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Post by mickthecactus on Nov 30, 2010 12:59:11 GMT
This is a Mexican native - Manfreda maculata -
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 30, 2010 16:58:38 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 1, 2010 8:30:27 GMT
It's very close to Agaves but different flowers. The leaves tend to die back in winter. It likes to be out in the garden in summer though.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 1, 2010 17:29:28 GMT
The comments in Dave's Garden are very interesting - 5 people want it so it can't be that easy to obtain.
Also that it doesn't come true from seed but this was from seed and looks pretty accurate to me.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 1, 2010 17:58:39 GMT
The kind of thing such as "doesn't come true from seed" is one of those things that appear on the internet, then get repeated until they sound like truth.
If it's mostly a wild plant, how could it not come true from seed, right?
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 13:01:27 GMT
The kind of thing such as "doesn't come true from seed" is one of those things that appear on the internet, then get repeated until they sound like truth. If it's mostly a wild plant, how could it not come true from seed, right? Spot on Bixa.......
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 13:09:03 GMT
I've re-read Dave's Garden and I think it's saying the opposite.......
Have a look at it again.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 13:10:16 GMT
The very tiny flowers of Fockea crispa
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 13:11:32 GMT
The last Lithops of the year - L. optica rubra and L. optica.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 2, 2010 15:47:09 GMT
Quoting Dave's Garden: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seed Collecting: Allow pods to dry on plant; break open to collect seeds [highlight=Yellow]N/A:[/highlight] plant does not set seed, flowers are sterile, or plants will not come true from seed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So if it's N blasted A, why did they even mention it at all?! Must be part of a form. Humph. Itsy bitsy flowers on that Fockea! Lithops optica rubra looks exactly like open jewelry boxes holding precious gems. L. optica looks like a happy Pacman family.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 15:52:44 GMT
Agreed re N/A....
Love your Lithops descriptions....
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Post by tod2 on Dec 2, 2010 16:33:50 GMT
Mick - what a very different kind of photograph you took looking through the magnifying glass! Those Lithops are so cute in their ugliness ;D I don't quite know what to make of them......
You are a great teacher about cactii and I have never been so well informed in all my life! I think we are extremely lucky to have you.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 2, 2010 16:51:31 GMT
Thanks tod2. Cor................
Ugliness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Lithops are SA plants.......
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 3, 2010 13:05:30 GMT
In winter, some Aloes put on superb colours as they get stressed by being dry. A. branddraiensis - A. cameronii. This was originally collected by a friend in Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe and is on about it's 4th start. It has never flowered for me.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 3, 2010 13:14:41 GMT
From last summer, the monkey tail cactus - Cleistocactus colademonis. Matucana comacephala.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 3, 2010 15:48:13 GMT
Mick! PLEASE take a photo of those three blooms hanging off that great furry cactus thingy! They look stunning even though not close up....yet ;D
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 3, 2010 15:51:58 GMT
They are long gone tod2.....
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 3, 2010 15:53:47 GMT
Better?
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Post by tod2 on Dec 5, 2010 15:34:03 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 5, 2010 15:58:00 GMT
Mick, gorgeous as those flowers are, the long abundant spines around them really elevate the beauty of the whole thing. I have to ask -- how do you keep those heavy sprawling cactus from toppling over their pots? That is a wonderful piece of landscaping there by the cop shop, Tod. I think the cactus are Cereus hildmannianus. Mick?
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 5, 2010 16:00:13 GMT
Aaargh ~~ by the time I'd finished posting, you had modified your message, Tod! My reply refers to the first two pictures.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 5, 2010 16:22:28 GMT
Okay ~~ your last two photos in #168 are Euphorbia cooperi, although they could be E. calidicola or E. ussanquensis, referred to in this article. (lotsa luck finding more info on those two )
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Post by tod2 on Dec 6, 2010 5:14:04 GMT
Thanks Bixa - It looks as if the Euphorbia plant may burst out in perculiar 'blooms' like in the link you gave me. That should be a sight for sore eyes!
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 6, 2010 9:48:38 GMT
Certainly Euphorbia but not my strongest suit and I wouldn't be sure which one.
Looks like Aloe ferox in the foreground.
Bixa, it doesn't fall of the shelf yet because the pot weight is still enough to hold it up there but it won't come next season.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 6, 2010 13:23:07 GMT
More Mexican natives - Strombocactus disciformis and Obregoni denegrii Aztekium ritteri Encephalocarpus strobiliformis, probably over 50 years old.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 6, 2010 14:23:28 GMT
50 years!! What a darling.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 6, 2010 14:37:20 GMT
50 years!! What a darling. You're not so bad yourself........................
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 6, 2010 15:13:21 GMT
Gawd, that is a collection of jewels, Mick! I once had a chance to buy an Aztekium, but didn't because its natural growth pattern made me think it was diseased. ( live and learn!) Is that a (Something) obregonium over there in the back right corner -- the flattened one with little upturned corners?
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 6, 2010 15:17:07 GMT
No, that's an Ariocarpus.
Obregonia is centre right and bottom right in the picture.
Centre left and top centre are Turbinicarpus.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 6, 2010 15:30:50 GMT
Thanks, Mick. I'm trying to set these in my mind so I will know to pounce if I see one for sale. As I've said before, they won't be labeled and no one will know what they're selling. They'll be generically "biznaga" (round cactus). Tall cactus are "cactus".
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