Gymnocalycium

A more in depth look at individual cactus species, a new one is added each month -managed by Hob
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DodoBrooke
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DodoBrooke »

greenknight wrote: Mon May 07, 2018 9:52 pm I love them, but I've had terrible luck with them.
Must agree with this :( I lost many over the years, usually during winter. Probaby I am doing something wrong.

My favorite; Horstii,Bruchii and Spegazzini - just love them!
George your Bruchii is a real beauty.
walker87
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by walker87 »

I have about 70 unique varieties of gymnocalycium. They are my all time favourite cactus family. So hardy and easy going plus they're beautiful what's not to love?
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by ElieEstephane »

walker87 wrote: Tue May 29, 2018 10:52 am I have about 70 unique varieties of gymnocalycium. They are my all time favourite cactus family. So hardy and easy going plus they're beautiful what's not to love?
Show us some pictures!
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
DaveW
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DaveW »

Mine (about 20) came through the winter in an unheated greenhouse down to freezing Dodo, but the pots have been allowed to dry out at the end of the growing season and are not watered again until the start of the next growing season. I usually cover them on cold nights with a layer of newspaper though. Not only does it keep them a bit warmer but it cuts down the humidity they are subjected to in the UK whilst it's cold and damp, since cacti usually don't like cold and damp. Plants can be given a cool winters rest in a greenhouse therefore don't need water, whereas plants in the house, in these days of central heating are usually kept at temperatures that are comfortable for humans and so may need some water to stop them shrinking too much.
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DodoBrooke
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DodoBrooke »

Dave I hv a very small windowsill collection and living in a central heated flat. It is very very hard to accommodate cacti properly. Next winter I am planning to move them in my mother in-law's house as she has 2 unheated rooms.
I guess that wld be much better for them. But my heart breaks whenever I see Gymno shrink for some reason and deflate in just few days.

Walter I've seen some of your collection but wld very much like to see the Gymno family :thumbright:
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DesertSun
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DesertSun »

At the moment I have only got a few in my collection, but I have ordered some more, and slowly will add. I love gymnocalycium flowers and the bodies have also got their special charm.
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

stephanelli wrote: Mon May 07, 2018 6:07 pm ... and I just love the spines.
Yah! LOVE the spines. Uhhh... Is there a cactus under those spines?
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

DesertSun wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 6:50 pm ... and the bodies have also got their special charm.
My Gymnocalyciums are some of my favorites in my collection. Love the pink/red highlights on the sepals.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

Enter:
.......... Gymnocalycium-guide.Pdf
>>
In a google search and the first two results you get will be links that point to two different PDF's for Gymno's.

The first will point to opuntiads.com and the second will point to CactusPro > Putnam
and both will result in the downloading of a PDF... IF you are using a tablet like I am... Not sure what would happen if you did this on a PC.

If you want these PDFs, and have a problem with getting to them, let me know and I'll provide something of a better link maybe.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

ElieEstephane wrote: Tue May 29, 2018 10:54 am Show us some pictures!
I concur with Elie... Show us some pictures!!
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

ElieEstephane wrote: Sat May 05, 2018 4:36 pm Why not gymnocalycium?... This is their prime flowering time and photos will be added as they progress.
Please do... Those are some magnificent shades and colors...
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
DaveW
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DaveW »

Gymnocalycium's are usually grouped on their seed types.

Macrosemineum, Gymnocalycium, Microsemineum. Trichomosemineum and Muscosemineum

http://www.grahamcharles.org.uk/species_list.html

Bill Putnam was a friend of mine and we corresponded for many years until he died. He was also the Editor of the then National Cactus & Succulent Society Journal (now the British Cactus & Succulent Society) I have his book, but it is years out of date now as it was published in 1979.

http://cactusbiblio.free.fr/Putnam/Putnam_Gymno.pdf

The John Pilbeam book is on Cactus Pro and can be read on line or downloaded. There are a few deliberate blank pages in the book so it's not your computer. Again it was published in 1995 so not as up to date as Graham Charles book below.

