Terrestrial Bromeliads
by Phyllis Flechsig
from Cactus Courier, Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society
Pseudopilocereus, Pilocereus, Pilocereus
by Don Krechel
Henry Shaw C&S Society
Seed Production: Succulent Euphorbiaceae
By Thomas Schwink
Mid_Iowa C&S
Photo by Mid-Iowa C&S
Vacation Spot - In a Pot
by Linda Tamblyn
Prickly Press, Kansas City C&S
Lobivia (with photos)
by Emy de la Fuente, Jr.
Cereus Chatter, South Florida C&S
Mammillaria Theresae
by Sue Haffner
Cactus Corner News Fresno C&SS
Seyrigia
by Sue Haffner
Cactus Corner News Fresno C&SS
**********************************************************************
Terrestrial Bromeliads
by Phyllis Flechsig
from Cactus Courier, Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society
Among the plants on the fringe of the succulent world-not actually very juicy but entirely compatible with succulents in a collection or landscape-are the terrestrial bromeliads. These are members of the large Bromeliaceae or pineapple family, native to the Americas from the southern United States all the way to the tip of Argentina, and growing from near sea level up to 14,000 feet. The epiphytic kinds are often found in misty rain forests (though some grow in deserts), but the terrestrial kinds generally grow in the open on rocks or in soil and are very drought-tolerant. (I am not covering Cryptanthus, which is a genus of terrestrial bromeliads that are not drought-tolerant.) The vast majority of bromeliads-pronounced bro-mee-lee-ads-are epiphytes, that is, air plants that perch on other plants, such as the familiar Spanish moss.
This article deals with those that are not epiphytic but terrestrial, growing in the ground just as do agaves and aloes (which they somewhat resemble). The bromeliad family is divided into three large subfamilies: Bromelioideae, Tillandsioideae, and Pitcairnioideae. The great majority of the terrestrial species are in the last-named subfamily, though a few are in the other two. I am omitting those that are so uncommon in cultivation that you are not very likely to come across them. I will mention three from the Bromelioideae: Acanthostachys strobilacea, which grows on rocks in middling elevations of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina; the only species in its genus, it has an inflorescence that looks like a tiny pineapple with orange-red bracts and yellow petals. It looks good in a hanging basket.
Another well-known plant from this group is Ananas comosus, the commercial ineapple, so long in cultivation that its origin is not known. Columbus took pineapples back to Europe with him after his second voyage in 1493.
Third, there is the genus Orthophytum, native to Brazil, with handsome leaves, often colored greyish, reddish, or bronze. The inflorescence stands up straight, often with red or white flowers. Subfamily Tillandsioideae has very few terrestrial species, though there are one or two kinds that grow prolifically in the Peruvian desert sands. Most terrestrials are in the subfamily Pitcairnioideae. They range in size from very tiny to 35 feet high (Puya raimondii of the northern Andes). They are well armed with sharp teeth along the edges of the leaves, but those that collectors covet may have beautiful leaves in silver, black, or combinations of the two colors. Even green-leaved ones can be very attractive, for example, Abromeitiella (now included by some authorities in Deuterocohnia), which in the garden makes a mound of tiny green rosettes and will fill even a large pot in a few years. Its flowers are inconspicuous, but the plant is well worth growing. A. brevifolia is the nicest one. Dyckia (Dick-ee-a) is a large genus of 100 or more species and a great many beautiful hybrids, with more being introduced all the time. The species are mostly native to central Brazil, with a few from other nearby South American countries. D. fosteriana is a parent or grandparent of many of these hybrids but is worth growing for its narrow, spiny, curved leaves that are bronzy grey in a strong light. The flowers in this genus are yellow to bright orange to red-not spectacular but quite pretty, and the inflorescence appears laterally, not in the center, so the rosette does not die after flowering. Another plant used in breeding is D. arnier-lapostollei, extremely ornamental with silver leaves and native to Brazil. Because of its tropical origin it is a bit touchy about low temperatures, but many of the silvery hybrids descended from it are not at all temperamental and will grow happily outdoors in our climate. The hybrids are too numerous to mention but are always worth looking for in bromeliad nurseries. Some have a wonderful undersea-life look, like a sea urchin or brittle starfish. Another popular genus-very spiny-is Hechtia (heck-tee-a). Hechtias are mostly native to Mexico, with a few from Texas and northern Central America. H. argentea, from central Mexico, is beautifully silvery (all these plants get their color from silver scales on the leaves) but hard to find in cultivation. Marnier-Lapostolle, a French plantsman better known for his Grand Marnier liqueur, had a hechtia as well as a dyckia named for him, and H. marnier-lapostollei is another decorative silver-leaved plant.
