Thursday, February 21, 2013

Peyote purple from extreme cold

Purple peyote seedlings - a sign of extreme conditions
Purple peyote seedlings - a sign of extreme conditions

A purple colored epidermis is a common stress indicator for a number of cacti - stress caused either by cold or draught - and consequently can be seen as a sign of extreme growing conditions.

The peyote seedlings in the above photo haven’t seen a drop of water since late August/early September, i.e. they have been without water for almost half a year. And the last time I checked, the temperature in the coldhouse where the seedlings grow had been as low as -10C (14F). Extreme conditions for peyote seedlings indeed! And the explanation for their purple hue.

The plants are grown from seed originating from El Oso, Coahuila, Mexico. Given the locality and the seedlings’ ability to endure extreme cold and dry conditions I expect them to be Lophophora williamsii var. echinata.

Speaking of purple Lophophora williamsii var. echinata the below photo was posted a while ago by Keeper Trout. The picture shows a patch of mature peyote turned purple by the cold. According to Trout, the area in Texas where the plants grow had experienced a "hundred year freeze" including three days where the highest temperature measured at a nearby locality was 10F (less than -12C).

Purple peyote in habitat in Texas
Purple peyote in habitat in Texas

The frost in western Texas killed off a lot of things considered freeze-hardy - including the dead peyote pictured below. This plant was from a different population than the purple patch pictured above and might have seen slightly colder temperatures, but still it’s a good indication that the freezing temperatures these plants experienced are at the limit of what Lophophora williamsii var. echinata will stand.

Dead peyote in habitat in Texas
Dead peyote in habitat in Texas

As mentioned at the beginning of this post a purple tinted epidermis is a common sign of stress in many cacti. Another example from my coldhouse is the purplish-hued Ariocarpus retusus pictured below.

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


The mature peyote photos are courtesy of Keeper Trout and the Cactus Conservation Institute and originate from this post on The Corroboree.

5 comments:

  1. Any chance of a "The power of grafting – 8th anniversary"
    Thanks for all your quality posts

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  2. He, he - that's in the works (and actually, this weekend my grafted plants got their first taste of water in a very long time, so they should be nice and plump come spring). Unfortunately I have neglected my plants some the last couple of years - and a few of them have been severely maimed by red spider mites (including my grafted plants), so I have to swallow my pride before posting pictures of them :-/

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  3. Amazing that your seedlings could survive those conditions! I agree with Anonymous, you should definitely update us on your graft, that was an amazing series of posts. Thanks and keep it up!
    -Cacti Guy

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  4. Hi! Interesting reading, nice pictures. I thought "echinata" was a synonyme for lophophora diffusa or a subspecies of diffusa. I've been reading your blog from time to time since 2011, would be great to see the 8th anniversairy of the graft. Speaking of wich, do you have any advice for taking care of grafted cacti? I have grafted a caespitosa pup, 1/2 cm diameter on young thorny Trichocereus hybrid. How often should I water my friend so that it doesent crack? Common sense is good but lack of experience is the problem. The scion is growing fast. /Christofer. www.flickr.com/photos/hattmakarn

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  5. I'm using Lophophora williamsii var. echinata in the sense of Weniger and Croizat, i.e. as a larger form of peyote originating from Trans-Pecos, Texas, and more tolerant to extreme conditions - both hot and freezing. Regarding taking care of grafted cacti, I water mine quite freely during the growing season (of course taking the amount of sun and the weather in general into account) - I always let my grafted plants dry out completely in between waterings. In my experience splitting is mainly a problem with smaller plants - on the positive side a grafted plant will soon outgrow any damages caused by this :-)

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