Melocactus ID, please!

If you have a cactus plant and need help identifying it, this is the place to post it.
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anttisepp
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Melocactus ID, please!

Post by anttisepp »

Good day for all!
I am new here. I'm from Finland, there're more than 200 speciei of cacti in my collection.
May I ask you for a help in identification of this big Melocactus? Body 14 cm, cephalium 7cm large. It seems to me the possible name could be M. bahiensis, M. maxonii or M. neryi.
Many thanks and have a great summer weekend!
Antti

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daiv
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Post by daiv »

How does one ID a Melocactus? I look at it and think of M. levitistatus. These are so tough!
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
christos
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Post by christos »

Hi Antti!

During the flowering season, do you see the flowers of your Melocactus, or without previously seeing any flowers, fruits keep popping out from the cephalium?
(kind of cleistogamic pollination)
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anttisepp
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Post by anttisepp »

Hi, Daiv, thank you for interesting version. But it seems to me that the species you told is very rare. Instead, my cactus for my greatest shame is bought from flower department of supermarket and evidently origined from Holland, that's why I ask for a help. As a rule I grow plants itself from seeds or from small seedlings, but now it happened with me... :oops:
Christos, I've just bought it last week, and as I gave it enough water and it stays in a greenhouse I hope that in such conditions it shouldn't be slow with flowers, let's see. Thank you for your question, I hadn't ever hear about cleistogamic pollination in Melocacti, can you tell more?
Antti
christos
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Post by christos »

Melocacti taxonomy is hard even with cephalium developed.Without it, it is many times impossible.
Hybrids sold worldwide make things even worse.

Most of Melocacti sold are matanzanus, since they are maybe the easiest of the genus for one to grow.
One of my Melocacti, looking very much like yours, is every summer a very prolific fruit producer, with wonderfull coloured lilac-pink fruits popping out of the cephalium without stop, over a long time.
The problem is ...that I've never been able to see the flowers. On my matanzanus I could, they emerge from the cephalium. I will look again closely this year(anytime soon) for any sign of flowers, but I'm pretty sure I won't see any!

I recently understood why, after reading George Thomson's book about Melocacti.:study:

In two species, M. neryi(the one I've got) and M. lanssensianus, the flowers remain hidden inside the cephalium. 8)
This characteristic enabled me to name my Melocactus at last! :wink:
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anttisepp
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Post by anttisepp »

OK, good to know, thank you Christos. Heard about Thomson's book but hadn't read it yet. This one of cause isn't matanzanus, because whole the habit is completely different (but at LIDL they said that it is :lol: ).
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anttisepp
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Post by anttisepp »

Many thanks, Marlon Machado (Zurich University)recognized this plant as M. neryi or second version M. salvadorensis (the first one has cleistogamic frowers). Have a nice summer! :)
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Post by daiv »

Hopefully I have learned my lesson to just keep quiet about these Melocactus ID's. :-#
All Cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are Cacti
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anttisepp
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by anttisepp »

Well, after 4 years of monitoring I have to say that this one never show flowers but produce fruits abundantly.
It's difficult to imagine cleistogamic plant as a "hybrid". So, the suggested name is absolutely correct - M. neryi at last.
I'll post the pictures a bit later.
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Brunãozinho
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by Brunãozinho »

I would love to see the pics!
Bruno
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anttisepp
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by anttisepp »

10 years later: never seen no one flower but fruits abundantly. :)
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Dodi Russell
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by Dodi Russell »

anttisepp wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 3:51 pm 10 years later: never seen no one flower but fruits abundantly. :)
Collect the seeds, grow them, once they are big enough keep some and sell the rest, then buy new cacti :idea1: :mrgreen: . Nice plant
Location: Sri Lanka, tropical climate, high humidity( no winters)
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anttisepp
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by anttisepp »

I think if I collect and plant all the seeds it should be football field not enough... :D
DaveW
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by DaveW »

"never seen no one flower but fruits abundantly"

You don't get fruits without flowers, but some Melocactus flowers hardly exceed the cephalium. In fact the fruits on most Melocacti project much further from the cephalium than the flowers do. All a flower needs is to project and open far enough for a pollinator to pollinate it. The larger fruits may be there to encourage birds to eat them and sow the seeds in their droppings.

https://twitter.com/CactusDotCom/status ... 4546469888

Another plant that often produces minute flowers but longer conspicuous fruits is Epithelantha.

This was my Epithelantha bokei with an inconspicuous whitish flower open in the center. You can easily walk past it and miss it.

Epithelantha-bokei.jpg
Epithelantha-bokei.jpg (105.3 KiB) Viewed 1859 times

Again contrast that with Epithelantha fruits which are often far more spectacular than the flowers.

https://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/EPITH ... omeris.htm
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anttisepp
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Re: Melocactus ID, please!

Post by anttisepp »

Dear Dawe, this is one of 2 (3?) speciei of Melocactus with cleistogamic flowers.
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