Puya is a genus of hardy, rugged plants generally grown out in the garden. They are native to the Andean highlands. Of course, the most famous is P. raimondii, which takes many years to bloom; a plant in the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden bloomed at about 35 years from seed and produced an inflorescence more than 20 feet tall. It is not common in cultivation. The most popular puya in gardens is P. alpestris, which has flowers of an unbelievable metallic blue-green color contrasting with bright orange pollen. The plants of this species at Quail Botanical Gardens cause quite a sensation whenever they bloom. P. coerulea has a four-foot stalk of bright blue flowers. Leaves on these plants are generally silvery green with sawteeth on the edges, and rosettes that flower will die later, though with luck the plant will form offshoots. A number of different puyas can be seen in the desert garden at Huntington Botanic Gardens. All these plants are easy to grow, accepting average water and well-drained soil. Division of rosettes is the standard method
of propagation, though of course new hybrids must be started from seed-it's fun to plant seeds and see what develops. Some plants cluster very quickly and can give the grower a real problem when it comes time to divide or repot them. I recommend a pair of long leather gloves (sometimes sold as "rose-pickers") and a sharp knife plus some sort of pry-bar. Weeding around them is best done with the "cactus-grabber" (actually a fishhook-disgorger) that most of us who grow spiny plants
have bought in self-defense. The plants do not seem to be subject to many pests or diseases, though some from Brazil, as mentioned above, may be sensitive to low temperatures. Many are really beautiful and a great asset in the plant collection. Finally, I want to thank Dorothy Byer for
supplying me with many of the terrestrial bromeliads that I grow as well as excellent advice on growing them!
LITERATURE CONSULTED: Padilla, Victoria. Bromeliads. Crown, 1973 Baensch, Ulrich & Ursula. Blooming Bromeliads. Tropic Beauty Publishers, 1994 Byer, Dorothy, in Espinas y Flores (S.D. Cactus & Succulent Soc.), Jan., 1992 Latimer, Rick, ibid., Nov., 1983
*******************************************
Pseudopilocereus, Pilocereus, Pilocereus
by Don Krechel
Henry Shaw C&S Society
These three genus are very closely related and according to some authorities, inseparable. This is a large group of cereus cactus native to tropical South America and into Florida and the West Indies.
The majority reach tree-like proportions but some only grow to a few feet in height. They are all many branched and are relatively thin stemmed in proportion to the plant height. Some of the larger species can have central spines up to five inches long and most species have well developed white aerole hair remaining mainly on the upper third of the stem. Upon maturity they develop a dense growth of hair-like spines at the flowering zone which is known as a pseudocephalum which only superficially resembles a cephalum.
The large flowers are somewhat bell-shaped and always glaborous and nocturnal. Most of the species in cultivation are native to Brazil and are easily pot grown. The most popular species are the ones with the bluest epidermis. They require a free draining soil of moderate fertility and should be slightly acidic. In the summer they require very warm and humid conditions, ample water and constant soil moisture.
