British Cactus & Succulent Society Page 1 Vinay Shah 6 .
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 NewsletterBritish Cactus & Succulent SocietySouthampton & District BranchNewsletterApril 2012Branch SecretaryDavid Neville6 Parkville RoadSwaythlingSouthamptonHampshireSO16 2JAPage 1Newsletter EditorVinay Shah29 Heathlands RoadEastleighHampshireSO53 1GUdavnev@btopenworld.comvvshah@clara.co.uk(023) 80261989(023) 80551173 or07974 191354look at how they’re doing! Do mark the plants withEditorial .1 your name to avoid fisticuffs over the best grownAnnouncements .1 plants Elton Roberts' Californian Collection.1Table Show Results . 4Branch Committee Meeting .4Snippets .5Our speakers from last month (Keith & KathyFlanagan) have decided to invite us to an Open Dayto view their collection – further details next month.Cephalocereus blondii. 5Next Month’s Meeting .6Forthcoming Events.6Elton Roberts'CollectionEditorialBefore the talk started, David Neville highlighted aplant which had been entered into the table show. Itwas an Echinocactus grusonii which had beenpurchased by Jim Roskilly from The Grange – andthe plant had bright red spination. Geoff Card saidhe had also bought something similar. David saidthat this wasn’t a new variety – the plant had beensprayed with red paint to achieve this appearance,and the new growth should revert to straw colouredspines. As far as the Dutch growers are concerned,this was just a way to sell more plants.Our clocks changed 9 days ago and so we’resupposed to be on summertime now, but the weatherhas cooled down the past few days. I have wateredmy plants a couple of times in March but have heldoff until we get back to some warmer weather. Afew Mammillarias and Echeverias are in flower, andfollowing the waterings, there are signs of newgrowth on most of the plants.AnnouncementsOur meeting today almost had to be cancelledbecause the week prior to Easter is “Holy Week” –but fortunately we received special dispensation andwere allowed to use the hall for today’s meeting.The branch’s financial accounts for the year toSeptember 2011 have now been prepared, andcopies of this are available at today’s meeting.Tickets for the 16th Havering Cactus Mart areavailable from Eddy Harris. This will be held atRomford, on Saturday 12th May. At least 12 leadingnurseries will be present, so there should be a goodselection of plants for sale. Admission is only 1.There’s a leaflet about this event at the front table.Next month’s meeting will be a cultivationevening, so if you have problem plants – or thosewhich need identification, please bring them along.There will also be a discussion about cristate andmonstrose plants, so if you have any of these, pleasebring them along. Finally last year, the branchhanded out free Mammillaria and Echeveria plantsto members – please bring these in so we can take aCalifornianGeoff proceeded to welcome Keith and Kathy.Kathy mentioned that they had never given a digitalpresentation before and weren’t used to theequipment either, but hoped that the talk would goOK.Elton Roberts was introduced to Keith by anothermember of their branch, and Kathy met him a yearlater. They got married out in the States, and Eltonwas their best man. He rattles a few cages with hisoutspoken nature, but he has a fantastic collection ofplants, is a very good grower and happy to talk toanyone about them. Elton lives at Ripon, which isabout an hour’s drive east from San Francisco, andalso near the town of Sacramento.He has several hothouses for his plants and these arebuilt in different styles. Some have plastic side wallswith plastic sheeting for a roof, and others are openframed buildings with plastic or netting forsidewalls. There’s a sales house and the otherhouses have slight variations to accommodatedifferent groups of plants, such as Rebutias andSulcorebutias, and succulents and Copiapoas. Oneof the houses even extends into his mother-in-law’s
