MrXeric's flowers and things
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Beautiful pics as always! I especially liked the pot with Mamm. bocasana. Very nice! 
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Some June flowers.
The larger of my Cochemiea theresae. It flowered in succession across several days this year, rather than all at once. I managed to pollinate all the flowers with saved pollen from my second plant. Hoping for a good harvest of seed.
A couple of Astrophytum myriostigma.
I am not sure what to call this plant. It was labeled by Mesa Garden when I bought it two years ago as Lobivia thionantha v. glauca (#546.43), which is a synonym for Acanthocalycium glaucum. But apparently plants that flower red-orange were historically classified as Acanthocalycium aurantiacum, which is a synonym for Acanthocalycium thionanthum. Whatever it is, it's a nice plant, a bit slow though.
very waxy stem
Another plant with a dubious name, Epithelantha chihuahuensis.
They are self-sterile. Both plants have been flowering daily this last week (flowers only last 1 day), so I've been manually pollinating them whenever I could catch them open. Hoping for seeds!
Bulbine mesembryanthoides, a winter growing geophyte, flowers in the summer.
crispy leaves in summer dormancy
The larger of my Cochemiea theresae. It flowered in succession across several days this year, rather than all at once. I managed to pollinate all the flowers with saved pollen from my second plant. Hoping for a good harvest of seed.
A couple of Astrophytum myriostigma.
I am not sure what to call this plant. It was labeled by Mesa Garden when I bought it two years ago as Lobivia thionantha v. glauca (#546.43), which is a synonym for Acanthocalycium glaucum. But apparently plants that flower red-orange were historically classified as Acanthocalycium aurantiacum, which is a synonym for Acanthocalycium thionanthum. Whatever it is, it's a nice plant, a bit slow though.
very waxy stem
Another plant with a dubious name, Epithelantha chihuahuensis.
They are self-sterile. Both plants have been flowering daily this last week (flowers only last 1 day), so I've been manually pollinating them whenever I could catch them open. Hoping for seeds!
Bulbine mesembryanthoides, a winter growing geophyte, flowers in the summer.
crispy leaves in summer dormancy
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Astrophytum caput-medusae grafted on M. geometrizans and Astrophytum myriostigma 'quadricostatum'. The quadricostatum has the smallest Astrophytum flowers of my collection. I crossed them, and predictably the quadricostatum did not set fruit, but the caput-medusae did. I've crossed the caput-medusae with other myriostigma plants before and it always sets fruit, but the seeds never germinate.
This one has the biggest flowers, Astrophytum capricorne. Flowering on its own, so can't compare sizes!
A white-flowered Chamaecereus hybrid. This plant was originally labeled Echinopsis 'Flambeau', an Altman Plants cultivar "characterized by distinctive magenta and orange flowers in a triple whorl", which obviously does not match the flowers on my plant. Oddly enough, that description is from the cultivar's patent found on Google Patents, and there are no pictures of the true "Flambeau" in flower that I can find on the internet.
This one has the biggest flowers, Astrophytum capricorne. Flowering on its own, so can't compare sizes!
A white-flowered Chamaecereus hybrid. This plant was originally labeled Echinopsis 'Flambeau', an Altman Plants cultivar "characterized by distinctive magenta and orange flowers in a triple whorl", which obviously does not match the flowers on my plant. Oddly enough, that description is from the cultivar's patent found on Google Patents, and there are no pictures of the true "Flambeau" in flower that I can find on the internet.
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Crazy day today in Southern California! Historic tropical storms. Earthquakes.
Didn't feel the quake, but the storm is giving us a nice break from the heat. Not a fan of the humidity though!
I was surprised to see this young Parodia lenninghausii, only 10cm high, flowering for the first time. I was expecting it to grow larger before flowering!
I was also surprised to see that it is self-fertile. The fruit fell off with just a tiny poke yesterday, about a month after the flower closed.
Most of my Mammillaria have small, typically unscented flowers. Here's an exception: Mammillaria sphaerica. It has the largest flowers of my collection and those have a lovely, sweet floral aroma.
Didn't feel the quake, but the storm is giving us a nice break from the heat. Not a fan of the humidity though!