Even in the winter these species should be kept slightly moist by giving only a small amount of water regularly. The winter temperature should be kept warm, ideally between 57F and 68F with the night temperature not falling below 50F. The colder night temperatures will not be tolerated.
They can grow quite rapidly if fed well, often growing twelve inches in a single season. You do not need to only use the low-nitrogen cactus fertilizers, a standard flower fertilizer or general purpose nutrient salt can be used intermittently.
**********************************************************
Seed Production: Succulent Euphorbiaceae
by Thomas M. Schwink
Mid-Iowa C&SS
Photo by Mid-Iowa C&SS
With many succulent plants of other families, assuring that pollination occurs is an important part of seed production. With the succulent euphorbiaceae wind pollination is common and preventing unwanted hybridization can be a problem, while getting the pollen to the female flowers is usually not a problem. Since I do not want to produce hybrids, I have limited myself to just three species of this family.
In my greenhouse, which I use just during the warmer months, I limit plants of this family to just one species, Euphorbia bupleurifolia. This is a popular species and E. bupleurifolia plants are often offered for sale, but seeds of this species are only very rarely offered for sale. I started out with a pair of purchased plants of this species. E. bupleurifolia is dioecious, with each plant producing only male flowers or only female flowers. Occasionally a plant will produce a few flowers of the opposite sex from most of its other flowers. I have had male plants produce a few female flowers, but these flowers have not produced seeds for me. Five of the first seedlings from seeds produced by my purchased pair of plants flowered in the summer of 2002. Four of these 5 plants produced only male flowers but the other one of the 5 was a female plant. I have seed now from this seedling and from the purchased female plant and hope to grow additional female plants this year.
With my plants that are outdoors during the summer in my front yard and a long distance from my greenhouse I decided to keep just Euphorbia obesa and Jatropha podagrica, and got rid of my other euphorbias. These two species which I kept do not hybridize.
E. obesa is a very popular species and both plants and seeds of this species are frequently offered for sale. It too is dioecious and three of the four older plants which I have are females. Since there were male plants of some other euphorbias near the E. obesa plants, I removed the possibly hybridized seed capsules from the E. obesa females at the same time that I got rid of the other euphorbias that were nearby. I now have E. obesa seedlings from the seeds produced by these E. obesa plants from flowers produced after the other euphorbias in the area had been disposed of.
Jatropha podagrica is also an easily grown and attractive plant. I keep my plants of this species in the same area as the E. obesa plants, since these two species do not hybridize. J. podagrica is monoecious, with each plant producing both male and female flowers in the same cluster. The male and female flowers of each flower cluster do not normally open at the same time. I do not know whether these plants can be self fertile, but whether or not they can be does not matter to me, since I have 7 flowering size plants.
When the seed capsules are mature they open explosively, propelling the seeds (usually 3 per capsule) forcefully a considerable distance from the parent plant. A number of methods have been used to collect the seeds and prevent the loss of seeds that can occur if no precautions are taken.
One method is to cover the seed capsules while they are still on the plants with something to trap the seeds when the capsules burst. Toes from stockings are often used, but for this purpose I prefer the strong, durable, and easily seen through mesh that is used to make nets for capturing aquarium fish.
I prefer harvesting the seed capsules before they burst and keeping them in an enclosed space that traps the seeds when the capsules burst. With many euphorbias including the two species of the genus euphorbia that I am producing seeds of, the seed capsules change color from green to brown when they are mature and before they burst. Telling when the jatropha seed capsules are ready to harvest is even easier, since the seams between the 3 sections of the capsule widen before the seeds are released and the mature capsules are easily pulled off.
