TURBINICARPUS

The whole genus TURBINICARPUS will be found in northern Mexico where the states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas meet each other.
All species of the genus dwell only in lime stone substrate, in CALIZA or CALICHE. CALIZA has been created by sedimentation - think of the age of JURA or KREIDE - and CALICHE has been built up by evaporation - think of the creation of NaCl salt. Sometimes the plants grow in crevices filled up with peat or organic substrate.
They grow in the mountains at around 1000 m to 2000 m high in sunny or half-shaded habitats.

substrate
So allways use mineral substrate with adding some lime stone. Adding some peat is possible.

culture
They are of very easy culture and they will not trouble you at all.
My plants all stand in full sun in pure mineral substrate with no peat added. I fertilize and water them as I do with all my other succulents.
From October or November - depending of the sunny or lousy October that will be - until March or April I will give my plants no water. The temperature will be at a minimum of 5 C to 10 C in winter.
From April to October they will stand outside in full sun sheltered only from the rain.

WWW

CACTUS ART.BIZ PELECYPHORA ASELLIFORMIS

CACTUS ART.BIZ PELECYPHORA PSEUDOPECTINATA

CACTUS ART.BIZ PELECYPHORA PSEUCOPECTINATA VAR JARMILAE

CACTUS ART.BIZ PELECYPHORA VALDEZIANA

CACTUS ART.BIZ PELECYPHORA VALDEZIANA VAR ALBIFLORA

FLOWER

TURBINICARPUS VALDEZIANUS is one of the earliest flowering cactus of all cacti.

My plants developed their first buds in the first week of January 2015. My pictures have been made this very morning.

I overspray the plants with warm water and do water the plants very lightly. I try to not start their growth this very early time of the year. In March I will begin to water the plants more thoroughly encouraging them to start growing.

TAXONOMY

TURBINICARPUS  VALDEZIANUS is a very new name for this cactus. Some former names for this cactus have been...

PELECYPHORA  FIMBRIATA
Since 1892 or 1893 this cactus has been known in Germany under the name PELECYPHORA FIMBRIATA. The plant seems to be not validly published but only known under this name within gardeners.

PELECYPHORA  VALDEZIANA    1930  MÖLLER
Möllers brother lived in Mexico and had sent 1927 or 1928 some cacti to Möller in Switzerland. Möller was a medic with a great interest for botany and well known for his prowess in the field. He honoured the discoverer naming the cactus after his brothers wife and published this in his own magazine "H. MÖLLERS DEUTSCHE GÄRTNERZEITUNG" 21(15): 179, 1930 in german.

ECHINOCACTUS  VALDEZIANUS   1930  (MÖLLER) BÖDEKER

PELECYPHORA  PLUMOSA            1930  (MÖLLER)  BÖDEKER & RITTER

THELOCACTUS  VALDEZIANUS     1937  (MÖLLER)  HELIA BRAVO

GYMNOCACTUS  VALDEZIANUS    1961  (MÖLLER)  BACKEBERG

NORMANBOKEA  VALDEZIANA      196...  (MÖLLER)  KLADIWA & BACKEBERG

TURBINICARPUS  VALDEZIANUS  1977  (MÖLLER)  GLASS & FOSTER

TAXONOMY

see TURBINICARPUS VALDEZIANUS

TAXONOMY

see TURBINICARPUS VALDEZIANUS

WWW

CACTUS SUCCULENT.ORG

FULL SUN BLOGSPOT.DE

ISLA DEL PESCADO.COM

JUZA PHOTO.COM

LLIFLE.COM

TAKE NO KOEN BLOGSPOT.JP

SEEDLING

My plant is a 5 year old seedling of RHYTIDOCAULON MACROLOBUM SSP MACROLOBUM. I have bought it at a succulent fair and cultivating the plant since 2 years.

substrate
The plant stands in my normal mineral substrate mix of cause without any peat or humus. I covered the surface with coarse GRANIT.

culture
The culture is the same as for cacti and succulents generally speaking.

