CactiGuide.com

keith wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 1:17 pm Epithelantha chihuahuensis has the flower color like Epithelantha unguispina .

Thanks for that keith, they do look similar. Seems like E. unguispina is also self-sterile?

nes wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21, 2022 4:58 pm Bummer when two plants don't flower at the same time. V. pretty flowers

Yeah, I wasn't sure whether to collect and store some pollen, but the flowers closed and shriveled before I could make up my mind. It would have been a wasted effort anyway, since the second plant still has no signs of flowering anytime soon.

If stored correctly and kept frozen, the pollen can easily last up to a year or more in the freezer...

Aeonium2003 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 3:57 pm If stored correctly and kept frozen, the pollen can easily last up to a year or more in the freezer...

I probably didn't store pollen correctly last year. I saved some anthers from Astrophytum asterias and Cochemiea (Mammillaria) theresae last summer by letting them dry for a day before putting them inside a small capsule and putting that in the freezer. I let the anthers defrost for 1-2 hours before pollinating a few weeks ago. The C. theresae flower opened for another two days after pollinating so I doubt the flower was fertilized, but I won't know for sure anytime soon since this sets cryptocarpic fruit. The Astrophytum flower did stay closed the next day after pollinating but it didn't set fruit. Short term this method did work last year, since I remember storing more Astro anthers in the freezer and using them with success a few weeks later.

Some more, recent flowers:

Parodia magnifica


Astrophytum hybrid (asterias x capricorne?)


Astrophytum caput-medusae, sown (Oct. 2020) and grafted (Oct. 2021) by me, flowering for the first time today.




It started producing flowering areoles on the fifth tubercle but only the bud on the seventh tubercle actually bloomed.

Pretty cool seeing caput on a graft. Mine only has 4 tubercules and is on its own roots. Thinking of slab grafting the tubercules

Beautifulpics as always! Either you have a very good camera or you are an excellent photographer, or maybee both? Your pics are always so clear, that you can see every little detail in them.

nes wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:04 am Pretty cool seeing caput on a graft. Mine only has 4 tubercules and is on its own roots. Thinking of slab grafting the tubercules

I grafted this when I burned most of my seedlings last year. I did try to slab graft a few of the tubercles from the less "graftable" seedlings (not enough taproot to graft normally), but they failed. I think the tubercles were too small and they dried out. I ended up grafting the last surviving seedling last month, so hopefully I'll start getting seed to try again next year.
How old is your plant? I think these only grow one or two tubercles per year? I estimate these flower at 4 or 5 years of age.

Mrs.Green wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:39 pm Beautifulpics as always! Either you have a very good camera or you are an excellent photographer, or maybee both? Your pics are always so clear, that you can see every little detail in them.

Thanks Mrs. Green! I use my smartphone for all pics and just play around with the "pro" settings and the lighting. Really it's just sliding through the ISO, shutter speed, and focus values until I am satisfied with the look.

MrXeric wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 11:16 pm How old is your plant? I think these only grow one or two tubercles per year? I estimate these flower at 4 or 5 years of age.

My caput is only two years of age. It has a fuzzy pre pubescent bud on it, but it didn't flower.

The Astrophytum have really taken off this last month.

Astrophytum asterias, slightly fasciated flower.


a second flower from the same plant, several days later, also a bit misshapen.


Astrophytum myriostigma 'quadricostatum', first time it flowered for me, probably its first flower ever. The flower was rather small though, a little over an inch (3cm) in diameter (outer diameter of the pot shown is 3in/7.6cm).


Astrophytum myriostigma. Each flower was about twice as large as the quadricostatum's; for reference the pot is 4in/10cm diameter.


a second Astrophytum myriostigma. The yellow of the flower is very intense as it opens, mellowing out when fully open, especially the next day. I practically watched this one bloom before my eyes as I was taking pictures of other plants. I regretted not recording it.


I really like the scaly buds of Astrophytum. This one belongs to an Astrophytum myriostigma hybrid, probably myriostigma x capricorne.


and here is the same bud, fully open


and a clearer view of the stem


I think my favorite of the genus is Astrophytum capricorne. They have the biggest, most intense flowers. Here's a close-up.


I love the red throat and magenta at the very bottom. Here's another flower from a second plant.


Here's the stem that put out the flower above. Look at those spines!


