species)
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keith
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by keith »

Remarks like yours would be considered aggressive in China, but I'm online a lot, so I don't care too much. I don't know what you mean by weeds, succulents? "

Its a joke on human nature people wanting exotic things not whats found locally .
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chinanjcml
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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ok, i see, it could be because of language differences
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DaveW
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by DaveW »

Don't worry about it WeChat:TaikooA there are always different meanings in different languages which lose something in translation. Many cacti in habitat are considered weeds by farmers and industry so can legally be killed by burning or with herbicides and yet it is illegal for people to remove and save them particularly in the case of most cacti. CITES only restricts international sale in endangered species. The regulations regarding plants within a country are governed by its own laws and few politicians are going to risk losing votes through restricting what farmers or industry can do regarding removing native flora regarded as "weeds" on their own land.

The definition of a weed is often given as "a plant growing in the wrong place" as far as farmers and gardeners are concerned. Unfortunately many species in habitat grow in places farmers want for other agricultural purposes. In Chile a lot of habitat is being converted to growing vines for wine production.

Regarding my remark on exotics, few of us bother to grow our own native species, we always find those from other parts of the world more interesting through being unfamiliar. In the 1960's long before CITES, John Donald the British Rebutia expert, now long dead, told me he had in the past swapped some British orchids with a friend abroad for habitat Rebutia's, neither of them being interested in cultivating their own native plants.
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BryanT
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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Agreed with Dave. Most of the time we find things interesting because they are from other parts of the world, and we tend to ignore the native species.
Where I live, I have lots of so called exotic plants, but there are all around the house only, over 90% of the property is cover by original bush land indigenous plants. People always asked me, why don't you do something with the land, I told them I like to keep it the way it is. Only during cold weather I might cut down a few dead trees for firewood. Beside the native trees and shrubs, we have about 12 species of native orchids & few species of carnivorous plants (both only pop up from the ground from late Autumn to early Spring during wet seasons, depends on the species, then disappear all together during dry season; lots of people didn't even know they exist), and also the native animals.
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chinanjcml
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by chinanjcml »

DaveW wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 8:37 am Regarding my remark on exotics, few of us bother to grow our own native species, we always find those from other parts of the world more interesting through being unfamiliar. In the 1960's long before CITES, John Donald the British Rebutia expert, now long dead, told me he had in the past swapped some British orchids with a friend abroad for habitat Rebutia's, neither of them being interested in cultivating their own native plants.
I have a point about native plants: if it's not for conservation purposes, it's best to let them live naturally in the wild.For example, the pandas in Qinling, I think there are enough of them.

I have tried growing native succulents such as Orostachys japonica A. Berger, Hylotelephium erythrostictum (Miq.) H. Ohba, Phedimus aizoon (L.) 't Hart, which can be found in my city, some are on the mountain.

It's hard to maintain its beauty in the pot, much harder than a cactus.
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by keith »

I'm planting native plants around my house as I re- landscape it . Dudleyas grow well in both pots and in the ground and are native. Also have Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) which I grew from seeds. Manzanita, (Arctostaphylos) and Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifoloia) to replace European white brich and Magnolia . South African Aloes also grow well here. We are in a serious drought again and its probably permanent , water restrictions again again starting June can only water landscapes one day a week.
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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BryanT wrote: Mon May 02, 2022 12:38 pm Agreed with Dave. Most of the time we find things interesting because they are from other parts of the world, and we tend to ignore the native species.
Where I live, I have lots of so called exotic plants, but there are all around the house only, over 90% of the property is cover by original bush land indigenous plants. People always asked me, why don't you do something with the land, I told them I like to keep it the way it is. Only during cold weather I might cut down a few dead trees for firewood. Beside the native trees and shrubs, we have about 12 species of native orchids & few species of carnivorous plants (both only pop up from the ground from late Autumn to early Spring during wet seasons, depends on the species, then disappear all together during dry season; lots of people didn't even know they exist), and also the native animals.
Hey Brian, what carnivorous plants are you speaking about? Sundews, Drosera sp.?
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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I have a couple big aloe polyphilla, which are allegedly very difficult, but they just sit in the rain here all winter and are happy with it. Different climates favor different plants, and we all pine for the ones that we can't grow easily. (no staghorn ferns outside for me)
I was around a lot from 2010 to 2016, but got divorced. That's pretty rough and a lot of things fell to the side. Fortunately cacti (except seedlings) are tough and I still have a 10x12 greenhouse full. Facebook and IG do have a lot of cactus stuff, but it's extremely basic.
Image
Pelecyphora asseliformis - not basic. ;) I grafted this as a seedling and it went bonkers, it seems to be stuck in the juvenile growth habit (1/4" columnar) even the 'normal' heads just get longer and never transition to adult habits or flower. I recently grafted a small crested and normal bit to see what happens and create backups in case I get divorced again - not tempting fate though. :lol:

Australia only has sundews and cetalophus for carnivorous plants. Probably tuberous sundews if they're making it through a dry season. Another plant that's difficult outside it's native climate (that and carnivore growers are pretty liberal with the water...)
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by BryanT »

Hi Jerry.
Yes, sundews. Drosera aberrans, auriculata, macrantha subsp planchonii, hookeri and peltata.
Maybe there are others that I am not aware of, because they are not always there each year, just like the orchids, some years you won't see them.
Possible depends on temperature and amount of rain we get. All I know is that the orchids here need particular kind of mycorrhizal fungi to grow.
In recent years, the dry season seems to getting longer, and not much winter rain, many species haven't been seen for few years now. Hopefully this year will be better. Always nice when sitting on the ground with those tiny beautiful plants.

Hi promethean_spark, yes those are two that most people know. But Australia did have many others from the tropical rain forest at the north to cold temperate at the south.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivoro ... _Australia
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by jerrytheplater »

Thanks Bryan (sorry, just noticed how to spell your name!!). I just pulled out my copy of The Savage Garden by Peter D'Amato and read up on the Australian Sundews he lists. He has D. auriculata, D. macrantha, and D. peltata. But not the others you list. He's got a lot of others listed.
Jerry Smith
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45 inches (114 cm) rain equivalent per year, approx. evenly spread per month
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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No worries Jerry! :D I used to had a university student spelled my name as Brain. :(
A lots of people didn't realized how diverse the Australian floras. It's still quite new for lot of people, even for people in Australian. Still many to be discovered and classified.
As the link to my earlier post, you can see that Australia has one of the world's richest carnivorous plant floras, with around 187 recognised species from 6 genera. That also because they exclude the genus Stylidium.
Because they mostly protected species, difficult to find them for sale in nurseries, except a few droceras, nepenthes, sometime couple of utricularia or the one and only Cephalotus follicularis.
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Re: Where did everyone go.

Post by mikethecactusguy »

WOW! this topic veered way out from my original question.
Mike The Cactus Guy
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Aeonium2003
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Re: Where did everyone go.

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I think that's a good thing. At least it shows that there are still plenty of active members. :)
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