Plants of the family ASCLEPIADACEAE are more susceptible to mould and rot as other succulents. So the culture of them has to take this sensibility into account.
Too much water and too much sun together with too much cool temperatures have to be avoided.

sun
I put the plant after the "EISHEILIGEN", around mid May, outside on the balcony. The first 4 weeks or so the plant stands at a half-shaded place and will adopt to the "hard sun". After adaptation I give the plant the sunniest place. One other plant will stand at the half-shaded position throughout the whole summer and autumn. I try to find out what would be the most preferable culture to please this species. And I am interested too to find out how the look of the species might change under the influence of too much light.
In nature, the younger plants allways stand half-shaded, mostly under the shelter of some other "guardian plant" or "mother plant".

water
When the growing season begins I spray the plant mildly and after 4 weeks or so I do start to water it. Watering will be done once a week or every 2 weeks depending how sunny and warm the weather will be. Fertilizer will be added allways but in a very very low concentration. Generally speaking I "underwater" the plants more than "overwatering" them. This is my precautionary measure to avoid the occurrence of mould and rot.

summer & winter
The growing period starts in April or May and lasts until mid or end of October. The plant will show when growth is starting.
From October or November to April or May the plant stands on the sunniest window and temperature will not undergo 10 C.
I do not water the plant from underneath. Some growers do so once a month or so. Doing so this should prevent the plant from loosing a greater part of its roots. I am reluctant doing so because I really do fear loosing my plants by mould.

 

MOST BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPH...

I do not own the rights of this photograph, so please visit the www page by using the link.

For me this is the most beautiful photo that I have come through searching the www for informations about RHYTIDOCAULON.

RYHTIDOCAULON MACROLOBUM SSP MACROLOBUM eve juza photo.com

RHYTIDOCAULON

DENDROSICYOS SOCOTRANA = CUT & REROOTED

I bought this plant 2 years ago from a succulent nursery at a cactus & succulent fair. I repotted the plant - as I allways do with new acquired plants - and checked it for diseases, mould, pests and maybe surprises. I discovered that the roots were decaying and the base of the trunk was going to rot.

I have had cut the trunk some 10 cm above the base of the trunk, powdered it with charcoal powder and after that with auxin powder. Then the trunk was fixed to a bamboo stick and repotted in my normal mineral substrate mixture. At last the surface was covered with coarse gravels of lime stone.

The plant stood and still stands in winter on a southern windowsill above the heater - to make sure that it does have allways "warm feets" - and was and still is sprayed with warm water - including some fertilizer at very very low concentration.
In the summer time the plant stands outside on the balcony in full sun only shed from rain.

All this started 2 years ago. As you can see this time it is sprouting very densely all over the whole trunk. This very heavy growth happens for the first time. So it is not really easy to reroot or propagate DENDROSICYOS SOCOTRANA by shoots.

In the www people do report that it is not at all possible to propagate this species by shoots and to root those. I can tell you that this is nonsense. It is possible, but you may need the help of growth hormones like auxin or giberellin, heat from underneath to guarantee "warm feets", as much sun as possible and "a loving hand" to do the right thing at the right time.

Now the plant is 80 cm high and as thick as a thumb at its base. The new growth at the top of the plant will hopefully develop into the new trunk.

WWW

ASCLEPIAD EXHIBITION uk

BLOG GANG thailand

CHOBI YAMATO BLOG japan

ERIOSPERM EXBLOG japan

FULL SUN BLOGSPOT japan 

INTERNATIONAL ASCLEPIAD SOCIETY uk

PIJAYAS PLANT BLOG thailand

STAPELIADS usa

BOOKS

WWW

These blogs and www sites are the most beautiful ones about mesembs.

Do you know some other ones ? Tell me...


CONOS PARADISE € germany

CONOPHYTUM japan

CONOPHYTUM uk 

DAUM korea

FLOWERING STONES south africa

LITH GARDEN $ japan

LITHOPS STORIES germany

LITHOPS & THINGS south africa

MANO LITHOPS spain

MESEMB STUDY GROUP uk

OZ LITHOPS australia

SCRAPBOOKLITHOPS.COM uk

SUCCULENT SUNDAE uk

WHAT A WONDERFUL CONOPHYTUM japan

WWW

BIHRMANN.COM

COLUMBUS CACTUS CLUB

PACIFIC BULB SOCIETY.ORG

PLANTZ AFRICA.COM 

SUCCULENT PLANT.COM

ERIOSPERMUM CERVICORNE...

