Not sure if it's the largest, but certainly one of the larger Copiapoas. I purchased this lovely specimen from CoronaCactus Nursery in July 2013, and on 9/8 here's the latest from its run of flowers that started back in May:
The tenuissima arrived not long after I installed a new custom built 2-shelf plant bench. The cactus is surrounded by some of its friends in the part of the bench I call "Shady Glen", and shade provided by the top shelf is there to protect scorch-prone plants in the blazing midday heat of summer. And all 3 of my Copiapoas heartily approve -- the week leading up to Labor Day gave the coastal L.A. region a string of daytime highs above the century mark (very unusual!), but not even a hint of scorching was to be found.
Now for a closeup of the tenuissima's post-Labor Day flower:
September 2017 Copiapoa tenuissima
- Steve Johnson
- Posts: 4541
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:44 am
- Location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
September 2017 Copiapoa tenuissima
If you just want photos without all the blather, please visit my Flickr gallery.
My location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
My location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
Re: September 2017 Copiapoa tenuissima
Nice plant Steve.
C. tenuissima is in fact one of the smaller Copiapoa's in habitat, as with all the C. humilis types. The largest Copiapoa's are the C. cinerea/haseltoniana types. As with many cultivated plants yours is a lot larger than would be found in habitat where it often grows virtually level with the ground, or even slightly buried. (tenuissima = tenuous - the word - meaning; very thin in diameter)
http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/COPIAP ... issima.htm
The largest Copiapoa is supposed to be C. haseltoniana ssp. gigantea, some are larger than the picture below which is about 1 meter high.
Afraid I do not have a picture of C. tenuissima in habitat.
C. tenuissima is in fact one of the smaller Copiapoa's in habitat, as with all the C. humilis types. The largest Copiapoa's are the C. cinerea/haseltoniana types. As with many cultivated plants yours is a lot larger than would be found in habitat where it often grows virtually level with the ground, or even slightly buried. (tenuissima = tenuous - the word - meaning; very thin in diameter)
http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/COPIAP ... issima.htm
The largest Copiapoa is supposed to be C. haseltoniana ssp. gigantea, some are larger than the picture below which is about 1 meter high.
Afraid I do not have a picture of C. tenuissima in habitat.
Re: September 2017 Copiapoa tenuissima
A picture of my C. tenuissima photographed an hour ago, not as nice a shape as yours Steve. Like yours much larger than would be found in habitat. It came from a friend who died and many of his plants always seemed to grow columnar and single, but always seemed to start to offset when I got them. Plant is about 4" high.
Looking up Ritter's description for C. tenuissima he says:-
"Body in nature flat with the ground, in cultivation semi-globular. Body 2-4cm rarely to 5cm thick" ( = body about 2 inch max diameter in habitat).
A lot of the Chilean "earth cacti" tend to grow much larger in cultivation and a bit out of character, I have seen Thelocephala lenbckei's 6" high in cultivation, but the largest I saw in habitat was only 2" high and most much smaller than that. I did not manage to get to see C. tenuissima it in habitat, but here is a video of it taken on obviously a much dryer and more typical year than the one in 2015 when I went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pPeaSLXbYI
Looking up Ritter's description for C. tenuissima he says:-
"Body in nature flat with the ground, in cultivation semi-globular. Body 2-4cm rarely to 5cm thick" ( = body about 2 inch max diameter in habitat).
A lot of the Chilean "earth cacti" tend to grow much larger in cultivation and a bit out of character, I have seen Thelocephala lenbckei's 6" high in cultivation, but the largest I saw in habitat was only 2" high and most much smaller than that. I did not manage to get to see C. tenuissima it in habitat, but here is a video of it taken on obviously a much dryer and more typical year than the one in 2015 when I went.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pPeaSLXbYI
Re: September 2017 Copiapoa tenuissima
I have a couple old nice plants
This one is messy in a pleasing way to me, lots of dead flowers lingering and seeds spilling off the sides. I threw a load of C. laui seeds in our garden a couple years ago and was excited to get some nice sized plants out of it,
but as they aged the spines were very unlike the C. laui parents,
I finally decided that they must be C. laui x tenuissima
This one is a real sweety.
This one is messy in a pleasing way to me, lots of dead flowers lingering and seeds spilling off the sides. I threw a load of C. laui seeds in our garden a couple years ago and was excited to get some nice sized plants out of it,
but as they aged the spines were very unlike the C. laui parents,
I finally decided that they must be C. laui x tenuissima
This one is a real sweety.