Whats new?

[DaveW]

What's new, at least with me? However some of you may not have come across them yet so may be of interest?

I went to the BCSS Zone 3 Rally in the UK at the weekend where Graham Charles gave an excellent talk on Matucana's. Evidently he intends producing a book on them soon.

Graham is a great seed raiser of his and others habitat seed, so he often sells seed raised plants that have not been discovered long, or are not yet common in cultivation.

I obtained plants of Weingartia frey-juckeri, Matucana klopfensteinii and Borzicactus hoxeyi ‘Grandis’ which I could not at the moment have obtained from any of the normal UK dealers (though I see SuccSeed has seeds of the Weingartia).

Weingartia frey-juckeri is interesting in that it is said to look a bit more like a Gymnocalycium body than the more spiny Weingartia ones, but I suppose you could say that about Weingartia fidaiana too. The only decent picture I could find of it on the web was on Pinterest:-

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/322922235756095469/

Matucana klopfensteinii is a tall more cereoid Matucana, described in the Peruvian cactus Journal “Quepo”. The original description is in the link below with an English summary, but the pictures are the same in any language. You need to scroll down a bit for start of article.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gu ... a-Peru.pdf

The only information I can find on the ‘Grandis’ form of B. hoxeyi is from a French web site:-

“And PH 929.02 ( grandis ) which differs (for the moment) by a wider stem, uniformly white and shorter spines. They look like young Haageocereus .”

I have the original Borzicactus (Loxanthocereus) hoxeyi as a grafted plant from Paul. It is a thin cereoid whose the flowers are much smaller than most Borzicactus since it was these small flower remains that first drew Paul's attention to it in habitat I believe, but it flowers small and is quite attractive in flower. It was described in the Cactus Explorers link below on pages 8 to 9:-

http://www.cactusexplorers.org.uk/Explo ... mplete.pdf

Graham was also saying he sent a couple of Matucana roseiflora from collected seed to a Czech grower who isolated them whilst in bud, pollinated them in flower and set seed from them and has so far has produced several thousand seed off these plants for distribution there. That is the way we should now be distributing new species by taking precautions against producing hybrids with leaving them in the collection among related species when in flower. However to be certain of true species you need two authentic plants of the same species and to remove them in bud from the general collection before they flower in order to avoid the chance of open pollination by insects from related species around them and then use a clean pollinating brush or cotton bud reserved for pollinating just that species.

Matucana roseiflora is one of the newer discovered insect pollinated non zygomorphic flowered Matucana's

roseiflorus.jpg (103.25 KiB) Viewed 3641 times

[cosmotoad]

Nice flower, I like that random looking growth on the side too. Not familiar with any of the species you mentioned, but maybe I'll get some frey-juckeri with my next SuccSeed order (mostly based on how fun it is to say the name). It says they're closed until December but by the time they open up again I'll probably feel like a fresh batch of seeds. I should really go to one of those Desert Plant Society meetings in Vancouver one of these days and see what's happening around here, cactus-wise

[DaveW]

There are some Canadian cactus clubs, Looks like one near you'

http://www.cactus-mall.com/dpsv/index.html

http://www.cactus-mall.com/clubs.html

[keith]

New cactus = need more space. That's the problem I have these days.

I wonder where the most unexplored place is for cactus ? Mexico? South America ? Pretty sure its not the USA . And then I have read South Africa is supposed to have even more diversity in succulents than any place on earth ?

I don't have any new finds, M. luethyi is the newest I guess and that's maybe a 20 year old discovery. I'll wait for you all to grow in surplus and then I'll buy seeds once the rush is over. I've pretty much given up on Mesa for seeds of anything remotely rare.

[DaveW]

The people who usually have seeds first of new discoveries are firms like Malej Jarda in E. Europe. Don't ask how the E. Europeans get them, but they seem to find their way into the EU through Eastern Europe and then spread throughout the EU and overseas, at least as seed if not able to as plants. One advantage these days is most take PayPal so no changing foreign currencies problems.

http://www.gerardo.cz/en/

Those they presently list as seedlings they will usually sell as seeds, plus many more species when their new seed list comes out, usually at the start of next year as most seedsmen do. As you can see some seeds are listed but not yet available so not priced.

http://www.gerardo.cz/en/199-lophophora

Only a year or so ago Aztekium valdezii seeds were $25.50 for 10 seeds, so they have certainly come down in price at $5.02 for 10 seeds. Mind you being dust like you may think the packets empty, so have to be careful opening and sowing not to loose them. A chap I know sowed 10 seeds at the then price of £20 and got 4 up and through seedling grafting to produce offsets has produced and sold about 15 plants from them.

http://www.gerardo.cz/en/184-aztekium

Aztekium valdezii

valdezii.jpg (86.87 KiB) Viewed 3569 times

I would think for cacti Mexico and S. America are the least explored places. Mexico anyway has the most diverse cactus flora of any country, there being more genera and species there than any other country. South America also is little explored off the beaten track. You usually get taken to where they know the plants are, probably up on some hillside with other hills all around you and if you ask what grows on those hills get told "don't know nobody collecting cacti has been up them yet".

[keith]

Gerardo has lots of new discoveries I may try them early next year for seeds. they are out of leuthyi but probably will harvest more seeds plus other rare cactus I could try. Can't just order one thing right?


Thanks Dave

[DaveW]

Mammillaria luethyi seeds are cryptocarpic (= "hidden fruit") most of the fruit and the seeds are held in the body so difficult to extract for seed sellers, that is why not many list them and are usually expensive. That's one reason most are usually propagated by grafting, though I understand they do grow quite well on their own roots, but are difficult to re-root off a graft, tending to shrivel up before rooting I find.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this link you can see the seeds retained inside the plant. Whether they are gradually exerted over time, or have to wait until the plant dies in habitat to germinate I do not know.

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... ia_luethyi

You can often order one thing, but the postage and packing charges make it very expensive. With all buying where shipping is required you need a multiple order for small items to spread the shipping costs over more than one item. If you look on EBAY you can see some quite cheap plants from E. Europe, but even to the UK the postage charges can be two or three times the plants cost. Postage is not so bad for seeds, but many firms require a minimum order for this reason that is specified in the order details. As anybody who has sent parcels internally in our countries, postage costs seem to have rocketed in recent years.

[saboten]

Hooray DaveW started a topic! I learn something new from almost every post you make!

[DesertSun]

What an interesting topic, so glad you opened it Dave! Lots of useful information in here, keep those posts comin'!
Great price on the aztekium seeds, and a very good looking plant for you!