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 Newslettergarden. Tephrocacti are kept on tables outside allyear round. The weather is mild but can reach closeto freezing in the winter mornings, going up to 80 Fin the daytime.Kathy said that in the USA, showing your plants is abig thing and American growers will sometimes paymore for the bowls than the plants. We sawAriocarpus agavoides in a nice red bowl. Akersiaroseiflora had tubular pink flowers – and this wasone of many hanging plants in his collection.Tephrocactus alexanderi v. geometricus is adistinctive plant with pale egg-shaped stems. It israre in cultivation, but he had some huge plants. Athree-headed Turbinicarpus lophophoroides hadpale pink flowers, and one of the heads was goingdichotomous. Turbinicarpus klinkerianus wascovered in flower buds and had good spination. Ashort-spined form of Thelocactus phymatothelos hadstrange growths in between the tubercles. We alsosaw a group of Echinocactus horizonthaloniusplants, which had all been grown to impressivesizes.There were quite a few Echinopsis in flower, but notall were labelled, and even if they were, you’d havetrouble getting near them because they weregrowing in a tangled mass. A couple of the hybridswho flowers Kathy liked were called Maria andRoxy. Next was a shot of one of the natives – alizard with brown patterned skin, which was about 6inches long. Underneath, they are a vivid bluecolour, but it’s difficult to photograph this.Coryphantha greenwoodii had yellow flowersemerging from dense white wool. We also saw agroup of the sale plants, including small Ariocarpusplants priced at a few dollars. An example ofOrtegocactus macdougalii was perfect, without anyof the usual brown patches. David said everyexample in habitat is marked. We sawTurbinicarpus ysabelae and also Stapeliaflavipurpurea – she had given him a piece of thelatter, and Elton had grown it on into a niceflowering sized plant.After some more Ariocarpus plants, we saw a Hoyaflower cluster, and some nice Astrophytums,including Astrophytum myriostigma cv. Onzuka.Kathy said these were on their own roots – apartfrom just one or two plants in his collection, Eltondoesn’t tend to like grafted plants. An Echinocereusgrowing as a rat’s tail cactus had a nice magentaflower and was probably a Morangaya. Ariocarpusretusus had white flowers. A nice double-headedAstrophytum capricorne had jet black spines in thegrowing point.Page 2A nice A. myriostigma had spoilt its appearance bygrowing a spare rib midway up the stem. Anotherheavily flecked myriostigma cultivar had somestrange lumpy growths at the growing point. Amonstrose plant with a weird mixture of spiral andfan shaped growths was labelled Eulychnia castaneabut Paul Klaassen said although it was widespreadin US collections, no-one knew what it really wassince it does not flower. Next was A myriostigmacv. Kikko, although the plant did not seem to yethave the chins which David said were a distinctivefeature. Neochilenia occulta had grown into a largemultiheaded plant. Coryphantha calipensis was acouple of feet across. Coryphantha elephantidenshad a lovely light/deep pink flower on it. Three orfour Coryphanthas, including C. greenwoodii weregrowing together, stuck into each other like velcro.The collection of Coryphanthas included C. maiztablasensis, C. robustispina v. scheeri, C.poselgeriana and C. ramillosa. C. recurvata hadgolden spines and the heads were the size of dinnerplates. Seedlings from a few years ago were now in5 inch pots. Kathy mentioned that there was someproblem with some of the Coryphanthas, whichdeveloped white spots and then went white all over.C. tripugionacantha was over a foot high.Some plants of Echinocactus horizonthalonius hadspines growing in a spiral pattern. The spines lookedespecially beautiful just after the plants had beenwatered. Echinocactus polycephalus had fiercespines. Five heads of Echinocereus pulchellus werefighting for space. A plant of Pelecyphorastrobiliformis was crested, and another was a threeheaded specimen. The Ferocactus collectionincluded some nice specimens with fierce spines,and there was also a plant of the “creeping devil”,Stenocereus eruca. A Ferocactus macrodiscus in ahuge ceramic pot was a beautiful specimen.Echinomastus johnstonii is nice in habitat but itdoesn’t do as well in cultivation, even in Elton’scollection. A quick view of the plants growingoutside showed a large Opuntia, some cereoids andyuccas.Back indoors, Elton has several specimens ofGeohintonia mexicana and these flower every year.There was a large plant of Turbinicarpus ysabelae.There was a nice plant of Echinomastusmariposensis with the dense spines covering thebody entirely. We also saw a picture of the sameplant with a ring of flowers – a picture which Eltonhad sent her. We also saw plants of Echinomastuswarnockii ssp pallida and E. warnockii kakui, andtheir flowers.
