It happens from time to time that abnormal seedlings appear among the normal ones. And even though not many people are fond of them, sometimes they graft these plants. In case the grafting was a success the owner may be proud of his new and unusual plants.
Alexander Sorokin from the town of Maikop (Russia)
Gymnocalycium fleischerianum v. calochlorum (Photo 1) was obtained in 1994, when Alexander sowed the seeds gathered from his own plant. Unfortunately, this plant has not been propagated.
Photo 3.
Turbinicarpus roseiflorus f. cristata (Photo 2) was obtained in 2000. There were about 100 seeds sown (gathered from his own plant) and one of the seedlings grew into a crest. This year there were again some crested seedlings from the genus Turbinicarpus. There are four crested seedlings of T. klinkerianus and three crested seedlings of T. pseudomacrochele . Even though they are very small, they already have distinct crested shape.
It's possible to obtain new cultivars from Mammillaria roseo-alba (Photo 3) and Mammillaria la-pas and Rebutia senile (Photo 4).
Photo 4.
Andrey Tkachenko from the town of Labinsk (Russia)
Mammillaria bocasana "Nataly" (Photo 5) appeared in his collection in 2000. There were about 2000 seeds sown and 20 of them occurred to be yellow. This Mammillaria was first shown at the exhibition in Krasnodar in 2001. It was named "Nataly" after his wife and companion. Andrey thinks that this M. bocasana appeared as a result of a pollination experiment: in order to keep the pollen, he put several blooming M. bocasana to the fridge and kept them there for more than a week. Some flowers withered and some of them remained fresh. Then Andrey pollinated the plants with the pollen from the withered and open flowers that came from the fridge.
The yellowing of the stem appeared only after the seedling were pricked out for the second time, at the age of 7-8 months. First only the tops became yellow and then all the plants gradually became yellow too. It is interesting to notice that some of the plants got distinct brownish-red stripe at the bottom (Photo 6). This plant can grow on its own roots, however its growth is slower than the growth of grafted plants.
Photo 7 pictures variegated seedlings of Astrophytum . All of them were obtained from the same batch of seeds. It's necessary to point out that those seeds came from the plants that had undergone a shock. Once Andrey forgot to open the greenhouse with the blooming astrophytums, and they stayed shut for the whole day. The temperature in the greenhouse raised over 50 degrees Centigrade and many flowers got burnt, some of them just withered. Yet Andrey decided to pollinate the flowers. There were few fruits, but the seeds that came from these fruits gave many variegated sprouts.
Photo 7.
Denis Gil and Daniil Simonenko from the Sochi city (Russia)
Photo 8 pictures Lobivia varians X Chamaecereus silvestrii . The story of this plant is as follows. In 1999 Denis Gil (read about him in the issue #2 (12), June 2002) tried to pollinate Lobivia varians with the pollen from Chamaecereus silvestrii . The pollination was a success and having sown the seeds Denis got thin, long, white seedlings. The seedlings did not turn green, they hardly grew and in a month and a half they started dying. Unfortunately, at that time Denis run out of stocks, so he couldn't not draw the experiment to a close. In 2002 Denis described this experiment to an 11th grade student Daniil Simonenko, and Daniil successfully repeated it. The seedlings were grafted onto Pereskiopsis and started getting pink, then they turned yellow.
Oleg Ilyashenko (Donetsk, Ukraine)
tells about the new plants in his vast collection:
Photo 12.
Photo 14.
Euphorbia abdelkuri "Damask" (Photo 9) was brought from London in the end of April, 2004. This eye-catching plant was described in Cultivar issue #3 (19) in July 2003 by Dave Angus (UK).
Sulcorebutia helilosa v. densipectinata (Photo 10) is a new variety of S. helilosa , recently found by Peter Kupchak from the Czech Republic. These plants came to me from Albert Plapp (Munich, Germany) around half a year ago. They haven't been propagated in Europe so far and are not in the European catalogues either. American nurseries offer neither seeds nor plants as well.
Cleistocactus strausii f. monstrosa (Photo 11). I have never seen the monstrose form of this species. It came to me also from Albert Plapp. I think that these plants appeared in Europe right from the South America through the Czech channels. I brought them home in winter and potted them as if they were normal plants. By the 1st of May the plants started blooming. So I decided to share with you my holiday mood and red flowers.
Photo 12 - Pseudolithos migiurtinus ,
Photo 13 - Pseudolithos cubiformis ,
Photo 14 - Pseudolithos harardheranus
The plants from the genus Pseudolithos are not very common in collections of Russian C&S fans, as they are rather demanding in cultivation. But there are many enthusiasts who are determined to make them grow in our climate. We promise to keep our readers informed of the efforts to cultivate Pseudolithos in inhospitable conditions.
Photos by the author.
Cultivar e-magazin: Copyright (c) by Valery Kalishev, Chelyabinsk, Russia, since 2000. Design and hosting by Peter Lapshin, since 2002. Contacts: Peter Lapshin