https://www.cactuspro.com/biblio/en:pilbeam

The best and most authoritative book on Gymnocalycium published so far in English is by Graham Charles. Also the pictures are in colour as you can see from the click on sample pages in the link below. They are just scans of course so text looks a little rough in them, the actual text and pictures in the book are up to normal book printers standards or course.

http://www.grahamcharles.org.uk/contents.html

I was lucky in that Graham used to come regularly to give talks to our cactus branch and brought dozens of different species of Gymno's for sale, some only just described. I can also pick them up from him at our yearly Cactus Explorers Weekend he runs at Leicester, UK.
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DesertSun
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DesertSun »

WayneByerly wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 12:47 am Enter:
.......... Gymnocalycium-guide.Pdf
>>
In a google search and the first two results you get will be links that point to two different PDF's for Gymno's.

The first will point to opuntiads.com and the second will point to CactusPro > Putnam
and both will result in the downloading of a PDF... IF you are using a tablet like I am... Not sure what would happen if you did this on a PC.

If you want these PDFs, and have a problem with getting to them, let me know and I'll provide something of a better link maybe.
Thank you Wayne for this interesting pdf suggestion, lots of useful info!
"The best fertilizer is the gardener's own shadow"
Chinese proverb
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WayneByerly
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by WayneByerly »

DesertSun wrote: Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:44 am Thank you Wayne for this interesting pdf suggestion, lots of useful info!
The Putnam PDF has a copyright date of 1978. Except for the color cover picture, all the rest are black and white. Doesn't mean the information in it is useless, just that it could be prettier.

The other PDF, Gymnocalycium-guide.PDF, by John Pilbeam, is it a little bit newer in as much as it has a 1995 copyright date. And while a good bit of it is also in black and white, it has a number of nice color pictures.

Neither of these PDFs have been published recently. But it does not mean that the information in them is null and void. I just thought I'd put this explanation in so that you would know a little bit more about what they were like before you begin exploring them for yourself.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
DaveW
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Re: Gymnocalycium

Post by DaveW »

Apart from synonymy's and amplification of habitats, information on cacti seldom changes from when they are first published. The original description is always relevant as to what the original author meant by the species. In fact the problem can be that few later workers refer back to the original descriptions to see what the species originally was. There have been a few mistakes through later workers on cacti only referring as far back as Britton & Rose, who made a few errors themselves, rather than checking right back to the original description to be sure.

That is why authors still refer back to early works, often visiting botanical libraries like that at Kew or other major Botanical Gardens when reviewing species. Or why many of us still collect old authoritative works on the subject. As you say Wane historic information is always valuable. I simply pointed out the Graham Charles work is the most up to date classification on Gymno's in English, reducing some of the names you may find in those PDF's to synonymy or reducing them to nomina dubia, meaning the name is uncertain as to what it now applies to, so modern plants bearing that name may be wrongly identified as such.

The Charles work provides much more information on their variation and habitats which neither Bill Putnam or John Pilbeam went into. The problem is all decent printed books on the subject are now getting expensive (£50-£150 = $66.81-$200.43 = €56.71-€170.14) which is why many are now going online or being put on disk in future. Even the Encyclopedia Britannica has now run to so many volumes and now so expensive to print the new version is now only available on CD's that take up a minute amount of the space the old volumes did. I still like printed works on cacti though and if you are a Gymno enthusiast the Graham Charles book is still the best on the subject. Maybe someday it too will be on Cactus Pro as a PDF when out of print.

An interesting point about many of these limited run cactus and succulent books, is often when out of print they sell for more secondhand than they originally cost new. That obviously does not apply to the general or "Coffee Table" books, but the specialist works on the subject. Things like Backeberg's Die Cactaceae and Hunt's original two volume New Cactus Lexicon now cost more secondhand than new, as does the original 4 volume Britton and Rose Cactaceae with the coloured illustrations in it.
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