Paper bags are commonly recommended for keeping the ripe seed capsules until the seeds are released. I prefer using two plastic or paper cups, a 5 ounce on and a 12 ounce or 16 ounce one. The mature seed capsules are placed in the smaller cup, which is covered with the inverted larger cup. It is easy to check whether the capsules have opened by simply lifting the larger cup and looking into the smaller one. If I am nearby when the jatropha capsules burst, I usually hear a loud noise. The first time that this happened I heard the explosion but did not realize what had happened. I searched around that area of my house, expecting to see something like damaged appliance. After I realized what had made the noise I was reassured that nothing was wrong. Now when I have mature jatropha seed capsules in the covered cup I recognize the noise and know that it is time to collect the released seeds. #
******************************************************
Vacation Spot - In a Pot
by Linda Tamblyn
Prickly Press, Kansas City C&S
Cactus and succulents are the number one choice for novelty dish garden. They humbly suffer the abuse that comes with that territory. These tough plants even suffer the humiliation of having googly plastic eyes and little strawflowers glued to them. But, with a little forethought and planning, the lowly dish garden can be something much more than just a container full of plants. Its easy to create a miniature Shangri-la in a dish.
Selecting plants with similar culture requirements is the key to a successful planting. Most cactus like a cool and dry winter rest while most non-cactus succulents appreciate a bit more warmth and moisture in the winter. Generally speaking it is best to use all cactus or all succulents in one dish. Even then, individual requirements must be carefully considered. Sure, a Pereskia and a Lobivia are both cactus but they wouldn't make good roommates (there would be all that fighting over the thermostat and the water bill). If one of the plants in a dish garden dies or falters though replacing it is not that difficult.
Choose all the elements - container, plants, rocks, topdressing, etc. - carefully. First, be absolutely sure to keep all elements of the design in proportion to create a natural look. And, use restraint in the number of plants so that each one retains its individuality and unique form. Cactus and succulents offer plenty of choices for texture and that adds another dimension of interest. Create harmony in your miniature garden by repeating materials like rock or pebbles. Building around a focal point helps draw the eye into the scene. A variegated or brightly colored plant can be the focal point but an interesting rock, piece of wood or small piece of statuary may better provide the cohesiveness needed to create a scene.
With the technicalities of design and culture as a springboard, imagination and creativity can go wild. A desert scene is a traditional choice but don't rule out other possibilities. A tiny Japanese garden could be created with a pygmy Joshua tree (sedum multiceps) and Aeonium decorum or a small crassula. Young dorstenias planted among "cliffs" of volcanic rock would make a great Mars landscape. Just for grins, create a "box of chocolates" with small ball type cactus in a rectangular container. Like chocolates, creating these little jewels can be addictive.
Keeping these little ecosystems in top form calls for minimal maintenance. Prune back plants that become too large or leggy. Replace them if they become unruly or if they just sit and sulk. On the other hand, don't pamper the plants with lots of fertilizer so they grow themselves out of a job. Dust the plants with a soft brush when needed or, if the container has drainage, let the desert in a dish enjoy a spring rain after the long winter. Water carefully if there is no drainage hole. And, always be vigilant for mealies and other marauders before they try to claim squatters rights in little landscape.
Now all that's left to do is enjoy these tiny utopias. Use them as a table centerpiece at dinner. Grace the coffee table with one of these petite creations when company is coming. Display one (or two) on your desk at work. Keep several dish gardens so one can spend a few weeks in the limelight while the others tone up in more perfect conditions. Then, indulge the senses anytime, anywhere with your own little vacation spot - in a pot.
********************************************************************
Lobivia
by Emy de la Fuente, Jr.
Cereus Chatter, South Florida C&S
This group of relatively small cacti is native only to the South American country of Bolivia. Their name is an anagram of the name of their native country.
These small, globular or cylindrical cacti produce an abundance of colorful flowers that seem as large as the plant. Some species such as L. argentea form large mounds measuring 4 inches (10 cm) high with a diameter of 6 inches (15 cm). Their tuberculate ribs have sharp edges and are armed with 14 radial spines and a 3-inch (7 ? cm) central spine. Their wooly areoles grow in the depressions between the tubercles. Its flowers are silvery white to a pinkish lilac.