After two years of aborted flowers, my Huernia kennedyana finally graced me with a bloom.


and here is the plant itself


And finally, Cochemiea theresae, which has some of the best flowers of the Mammilloids.



and the stem, about the width of my thumb but much squatter.

Ah..I have to repeat myself, lovely photo and plants! That Huernia flower is really nice.

I found two fruits on the Cochemiea theresae above and extracted 15 seeds from one of them, which was more sunken in, and the visible end of the fruit looked more dried out.


here's the second fruit, still protruding a bit and more fleshy than the other fruit.


I pollinated this year's flowers with pollen I saved in the freezer from a second plant that didn't flower this year. Didn't expect it to still be viable . I've read that seeds of this plant germinate better when allowed to age within the plant? I've decided to leave the second fruit intact until next year and then I will compare germination with the seeds from the first fruit.

More seeds.
Astrophytum caput-medusae ripe fruit with the rather peculiar looking seeds. I crossed this flower with pollen from A. myriostigma. Unfortunately the seeds were not viable and never germinated.


This plant did flower again and I crossed that one with pollen from a myriostigma-capricorne hybrid. Still waiting on that fruit to ripen and split open.


On the subject of Astrophytum fruit and seeds, here's a few showing the differences in fruit dehiscence.
Astrophytum myriostigma fruit splits from the top into segments, exposing the fruit


Astrophytum capricorne fruit splits all around the base. Here it is after I pulled the fully detached fruit from the spines.


Astrophytum asterias. Wooly pink strawberry. The fruit eventually detaches and (I assume) dries out to a papery sheathe that breaks and exposes the seeds. I've had wind blow these off the plant before, so I pull them off at this stage so I don't loose them.


Astrophytum asterias hybrid (x capricorne?) fruit behaves similarly to A. asterias, but the fruit is bigger and spinier, similar to A. capricorne.


My second A. asterias plant only flowered once this year. It also was reluctant to plump as much as my other plant. I will need to examine roots and repot sometime next year before spring.

Here's my Adromischus marianiae 'herrei' (Kourkammaberg, N.C., South Africa) in full growth early in the spring.


Here it is flowering in the middle of a heat wave in August, a dainty little thing.


Unfortunately, it didn't survive that heat wave (didn't help that I watered it beforehand...)
But I did manage to save two leaves. They rooted within a week of plucking them off the remains of the plant.


Another plant that flowered during that heat wave, Tylecodon buchholzianus. Grows rather slow for me, but at least it survived another summer with me (it's an obligate winter grower in my care). It's looking thirsty here from the dry summer dormancy I gave it.


A close-up of the tiny, hairy, pretty flowers:


I repotted it late summer and it has since plumped up and shown new growth as fall started. I'll share another pic soon when it is in leaf.

I love your Adromischus marianiae 'herrei'. Looks really funky like a mineral.

Holunder wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 5:48 pm I love your Adromischus marianiae 'herrei'. Looks really funky like a mineral.

Thanks, I love it too. I hope the leaves propagate successfully.

Some flowers from earlier in the fall.

Astrophytum hybrid (asterias x capricorne?). Last of the Astrophytum flowers for the year.


Copiapoa sp. KK 93. This plant was labeled by Mesa Garden as "Copiapoa echinoidea KK 93 St. Felix 800m, Vallenar, Chile", but I couldn't find anything on "C. echinoidea" outside Mesa and looking up the field number didn't turn up anything new either. I am thinking this is a form of C. coquimbana? At least the locality seems to match the distribution of that taxon. I have it labeled as C. echinoidea for now, but I may change it to C. coquimbana 'echinoidea' in the future. Anyway, I bought this plant from Mesa last year and bloomed for me for the first time mid-October this year.


slightly different angle


Some Lithops, mostly L. aucampiae with a couple L. lesliei in there too.


Lithops dorothea C300 15km north of Pofadder, RSA. I regret not buying another together with this for seed production!


Size comparison of the flowers


A couple Echeveria hybrids.

Echeveria 'Allegra'. Love how blue it is.


Echeveria sp., an unknown hybrid, the same plant from my profile pic. It suffered severe sunburn last year and has recovered nicely this past season, even putting out several offsets. It develops these nice red tips when the weather cools, highlighted further by the morning dew.