I was surprised to see this young Parodia lenninghausii, only 10cm high, flowering for the first time. I was expecting it to grow larger before flowering!
I was also surprised to see that it is self-fertile. The fruit fell off with just a tiny poke yesterday, about a month after the flower closed.
Most of my Mammillaria have small, typically unscented flowers. Here's an exception: Mammillaria sphaerica. It has the largest flowers of my collection and those have a lovely, sweet floral aroma.
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
I know I am repeating myself..but your photos are excuisite! That Mamm.sphaerica..lovely! I need to pester my florist again..
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Thanks!
And yes, I've been quite taken with this little plant! I tried training it to be in full sun, it didn't burn, but it didn't look happy either. I moved it to a more shady shelf and it perked right up. Makes sense, since this plant typically grows under the shade of scrub and bushes in the wild!
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
That Astrophytum capricorne flower makes you think you're staring into the sun!
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
temperate, maritime climate with mild winters and cool summers
hardiness zone 8a
Antwerp, Belgium
temperate, maritime climate with mild winters and cool summers
hardiness zone 8a
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
A few early fall flowers.
Astrophytum capricorne.
Astrophytum caput-medusae graft.
Copiapoa echinoides KK 93.
This was previously listed by Mesa Garden as "Copiapoa echinoidea". I didn't find anything online about that name so I assumed it was misspelled or mislabeled. Since I am no Copiapoa expert, I could not definitively ID this plant on morphology alone, just that it looked somewhat like C. coquimbana or C. echinoides. I instead relied on the locality data (KK 93 corresponds to a plant originally labeled as Copiapoa sp. from San Felix, Vallenar, Chile at 800m altitude), and found that that locality is too far south from the known distribution of C. echinoides, which occurs mostly to the north of the Huasco Valley. That Vallenar region falls squarely in the northern distribution of C. coquimbana, so I thought that there was a good chance this was that species.
But just recently I checked the listing on Mesa Garden and found that they changed the name to C. echinoides, noting that they had previously listed this plant as "Copiapoa alticostata 'echinoidea' ". After researching that name, I found this useful bit of information in Rudolf Schulz's Copiapoa book:
Astrophytum capricorne.
Astrophytum caput-medusae graft.
Copiapoa echinoides KK 93.
This was previously listed by Mesa Garden as "Copiapoa echinoidea". I didn't find anything online about that name so I assumed it was misspelled or mislabeled. Since I am no Copiapoa expert, I could not definitively ID this plant on morphology alone, just that it looked somewhat like C. coquimbana or C. echinoides. I instead relied on the locality data (KK 93 corresponds to a plant originally labeled as Copiapoa sp. from San Felix, Vallenar, Chile at 800m altitude), and found that that locality is too far south from the known distribution of C. echinoides, which occurs mostly to the north of the Huasco Valley. That Vallenar region falls squarely in the northern distribution of C. coquimbana, so I thought that there was a good chance this was that species.
But just recently I checked the listing on Mesa Garden and found that they changed the name to C. echinoides, noting that they had previously listed this plant as "Copiapoa alticostata 'echinoidea' ". After researching that name, I found this useful bit of information in Rudolf Schulz's Copiapoa book:
So it seems there is a chance my plant is a result of natural hybridization between C. echinoides and C. coquimbana. I guess Mesa Garden believes this has more C. echinoides character than it does coquimbana.In the southern part of its range (Huasco Valley) C. echinoides tendencies are evident in populations of C. coquimbana, indicating widespread gene interchange. In the south, it can was difficult to decide which name to use for many individual plants where the majority were clearly C. coquimbana. Even as far south as the Domeyko Valley (40 k south of the Huasco Valley) the most inland populations of C. coquimbana (Ritter’s C. pseudocoquimbana var domeykoensis) appeared to have C. echinoides tendencies (fewer, shorter and less spreading spines, thick stems showing body color and an epidermis which can be somewhat coppery). For me, C. coquimbana ‘alticostata’ (see Charles, 1980, p. 38) from the Huasco valley shows many C. echinoides tendencies and is best be considered to be an intermediate between C. coquimbana and C. echinoides.