L. cinnabarina forms a spherical stem, 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. It has 20 ribs spirally arranged with raised tubercles between which the areoles appear. Their brownish spines turn grayish eventually.
They bear deep red flowers, which are about 1? inches (almost 4 cm) across and just over an inch (2? cm) long; they usually remain open for two days.
L. famatimensis has an oval stem that is about 1? inches (almost 4 cm) high. They bear between 18 to 24 tuberculate ribs, which are covered with numerous, short, white, crisscrossing spines. The flowers grow up to 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter and slightly longer than 1 inch (3 cm); they have a fuzzy, scaly tube. Their outer petals vary from cream to red generally darkening towards the center.
Plants in this genus need a minimum temperature ranging from 32? to 42? F (0? to 6? C), depending on the species. They need plenty of light, but not direct sun, particularly in the summer. They also need cooler temperatures during the winter. If the temperature is too warm in the winter, it will negatively affect the production of flowers. Grow them in rich, porous, gritty soil and let the soil dry out between waterings. When in need of repotting, they should be repotted, in the spring or early summer. After repotting do not water them for about a week to 10 days.
Lobivia can be propagated by seed, cuttings or basal offsets. Seeds may be sown in containers filled with a general-purpose cactus and succulent potting mix. Moisten the soil. Sprinkle the seeds evenly over the surface of the compost. Cover the seeds lightly; cover the container with a plastic lid or in a zip-lock bag and place it a warm area. I usually use a container, which will hold my seedlings for a few months. You should transplant the seedlings when they start to become crowded. If you wait until they are overcrowded, it can cause rot. Gently separate them so as not to damage the delicate roots. Transplanting will be easier if the soil is slightly moist. I usually transplant my seedlings 3 or 4 to a pot. It is my experience that they seem to do better with a few together than by themselves.
Cuttings can be taken by detaching a healthy stem with a sharp, sterile knife. Dust the main stem and the cutting with Root Tone and leave the cutting in a warm, dry place for a few days. Once the cut is dry, insert the cutting in a container as follows: Fill the bottom half of the container with your regular planting mix, firming it well. Fill the next 1/4th of the container with pumice or perlite. Place your cutting on the surface and fill the remainder of the container with more pumice or perlite. To add stability to the cutting, many times I place fine gravel on top of the pumice or perlite around the cutting. This process will prevent the cut surface from becoming too wet and allows the roots to penetrate the pumice or perlite seeking the more humid soil underneath. Depending on the species, the cutting should root in 2 to 6 weeks.
This is a very rich and varied genus containing many species and varieties. Some of these are:
L. arachnacantha, L. argentea, L. aurea, L. backebergii, L. binghamiana;
L. boliviensis, L. bruchii, L. caespitosa, L. caineana, L. chilensis, L.
cinnabarina, L. densispina, L. echinana, L. famatimensis, L. ferox, L.
ferox v. claeysianana, L. formosa, L. jajoiana, L. mistiensis, L.
pentlandii, L. rebutioides. L. rossii, L. saltensis, L. shaferi, L.
shieliana, L. silvestrii, L. tiegeliana, L. tiegeliana v. castanea and
L. winteriana.
L. caespitosa
L. jajoiana
***********************************************************
Mammillaria Theresae
by Sue Haffner Cactus Corner News Fresno C&SS
Mammillaria theresae is a very distinctive little species, with cylindrical stems to 1 ?'' tall and ?'' in diameter, slow-growing, but eventually clustering. It puts out a good amount of growth each year, but the individual stems seem to grow no larger, as the old growth tends to compact at the base. The spines are ornamental: all radial, translucent white, plumose, forming little clumps. Under a magnifying glass, they look like furry little starfish. The stems are dwarfed by the bright magenta blossoms, which can reach to 2'' in diameter.
