Christmas cacti

The subject line is sordidly misleading as this post has nothing to do with Schlumbergera, Zygocactus or the likes ;-) On the contrary it describes a handful of extreme xerophytes that I treated myself to as an early yuletide present.

I'm just home from Charlotte, North Caroline where I had made a last minute arrangement with Mesa Garden to deliver some plants and seeds to the hotel I stayed at. As usual Steven's plants are hard grown and exquisite.


Ariocarpus fissuratus (SB 403; Crockett Co, Texas)

The A. fissuratus plants are nice and plump – the diameter at the root neck slightly exceeds 2.5 cm (1'').


Ariocarpus fissuratus (SB 403; Crockett Co, Texas)

I hope the A. retusus plants will survive in the coldhouse. As far as I can tell the plants from Cuesta la Muralla are some of the most cold tolerant of this species.


Ariocarpus retusus (SB 310; Cuesta la Muralla, Coahuila)

I only have a few Leuchtenbergia plants but I have grown increasingly fond of this interesting species. This particular variant is alleged to have a branching habit and grow to a height of 1 m.


Leuchtenbergia principis (GL 770; Sierra de la Paila)

There is always room for one more Epithelantha in your collection so I don't think the E. bokei plants need further explanation ;-)


Epithelantha bokei (SB 416; Brewster Co, Texas)

The plants are now home with me and have been potted up. We are all eagerly awaiting the happy, sunny days of spring when the plants can be moved to the coldhouse.

Apart from the above mentioned plants I also bought a selection of seeds including Lophophora decipiens. I'm interested to see what the resulting plants look like – the description in the seed catalog is limited to an intriguing “powdery grey”.