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Hi, I'm looking for a copy of the book Teratopia by Gordon D. Rowley. It's about cresting and variegation in succulents. Even though it was published in 2006, it seems to be out of print and copies I can find for sale on the internet are exorbitantly expensive. I can't find any trace of the publisher (Cactus and Co.) either

Also, if anyone knows of a similar but easier to find resource on cristate succulents, please let me know

For reference, I live in Los Angeles (USA)

Have you tried Interlibrary Loan? I have received dozens of uncommon cactus books that way. It's not as good as owning them, but it's legal to take pictures of every page if it's for your own use. lol

Aloinopsis wrote: ↑Thu Jun 06, 2019 5:04 pm Have you tried Interlibrary Loan? I have received dozens of uncommon cactus books that way. It's not as good as owning them, but it's legal to take pictures of every page if it's for your own use. lol

I have. There are five copies in US libraries, all in the collections of botanical gardens/institutions. Of the two in my area, one only grants access to the collection research. The other one allows the public to view materials, but somewhat vaguely requires an appointment. Fingers crossed on that one...

It turns out I can view a copy in my city (Los Angeles) at the LA County Arboretum. If anyone knows of any other books/publications about cresting, please let me know

You might want to search for fasciation. That's what it's actually called. It's a disease process. It's a common condition in many dicotyledons caused by a whole host of pathogens and non-pathogens. Cultivators just call it "cresting" to make it sound less bad.

Shane, if you like mutants, you should come to the Los Angeles Drought Tolerant Plant Festival this weekend at the Sepulveda Garden Center! (Maybe you already know about it?) The theme this year is mutants: monstrose, crested and varietated planes.

jellycacti wrote: ↑Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:43 pm Shane, if you like mutants, you should come to the Los Angeles Drought Tolerant Plant Festival this weekend at the Sepulveda Garden Center! (Maybe you already know about it?) The theme this year is mutants: monstrose, crested and varietated planes.

Thanks for the tip. I saw a banner for it last week and then forgot to look into it more. I didn't know mutants were the theme. I'm moving this weekend, but am definitely planning to make time tomorrow morning to visit. Deformities are something of an interest of mine, and it looks like a pretty interesting event aside from that too

Also, Aloinopsis, that's good point about looking for fasciation not cresting

One of the very old books on the subject was that by Wolthuys. But I that was in the days before DNA was understood, therefore is more historical than scientific and more conjecture than science.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/enigma-origin- ... B00089NK64

Otherwise you could put watch on EBAY for if a copy of Teratopia gets listed. As you say it is available on Amazon, but at a price.

See also:-

https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... ymorphisms

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 014.882421

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/96c5/2 ... 69b6a3.pdf

https://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/resour ... 22-08.aspx

https://wimastergardener.org/article/fa ... asciation/

https://tentativeplantscientist.wordpre ... asciation/

Thanks for the articles, DaveW. Going to take awhile to digest all that, but looks very interesting from what I've read so far

Jellycacti, thanks again for tip about the LA Drought Tolerant Plant Festival. I did make it out there for a few hours. The displays were amazing and there were a lot of interesting cacti for sale too. I bought a crested aodenium sunburst. I'll post a picture tomorrow. I liked the event and the people I met so much I'm thinking about joining LACCS

That's great! LACSS is a friendly club, very social, good speakers, and there's always a lot of food and vendors selling plants and pots. Visitors and new members get a free plant. If you visit at one meeting and join at the next, you get two free plants!

I have a copy you can borrow
Message me

I guess I'm glad I got my copy while the getting was good. I've been flipping through it recently, interesting book!

It is still available direct from the publisher, I purchased it recently:

http://www.cactus-co.com/en/pubblicatio ... ia-inglese