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 NewsletterPediocactus knowltonii was in good condition butthere were signs of mealy bug on some of theareoles. We also saw Cochiseia robinsorum, andMammillaria tetrancistra – David Neville said thatthe latter is one of the most difficult plants to growon its own roots. Coryphantha maiz-tablasensis wasagain featured and these were huge plants with somelovely pink flowers. Thelocactus hexadrophus andTurbinicarpus laui were in 6-8" pans. Alongside asmall Mammillaria humboldtii was a bonsai subject,probably some species of Trichodiamea, which hasa big tap root. We saw acrucigera, and a little Ariocarpus. Kathy mentionedthat people now take their dormant Ariocarpusplants to Elton, for him to resuscitate. A picture ofone of the hothouses showed dozens of hangingplants suspended in the air, waiting to ensnare youor give you a headful of spines if you wandereddown the plant benches. Kathy explained that being5' 2", Elton was just about safe from this.Other views showed many more plants and Kathycommented that Elton’s really got too many plants.There were lots of yuccas, and he used to growAgaves previously. An Islaya had pink fruits.Mammillaria fraileana was in flower. Coryphantharunyonii was a huge plant with pink flowers.Pediocactus peeblesiana had curly spines. We alsosaw an Epithelanthus, and a Turbinicarpuslophophoroides which was a foot high. DavidNeville said that in habitat this plant remains as around ball.An Ariocarpus plant that had came in forresuscitation had 8 heads but was all shrunkenbecause its owner had not been able to grow it.Elton has written articles on his theories on acidifiedwater, having noticed that plants go downhillrapidly in cultivation. The pH of desert rainsbetween Arizona and California varies from 4 and5.6 but his own well water was alkaline, at pH 7.5.Cacti do prefer acidic levels such as pH 6 or lower,so he added vinegar at 4 teaspoons per gallon, whichwas enough to drop his water down to pH 5.5. Henoticed a dramatic difference in his plants in justone season Keith himself has tried the acidifiedwater and has noticed his plants recovering,including those which had not grown for ages, andhe suggested this was well worth trying, using whitevinegar.Kathy mentioned that she would have loved to bringthe next plant home - it was a light-red spined formof Mammillaria lasiacantha in a 10-12" pan. Wealso saw Turbinicarpus bonatzii and T. hoferi. Eltonwas a stickler for using the names on the label even if they were sometimes wrong. The first timePage 3she found a Sulcorebutia in his collection, shenoticed it had hairy flower buds suggesting it was aLobivia, and told him about this, but soon realisedhe doesn’t like being told his labels are wrong!Next were several of his Thelocacti, including T.bicolour ssp. schwarzii and T. matudae. He’s got ahothouse round the back which contains big oldplants which are terribly overgrown since he was illsome of the time and unable to tend to them.Included were 2 plants of Thelocactushexaedrophous – these were beautiful plants and theearly morning sun made the spine clusters shine likelittle stars. Elton is now 70 years old and has just toomany plants to look after, including some that arenow too big to move or lift.Buiningias were forming cephaliums. Thetemperatures rise in the late morning and it’s aproblem to keep the temperatures in the hot housesdown. A Mammillaria theresae had just aboutfinished flowering and consisted of over 50 heads.Turbinicarpus aloinsii had magenta flowers and wasalso huge. T. lophophoroides had white flowerswith pink centres. A plant of T. hexaedrophus was18 inches across. Kathy said when you see theseplants and then come back to your own collection,you feel deflated. We saw a few more Ariocarpusstarting to flower, Echinocereus brandegeei withpink blooms and also a Mila and Mammillariaschumannii v. globosa.Carrying on after the mid-meeting break, we sawGymnocactus viereckii becoming dichotomous.Coryphantha pseudonickelsiae was in flower, andCoryphantha ramillosa had lovely lilac-pinkflowers, Behind was a large Coryphanthaposelgeriana – a plant which rarely gets to biggerthan a 5" pot in this