Mammillaria theresae is one of the species that Woody Minich calls ``trickle seeders''. That is, the seeds are produced and retained inside the body of the plant. After the flower is finished and dropped off, the body closes over the fruit and the fruit/seed slowly ripens within. The next year, or years, the fruit may remain within the body, or may poke out a bit (it is whitish-pink). Most likely it will be within the body, at the axil. A thin little membrane will be over the portion where ripe seed can emerge. As the plant swells with the new growing season, the membrane fractures, and some seed from the past year (or years) can slowly trickle down and germinate nearby, creating small colonies.
Because of the above peculiarity, seed of M. theresae is seldom available from commercial sources, as its collection is unusually labor intensive. Also, some growers have reported that germination can be spotty. One British grower has success with the following method: he removes ungerminated seed from pots and re-sows them in fresh growing mix every 6-8 weeks. He believes that the original mix goes stale or becomes alkaline after this time and that the seeds require an acid soil for germination. Another grower gives his seed pots bottom heat but turns it off at night, providing a serious temperature fluctuation, as would be the case in habitat.
Mammillaria theresae was first described in 1967, reported from the Mexican state of Durango in the Coneto Mountains at altitudes of around 6,000 feet. It is one of several similar mamms, all discovered in the 1960s, the others being M. saboe, M. haudeana, and M. goldii.
All of these require similar growing conditions, but are not really easy. Care must be taken with watering, and a mineral-based potting mix is preferred. They need to be kept dry in winter. In habitat, they contract considerably in the dry season, sometimes pulling down completely under the soil. Their flowers can push up through the dirt.
Old timers in the club will remember Kitty Sabo's story from a program many years ago when she told us about how she and her family discovered the plant now named for her (M. saboe). They were on vacation, camping in Mexico. Her kids wandered off and came back yelling that they had discovered ``crocuses''. She investigated the purple flowers, easing away the dirt around them, to discover that they came from a little underground cactus.
*******************************************************************
Seyrigia
by Sue Haffner
Cactus Corner News Fresno C&SS
Seyrigias are succulent cucurbits, all endemic to southern and southwest Madagascar. Along with Xerosicyos, they are probably the two most commonly cultivated genera in this category - though neither is exactly common in most growers' collections. Seyrigias have subspherical underground tubers and mostly climbing, liana-like stems, their vegetative morphology showing an interesting evolutionary convergence with some of the unique Madagascan euphorbias.
The plants form extensive much-branched stems that develop short tendrils. These twine around any available support as the plants clamber through neighboring bushes and trees. The tendrils, along with small, quickly-deciduous leaves, soon desiccate, even though the stems are perennial, or at least persist for a number of years.
Seyrigias are dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants), producing small pale yellow or greenish flowers in racemes. As with many cucurbits, the fruit may be more interesting than the flowers, being spherical or obconical with red flesh. The best illustrations of the plant parts can be seen in Werner Rauh's book ``Succulent and xerophytic plants of Madagascar'', volume 2.
Rauh recognizes six species, the best known of which is S. humbertii. This species has thin stems covered with thick, white felt (it is described below in an excerpt from Cactus & succulent journal, v. 55, page 261 (1983), written by John Trager.)
Seyrigia bosseri has five-angled stems, less densely felted than humbertii and with distinct longitudinal grooves. S. gracilis is an attractive species. Its slender vines are glabrous, mottled gray-brown to pink when exposed to sun but green in shade conditions. S. marnieri is very similar in appearance. Seyrigia multiflora has thin, green stems minutely felted gray-white and transient, linear leaves. Its specific name suggests that it can bloom prolifically. Rauh, in the above-mentioned book, describes a new species, S. napifera, which has thick turnip-shaped roots and thin, four-angled, climbing branches.
Given adequate warmth and moisture, the plants grow rapidly and have extensive penetrating roots. Propagation is by seeds and cuttings. The latter require consistently moist, warm conditions for the tuberous roots to develop and can succumb if kept too dry.