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
The Mammillaria hernandezii I got from you flowered 
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Epithelantha chihuahuensis. I cross pollinated several flowers from each plant, but only one plant produced a fruit (with only 2 seeds!) 
This one produced fruit much more readily, Cochemiea schumannii 'globosa' (grafted on S. megalanthus).
The last flowers of the season on this grafted (on Pereskiopsis) Discocactus horstii. There was a 2 month gap between this and the previous flush of flowers in September.
My Huernia kennedyana was very floriferous this year with over a dozen flowers throughout the fall. I do wish there was more vegetative growth though. It only grew two small segments this year. I guess these are just slow?
This one produced fruit much more readily, Cochemiea schumannii 'globosa' (grafted on S. megalanthus).
The last flowers of the season on this grafted (on Pereskiopsis) Discocactus horstii. There was a 2 month gap between this and the previous flush of flowers in September.
My Huernia kennedyana was very floriferous this year with over a dozen flowers throughout the fall. I do wish there was more vegetative growth though. It only grew two small segments this year. I guess these are just slow?
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Fall is mesemb season.
White flowering Lithops:
Lithops julii C297.
Lithops salicola 'Sato's Violet - Bacchus'.
Lithops karasmontana 'lateritia' visited by a syrphid/hover fly.
A pot full of yellow flowering Lithops (a mix of L. aucampiae and L. lesliei).
Pleiospilos bolusii.
Lapidaria margaretae.
Argyroderma pearsonii (or A. delaetii?). Could be a hybrid?
White flowering Lithops:
Lithops julii C297.
Lithops salicola 'Sato's Violet - Bacchus'.
Lithops karasmontana 'lateritia' visited by a syrphid/hover fly.
A pot full of yellow flowering Lithops (a mix of L. aucampiae and L. lesliei).
Pleiospilos bolusii.
Lapidaria margaretae.
Argyroderma pearsonii (or A. delaetii?). Could be a hybrid?
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Some flowering Conophytum from earlier in the fall.
Conophytum hermarium Areb, Northern Cape, RSA. Mesa Garden has this as C. smorenskaduense subsp. hermarium.
Detail of the leaves
Conophytum pellucidum 'terricolor'.
Conophytum ectypum subsp. brownii.
Conophytum limpidum SH 385.
Conophytum devium subsp. stiriiferum B&H 2298.
Conophytum hermarium Areb, Northern Cape, RSA. Mesa Garden has this as C. smorenskaduense subsp. hermarium.
Detail of the leaves
Conophytum pellucidum 'terricolor'.
Conophytum ectypum subsp. brownii.
Conophytum limpidum SH 385.
Conophytum devium subsp. stiriiferum B&H 2298.
Re: MrXeric's flowers and things
Titanopsis calcarea and T. hugo-schlechteri 'alboviridis'
Last year I crossed them and got seed only from the hugo-schlechteri. Most of the seedlings turned out to be variegated, but either they died out over time or they stopped growing variegated leaves. I don't see any calcarea characteristic, so maybe the hugo-schlechteri selfed? These are 9 months old.
Pleiospilos nelii. A bit oversaturated.
Turbinicarpus nieblae Sierra San Carlos, Tamaulipas, Mexico. I bought this plant from miles2go 2021 and this is the first time it has flowered for me.
Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus.
These were sown fall of 2020 and this is their first time flowering (the larger one was previously grafted). US dime for scale (~18mm diameter).
Last year I crossed them and got seed only from the hugo-schlechteri. Most of the seedlings turned out to be variegated, but either they died out over time or they stopped growing variegated leaves. I don't see any calcarea characteristic, so maybe the hugo-schlechteri selfed? These are 9 months old.
Pleiospilos nelii. A bit oversaturated.
Turbinicarpus nieblae Sierra San Carlos, Tamaulipas, Mexico. I bought this plant from miles2go 2021 and this is the first time it has flowered for me.
Turbinicarpus pseudopectinatus.
These were sown fall of 2020 and this is their first time flowering (the larger one was previously grafted). US dime for scale (~18mm diameter).