country. Another Coryphanthahad its skin marked in patches of white. It lookedlike red spider damage but Elton was adamant that itwas something else. Whatever it was, it didn’t seemto touch the plants around – and just seemed toaffect the odd Coryphantha.Kathy said that with a lot of Coryphanthas, theflowers change colour as they mature – and we sawsome plants with pale apricot and yellows indifferent shades. There are also some whites andpinks out there and they seem to come up true fromseed. Elton grows a lot of Echinocereus - but notmany were in flower during their visit so she hadnot photographed most of them. A plant that wasnew to her was Neolloydia matehualensis, with abeautiful pale blue stem colour. There were twodifferent clones of this attractive plant. ATrichocereus cross growing outside had some of themost beautiful flowers she had seen, in shades of
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 Newsletterred, orange and pink. David agreed that the flowerswere stunning but the plants looked horrific to grow.We saw more of the plants growing outside. AnEchinopsis with pink flowers was also beautiful.Kathy said there was a lot of repotting which needsto be done, but there was no space and Elton’s wifehas told him he’s not having any more hot houses. Ahuge 4-headed Echinocactus grusonii illustrated thepoint about plants needing repotting. Back outside,there was a mound of earth next to a paving slab.Apparently the slab had been lifted up by gophers,something we don’t have to worry about in thiscountry. They don’t seem to damage the plants butno-one knew how big the animals were. A plant ofTurbinicarpus nigrita in flower had strange curlywhite spines. A close up of Ferocactus rectispinusshowed the lovely spines. Something differentcaught your eye every time you went into thegreenhouse. Weingartia neumanniana had grownnicely and was offsetting. A view of the hangingand ephiphytic cacti showed a bit of a jungle withthe plants reaching from the roof to the ground, andno space to get in between the plants.Strombocactus disciformis was in flower andgrowing an extra head. Astrophytum. asterias cv“Super Kabuto” was heavily flecked. Aztekiumhintonii was in flower. We also saw a nicevariegated Agave. Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus hadpurple flowers. The 8-headed Ariocarpus brought infor revival was now flowering nicely. Coryphanthadifficilis was flowering. We saw a double headedThelocactus heterochromus and Astrophytummyriostigma cv "Lotusland", followed by close-upsof the markings of A. myriostigma cv “Onzuka” andmore close-ups of spines on some of the other cacti,including Echinocactus horizonthalonius. AMammillaria insularis had nice pink/white flowers.We saw some more pictures of the outdoor flowers,followed by Mammillaria humboldtii and herfavourite plant – the Mammillaria lasiacantha. Weended with Thelocactus lloydii in a 10" rmis, a pink tinged T. lophophoroides andTurbinicarpus psuedomacrothele, and a final pictureshowing a mixed collection of ten different species.Vinay ShahPage 4Table Show ResultsThere were 6 entries in the March table show.OpenCacti –EchinocactusSucculents –Agave(1) B Beckerleg(1) B BeckerlegLeuchtenbergia principisAgave titanota(2) -(2) T RadfordAgave stricta(3) -(3) -(1) B Beckerleg(1) B BeckerlegFerocactus macrodiscusAgave potatorumIntermediate (2) J Roskilly(2) -Echinocactus grusonii(3) -(3) -Ivor BiddlecombeBranch Committee MeetingA committee meeting was held on March 19th 2012.There was a discussion about the lack of a publishedfinancial report for the year ending 30-9-2011, andDavid Neville stated to the committee that theaccounts were finalised but the auditors had severeproblems with their computer system and werecurrently in the process of re-installing varioussoftware packages and re-loading corrupteddatabase files. It was hoped that the report would beavailable for adoption at the next branch meeting.We have received notice of a new member inHighcliffe, Dorset. The society has produced a newmembership pack and this is also available tobranches to sell to the general public at a smallprofit. It was agreed to buy 10 sets to see how theysell at the events we attend.Keith and Kathy Flanagan contacted David after theMarch meeting to see if he would like to arrange abranch visit to their collection. It was agreed thatthis would be popular and a date would beconfirmed. (Subsequent arrangements have beenmade for the afternoon of Sunday May 27th. Fulldetails will appear in the May newsletter).Our new librarian, Ciprian Suta, has alreadymanaged to sell a number of the spare books that
