Is there a blue-flowered cactus?

gemhunter178 · Post by **gemhunter178** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 3:33 am

Is there a blue-flowered cactus/succulent?

frangipani · Post by **frangipani** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:36 am

Not to my knowledge. As far as I know, blue is one of the few colours cacti can't do.

Post by **daiv** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 4:13 pm

Good question, but no such thing as a blue flower in terms of petal colors.

That said, blue is not absent from the cactus family by any means. Most people are familiar with P. pachycladus:

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus ... achycladus

The buds look like it is going to be a blue flower, but turns out to be "creamy pinkish". Othere Pilosocereus have fantastic blue stems too.

In all of my experience, I found no cactus with as stunning of a blue color as Cipocereus minensis. Again, not in flower, but in fruit. If you haven't seen these yet, check out this incredibly vibrant fruit:

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus ... s=minensis

gemhunter178 · Post by **gemhunter178** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:06 pm

Well...That's cool too!but is there even a flower that is slightly blue? One of my books says there is.

iann · Post by **iann** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 8:46 pm

Wittia is about as close as it gets. The flowers are really purple but they manage to look pretty blue with a combination of the right pigments and a little trickery with the light. Neoporterias have a similar purple shad, considered to be a Hummingbird attractant, but never quite as blue as Wittia.

The cactus family simply doesn't produce proper blue pigments. In fact the whole Caryophyllales order of plants (with one exception I think), which includes many other succulents like the mesembs, can't. They only produce the Betalain class of pigments which are in red and yellow shades. Anthocyanins produce true blue colours of many other plants. Strangely, Betalains are considered to have been derived quite recently (in geological terms!) from Anthocyanins which are widespread among plants outside the Caryophyllales.

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:24 pm

Wittia amazonica flowers are awesome! But yeah, not really blue exactly, to my eye. There's a great pic on Flicker:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dekejis/2943769500/

and a couple of good pics here on the Guide also.

peterb

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:30 pm

wow those Discocactus(Wittia) flowers are neat looking.

To my knowledge there are very few flowers that are blue.(edit) I mean on plants in general. There are some, but not many.

Buck Hemenway · Post by **Buck Hemenway** » Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:14 am

Puya (marginal succulent bromeliad genus) flowers are almost all a beautiful metallic blue.

Melt In The Sun · Post by **Melt In The Sun** » Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:10 pm

I think Puya alpestris has gotta be king of them all:

gemhunter178 · Post by **gemhunter178** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:13 am

Hey! That's pretty cool!.....Now is time to find one.....

amanzed · Post by **amanzed** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:21 am

In the past, Annie's Annuals or Potato Rock Nursery have carried Puya venusta.

Also here's Huntington's ISI page for Cipocereus bradei, with blue-black buds:

http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/ ... 11-01.html

promethean_spark · Post by **promethean_spark** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:51 am

Mesagarden's puya seed have germinated fine for me. I have berteroniana and venusta from last year. Be a while before they flower, but I think that's the case with most plants you'd purchase unless it's in a 3g pot.

That cipocereus is awesome - looks like a cereoid copiapoa. I'd snap one up if they were hardy.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:49 pm

Cipocereus bradei seed from succseed germinated easily for me, but is a slow grower.

fixpix · Post by **fixpix** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:43 am

Wow. How cool. I got two Puya berteroniana, I think they are 2 years old. Still kinda small.
Had 4, two died drowned in too much water

Can't wait for blooms!

Is there a blue-flowered cactus?

Is there a blue-flowered cactus?

Annie's Annuals, Potato Rock Nursery

puya