Melocactus levitestatus - does it self pollinate

[SCS]

Hi-

This Melo produced it's first fruit. I know many Melos are self fertile; but not sure about this species. Not sure how true the color is in the pic; but the fruit is a pale pink; same as M. violaceus.

Anyone know?

thanks much!

Lisa

ml1.jpg (83.47 KiB) Viewed 4002 times

[Snowcat]

Yep they are self fertile and they also self pollinate. Grats with your first fruit!

[SCS]

Yep they are self fertile and they also self pollinate. Grats with your first fruit!

Thank you very much Snowcat. :}

[SCS]

Upon further reading; I do not think the true M. levitestatus is self fertile. A common plant in the trade is M. x levitestatus. I suspect that's what I have.

I wish I could find someone who has spent a bit of time researching Melos and has some knowledge of them.

Yesterday my M. bahiensis just popped a fruit. So... now the hunt continues for more information. Hopefully this is is supposed to be self fertile.

I also have 2 M. conoideus that just formed cephs this year and have been blooming. I've been tempted to cross pollinate; but I just have to know..... will they produce fruit without my intervention?

[jp29]

Hi-

This Melo produced it's first fruit. I know many Melos are self fertile; but not sure about this species. Not sure how true the color is in the pic; but the fruit is a pale pink; same as M. violaceus ...........

This a very variable species with several forms. shades of stem coloration and types of spination but always with whitish fruit. I have grown several plants to maturity over the years and I can't recall if they were self fertile .......... I often play cupid using an artist's paint brush to try and insure I get viable seed. Here is an old (pre-digital camera) pic:



Added by edit:

The seed that I grew that plant from was labeled Melocactus warasii which was subsequently designated a synonym for Melocactus levitestatus.

Reference: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/S ... lue=909488" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jp29]

.......... I wish I could find someone who has spent a bit of time researching Melos and has some knowledge of them ..........

About forty years ago I grew a great number of Melocactus -- I had a collection consisting of mature plants of just about every species available at that time that I grew from seed -- or that Dan Bach gave me. Here is a pic of that collection (with a couple of Discocactus thrown in):



Caveat: I dug that pic out of an archived folder on my PC. The quality (resolution) isn't very good because it was taken before the advent of widely available digital cameras. That holds true for many of the Melocactus pics I am posting to this thread.

[jp29]

.......... Yesterday my M. bahiensis just popped a fruit. So... now the hunt continues for more information. Hopefully this is is supposed to be self fertile ...........

That species does produce self fertile fruit (seed that is)

Please go to this thread in the Cultivation Section for pics.

[jp29]

To me the real gem of the genus is Melocactus azureus.

Please go to this thread in the Cultivation Section for pics.

[jp29]

I also think Melocactus ruestii (syn: M. curvispinus) is spectaclular with it's symmetrical body, neat spination, prominent pure white wooly cephalium (which contrasts beautifully with the magenta flowers) and large ivory colored juicy fruit.

Please go to this thread in the Cultivation Section for pics.

[jp29]

I think this information can now be be better used in a separate thread. Please go to this thread in the Cultivation Section.

[SCS]

This a very variable species with several forms. shades of stem coloration and types of spination but always with whitish fruit.

Hi James-

Wow! Thanks for all of your info! For some reason; I did not get any of the messages; I must have my email or notifications set up incorrectly.

Anyway; after I get done reading everything you've posted; I'll have more questions. I've been researching M. bahiensis and conoideus to no avail.

To finish the topic of M. levitestatus; my fruit is pink instead of the white as I've seen noted several places. Also, somewhere; I've seen (in the trade) M. x levitestatus listed.... so I'm fairly convinced that what's going around as the true species is probably not.

Thanks again; very happy someone has info on Melos!!

best regards, SCS

[DaveW]

Trouble with M. azureus James is it tends to loose the intense blue bloom on really old plants as do many cacti, the waxy bloom predominating on younger plants only:-

http://www.arkive.org/melocactus/melocactus-azureus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.detuingids.be/pages/detail.asp?Id=3462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also the intensity of the "blueness" can vary between individual plants.

http://www.thegardenforums.org/viewtopi ... 10&t=24305" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to Marlon Machado a similar thing happens with Uebelmannia's of the pectinatus group in that what were distinctive spine colours or differences in young seedlings produce tall adult plants that all look the same. Take Uebelmannia eriocactoides, a very distinctive and beautiful plant when young but just a "standard" pectinata as an old plant:-

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactus_co/New_Uebelmannia.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jp29]

Trouble with M. azureus James is it tends to loose the intense blue bloom on really old plants as do many cacti, the waxy bloom predominating on younger plants only ..........

Yup.