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 Newsletterhad been sitting around for a while. They are beingshipped to buyers in Romania!It was noted that income from the raffle at monthlymeetings was not as good as might be hoped, andfrom the figures it appeared that perhaps a fairpercentage of people were not buying tickets at all.Since many of our meetings run at a loss it isimperative that we encourage sales of raffle ticketsto help fund the cost of visiting speakers, hall hireetc. We do not want to introduce a monthlyattendance charge, but this is something that themajority of branches in the BCSS now do.Entries in the monthly table show are now lowerthan ever before. We need to do something toencourage more people to bring plants along.Discussions took place about the May Workshopmeeting. Some ideas and proposals were agreed, butsuggestions and ideas of topics they would like todiscuss should be sought from the members at theApril meeting.It was agreed to buy the new book on Echinocereusby John Pilbeam for the branch library.Plans and arrangements for the public displays thatwe shall attend were discussed, the first of which isSparsholt Countryside Day in May. Although somecommittee members are unable to attend, it wasagreed that we have enough people to man thestand.Future meeting dates were set as June 15th andAugust 13th, providing the meeting room isavailable.David NevillePage 5[The following was handed to me at the last meeting,with a request to make sure I included it in s month’snewsletter]SnippetsCephalocereus blondii (nomen nudum)The generic name is derived from a combination ofcephalium which is a terminal growth producingabundant hair, and cereus which refers to columnar,ribbed, succulent and usually upright stems. (Note:cephalium should not be confused with the termpseudocephalium or "false cephalium" which is alateral zone or tuft of or hair or bristles, often of adarker colour, which develops at maturity in certaintaxa). The epithet blondii describes the colour of thehair produced by the cephalium.The body shape is complex but always with twelveribs. The morphology may be plastic. The epidermisis smooth when young, becoming furrowed orwrinkled in older specimens. Areoles are sparse andwidely spaced. The cepahlium is usually dark inimmature specimens, becoming pale later. Thechange may occur suddenly. The colour range fromwhite through to yellow has been recorded,sometimes with streaks or patches of darker shades.Seed remains the only satisfactory means ofpropagation. Young specimens require early potting.Liquid feed is appreciated with increasing mineralcontent towards maturity. Cultivation of olderspecimens may prove challenging, but they oftenrespond well to bedding out.The species has been known for several thousandyears, having been mentioned in some of the earliestknown texts. It remains a mystery why such anattractive and widely distributed species has eludedproper botanical description until 1st April 2012.A Non and A.N. Other
BCSS Southampton & District Branch April 2012 NewsletterPage 6Next Month’s MeetingOur next meeting will be held on May 1st, and willtake the form of a cultivation and propagationworkshop. As usual, this will be an open formatmeeting, with a few pre-selected topics, but alsotime to discuss any problem plants and to helpidentify your plants. So bring along anything that isgiving you trouble, or whose name you don’t know,and we’ll try and identify it for you.In addition, if you took up the offer of the freeMammillaria lanata and Echeveria lilacina plantshanded out by the branch last year, please bringthem in so that we can see how everyone’s plantsare doing – but do label them so that they don’t getmixed up with someone else’s plants.Finally, one of the discussion topics