Sunday, May 04, 2008

Time-lapse video of a flowering Epithelantha micromeris v. greggii

Most of my coldhouse grown Epithelantha micromeris v. greggii (Cuesta la Muralla, Coahuila, Mexico) flowered big time this week. The plants were started from seed in 2004 and are flowering for the first time.

Flowering Epithelantha micromeris v. greggii
Flowering Epithelantha micromeris v. greggii

The small creamy, off-white flowers are not spectacular but still quite a beautiful sight, especially when several are blooming at the same time. The following time-lapse video shows a flower going from bud to full bloom.

It seems like the movie couldn't be embedded - you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCIWpwFgFsw

The pictures used for the time-lapse were taken every 15 seconds over a two hour period. The pictures are played back at a rate of 10 frames per second, i.e. the flowering is speed up by a factor of 150 resulting in a 48 second video. The camera was placed on an old wooden floor resulting in a couple of "wobbly" sequences. The photos were taken using natural light only, the shifting light levels are caused by drifting clouds.

I attempted to cross-pollinate several of the plants and are hoping for seeds next year.

2 comments:

  1. Those are some beautiful Lohophora Flowers. I have a question about Lophophora flowering schedules. If I had bought a few flowering specimens a Lophophora Williamsii Caesipitosa grafted to Pereskiopsis and a L W Caesipitosa grafted to Harrisa. I suppose during shipping they lost their flowers. One of them you can see some of the yellow flower stuck to it the other pink. How long before they form new flowers? Is there a way to speed up the process? A cretain spot? More shade or sun? Thanks

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  2. My mature grafted Lophs usually flower freely throughout most of the growing season. If your plants are of flowering size they will probably bloom again soon - just give them plenty of sun and water when needed (I'm normally only watering my plants during sunny periods, allowing the soil to dry completely in a couple of days).

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