This is ERIOSPERMUM CERVICORNE - says the gardener - but E. DREGEI looks very much the same. So I am very suspicious if this is the species.

systematics
The family ERIOSPERMACEAE seems to be a lonely standing family among other families of the class MONOCOTYLEDONEAE.
Under the MONOCOTYLEDONEAE you might find bananas, bromeliads, grasses and weeds, lillies, orchids, palms and others.
Other botanist have placed the plants into the family ASPARAGACEAE, CONVALLARIACEAE or RUSCACEAE.
E. CERVICORNE and E. DREGEI are placed in the genus ERIOSPERMUM  Jacquin ex Willdenow, subgenus ERIOSPERMUM  Perry, section ERIOSPERMUM  Perry.
Perry lists 102 species of ERIOSPERMUM.

plants
The plants do not build up bulbs but potato-like underground tubers. They are geophytes.
The flowers look like those of ALBUCA, LILIACEAE, and the hair-covered seeds are similar to those of TILLANDSIA, BROMELIACEAE. This latter characteristic gives the genus its name.

culture
The species grows in Namaqualand, South Africa, on hills of granite in crevices.

There are species that grow in winter rain areas and others that dwell in summer rain areas.

E. CERVICORNE and E. DREGEI are growing in the winter rain areas - southern earth. They will adopt to our climatical cycle and therefore they grow in our winter - northern earth - too.
I have planted them in my normal mineral substrate covering the top level with GRANIT gravel. I have added no peat to my mineral substrate mix.
I offer them as much sun and warmth as possible and fertilize and water them about every 2 to 4 weeks. The plants do not need that much water.

The growing cycle begins with the flowering, and only thereafter the leaves will show up. My plants start flowering and growing in August or September.
Around March or April the resting period begins and lasts around half a year long.

WWW

 AFRICAN SUCCULENTS.EU

BURGERS ONION.BLOGSPOT.DE

ERIOSPERMUM.BLOGSPOT.DE

ERIOSPERM.EXBLOG.JP

THE PLANT LIST.ORG

BOOKS

JSTOR.ORG

PERRY, P.L.          "a revision of the genus Eriospermum ( Eriospermaceae )"
                             contribution from the Bolus Herbarium, nr. 17
                             university Cape Town
                             1994

PERRY, P.L.          "on the cytotaxonomy of the genus Eriospermum ( Eriospermaceae )"
                             caryologia 52 (3-4) : 117-125, 1999
                             

PERRY, P.L.          "Eriospermaceae"
                             FZ 13 (2) : 1-13, 2010

SEEDLING

These are my 2 year old seedlings in January 2015 of LITHOPS SALICOLA CV BACCHUS. The cultivar SATOS VIOLET is a synonym to the cultivar name BACCHUS.

At this very young age the seedlings will not tell you how beautiful the cultivar BACCHUS really is. At the BCSS forum there are presented some very beautiful adult plants.
In the www you will find not that much information about them, and most of all nearly no source where to buy them.

The seedlings stand in my normal substrate but a much finer grade of. The surface is covered with coarse grit of GRANIT.
They stand warm and sunny on a southern faced windowsill. I water and fertilize them every 2 to 3 weeks or instead of watering I spray them thoroughly.

SEEDLING

These are my 2 year old seedlings in January 2015.

The substrate is the same as for all my other mesembs, but of cause a much more finer grade. Watering and fertilizing will be done every 2 to 3 weeks as I do not want to grow them to fast and fat.
They stand warm and sunny at a southern faced windowsill.

Their typical colour is not fully developed as they do not get the natural sun light here in winter, and of cause there allways is a individual variation within the seedlings.

 

BOOKS

SOCOTRA        catherine cheung & lyndon de vantier
                        odyssey books & guides
                        1. edition december 2006

Until today you might not find anything "good" about DENDROSICYOS SOCOTRANA in any book.
I really can recommend the book SOCOTRA that covers everything about the archipelago of Socotra. All other books about Socotra are of poor quality in terms of photography and in terms of information.

BOOKS

SOCOTRA        catherine cheung & lyndon de vantier
                        odyssey books & guides
                        1. edition december 2006

Until this very day I have not found any "good" book about DORSTENIA AND DORSTENIA GIGAS.

The book SOCOTRA gives you a very broad overview about the socotran archipelago - biology, geology, geography and history. All other books about Socotra are disappointing.

...STILL GROWING

The FOUQUIERIA of IDRIA is still growing throughout the winter as you can see.

The plant stands warm and nearby a southern faced window. Watering and fertilizing is done every 2 to 3 weeks.