Contrary to my Epithelantha micromeris v. greggii plants that have flowered intensively this summer, I have not seen any flowers on my regular Epithelantha micromeris (SB1327; near Belen, New Mexico), but judging from the fruits they must have snuck out some flowers while I was not watching ;-)
Epithelantha micromeris (SB1327; near Belen, New Mexico) fruits
The fruits are a very bright pinkish red - the color almost defies description but it is the kind of screaming color that would seem fit for jelly beans ;-)
Fruiting Epithelantha micromeris (SB1327; near Belen, New Mexico)
Epithelantha micromeris fruits seen from the top
I scanned one of the fruits to get an up-close look at it and the seeds within.
Epithelantha micromeris fruit, close-up
The seeds are not surrounded by pulp, they just sit inside the "dry" outer skin of the berry. The fruits have a bland, uninteresting taste - I wouldn't grow them for marmalade. 
Epithelantha micromeris fruit, cut open
The Epithelantha micromeris plants are grown in my coldhouse and they don't seem to mind the cold winters at all - according to Steve Brack this variety of Epithelantha micromeris is from the northernmost known locality of the species.
Read more about the (dry) fruits in this post.
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1 day ago
great blog :)!
ReplyDeletegreetings, amadeus :)
just great i can say.... plz if you can tell me if i can use the seeds direct or i must let them dry
ReplyDeletethanks
Well, this spring my Echinocereus reichenbachii plants flowered and I harvested the resulting seeds in the early summer. The seeds were sown directly after being removed from the fruit and had a very good germination rate. For species like Lophophora, Epithelantha, etc I would also expect good germination rates for seeds sown "fresh from the fruit", but I have to say that I don't have much experience in sowing seeds directly after they are harvested. I usually store the seeds in the refrigerator and germinate them in the spring (I live in a climate with long, cold, damp winters with low light levels; not the best of conditions for infant cactus seedlings ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeeds of many species of e.g. Opuntia require cycles of freezing/thawing and dry/wet conditions in order to germinate so the answer also depends a lot on what types of cacti you are growing.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI have lots of cacti seeds here that I bought this summer(I live in Brasil), but unfortunately the summer is over and I could not germinate them.
Now the temperatures are a little low(15-20), so i preffer to store them and use when the temperature rises a bit.
How can I keep the germination rate high?store in the refrigerator?
thank you and congratulations, your blog is unique, very usefull and full of good information
Yes, I store excess seeds in the refrigerator with good results. The pros at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (nicknamed the Doomsday Vault ;-) store their seeds at minus 18 degrees Celsius, which I presume is optimal - but the fridge at plus 4-5 degrees Celsius works fine for me (I haven't dared freezing the seeds as I'm uncertain if it requires special preparation of the seeds).
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDeletelove your site, you always have nice pictures from your plants. I also have a german site about severy cacti (www.drogen.cx).
do you allow me to use some of the pictures of the micromeris fruit or what can i do that you allow it to me ?:)
greetings
marius
Marius I appreciate you asking and you can use the photos as long as you credit The Lophophora Blog as the author and link back to this website on the pages where the photos are used, i.e. something along the lines "The Epithelantha photos are courtesy of The Lophophora Blog" (or the German equivalent;-)
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, could I ask you to drop me a link to the page where the photos are used?
@lophophora. Thank you very much. I have put some pictures on my page. Here is the link: http://www.drogen.cx/kakteen/epithelantha-micromeris/
ReplyDeleteI placed a link to your blog on "Quellen" = Sources and on every single detail picture page (eg. http://www.drogen.cx/kakteen/epithelantha-micromeris/attachment/epithelantha_micromeris_fruit_cut_open_20080810/)
Looks great.
ReplyDelete