will bemonstrose and cristate plants, so if you have any ofthese in your collection, please do being them alongThe May table Show will consist of the Opuntiagroup (cacti) and the Haworthia & Gasteriagroups (succulents). Please note that members cansubmit more than one entry in any of the classes,and that points will be earned for each placed entry.The Opuntia group contains Opuntia, Airampoa,Austrocylindropuntia, Brasiliopuntia, Consolea,Corynopuntia,Cumulopuntia, renopuntia, Micropuntia, Nopalea, Pereskia,Pereskiopsis, Pterocactus, Puna, Quiabentia,Rhodocactus, Tacinga, Tephrocactus and Tunilla.The Haworthia and Gasteria groups containHaworthia, Astroloba, Chortolirion, Poellnitzia andGasteria.Forthcoming EventsSat 14th AprSat 21st AprIsle of WightPortsmouth“Wildlife” - Colin HaygarthBring and Buy AuctionTue 1stSun 6thSat 12thSat 19thSat 19thMayMayMayMayMaySouthamptonPortsmouthIsle of WightSouthamptonPortsmouthCultivation & Propagation WorkshopDisplay / Plant Sales @ Bishops Waltham Garden Fair“Brazil” - Cliff ThompsonDisplay / Plant Sales @ Sparsholt College Countryside Day“Brazil Part1 : Rio Grande do Sul” - Cliff ThompsonTue 5thSat 9thSat 9thSat 16thJunJunJunJunSouthamptonPortsmouthIsle of WightPortsmouth“What I Saw Last Winter - Bolivia & Mexico - Paul KlaassenPortsmouth Summer Show @ St Colman's Church Hall, Cosham“Peru” - John Hughes“Collections of the World” - Ian WoolnoughBranch website: http://www.southampton.bcss.org.uk 2012 British Cactus & Succulent Society - Southampton & District Branch
British Cactus & Succulent Society Branch Secretary David Neville 6 Parkville Road Swaythling Southampton Hampshire SO16 2JA davnev@btopenworld.com (023) 80551173 or 07974 191354 Newsletter Editor Vinay Shah 29 Heathlands Road Eastleigh Hampshire SO53 1GU vvshah@clara.co.uk (023) 8026198
Angeles Cactus and Succulent Society BEST EUPHORBIA — ED EBY AWARD — Donated by the San Jose Society BEST FOUQUIERIA — VIRGINIA MARTIN AWARD — Donated by San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society BEST GASTERIA — ELLEN LOW AWARD — Donated by Sunset Succulent Society BEST HAWORTHIA–Donated by Rowena Thompson
CACTUS COURIER An Affiliate Member of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America Newsletter of the Palomar Cactus and Succulent Society The North San Diego County Cactus and Succulent Club! Volume 65, Number 5 May 2019 " LOCATION 1 Garden Brag Photos NEXT MEETING Saturday, May 18th
An Affiliate of the Cactus & Succulent Society of America On the Web at www.centralarizonacactus.org Presentation by Duke Benadom: Echinocereus of the USA Duke has been involved with several cactus & succulent clubs and is a life member of three. He became a Director for the Cactus & Succu
Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society May 2019 Volume 60, V See inside for highlights and pictures from our May Show and Sale, a huge success made possible by the hard work and dedication of our Club members, vendors, and volunteers! Meeting Details The Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7 PM.
of the spring and fall sale of the Cactus and Succulent Society of San Jose. Peter will bring plants for sale. Sacramento Cactus & Succulent Society June 2019 Volume 60, VI Meeting Details The Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7 PM. Next meeting: June 24
Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society Inn Suites Hotel 465 North Granada Ave. Tucson, AZ 85701. Tucson Cactus and Succulent Society 7510 E. Rio Verde Rd. Tucson, AZ 85715-3537 TCSS Rescue Cacti for Sale Visit our next Sale for selecti
4/2–3 San Jose Cactus & Succulent Society, Show & Sale, Sunnyvale 4/23–24 Huntington Botanical Gardens—42nd Annual Spring Plant Sale, San Marino (members only 4/23) 5/14 Santa Barbara Cactus & Succulent Society —Annual Plant Sale, Santa Barbara 5/28–29 Central Coast Cactus & Succulent Society
Arizona Cactus and Succulent Society, the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society and, in particular, the Cactus and Succulent Society of America, for research grants that funded nearly all of the field work and a large portion of the lab work conducted for this project. Without their fin
