Peyote purple from extreme cold

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

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

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.


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.

Echinocactus horizonthalonius seedling pictures

Late May I started 20 Echinocactus horizonthalonius seeds (SB 409; Shafter, Texas) and for several weeks nothing happened. But lately it has been extremely hot in Denmark and these weather conditions seem conducive to the germination of E. horizonthalonius.


Echinocactus horizonthalonius seedling, close-up

Two days ago 5 Echinocactus horizonthalonius seedlings had germinated – 25% is not an impressive germination rate, I know, but still I'm quite satisfied as these seeds seem notoriously difficult to germinate (in my meager experience with Echinocactus anyway ;-)


Echinocactus horizonthalonius seedling

I look forward to growing these plants and hope they with time will grow to look like the beautiful Echinocactus horizonthalonius specimen pictured below ;-)


Echinocactus horizonthalonius, San Luis Potosí

The above habitat photo is by Kauderwelsch and is licensed under the “Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike” license. The original picture can be found at the Wikimedia Commons.

Yavia cryptocarpa habitat pictures

As mentioned in the Blossfeldia liliputana post Sebastián Santecchia from Salta, Argentina has been kind enough to let me post some of his wonderful habitat pictures. The following Yavia cryptocarpa photos are all courtesy of Sebastián.


Yavia cryptocarpa mimicking its environment

The genus and species Yavia cryptocarpa was described from Argentina by Kiesling and Piltz in 2001. Yavia is only known from a small area just on the Argentinian side of the border with Bolivia, in the province of Jujuy, near La Quiaca, at 3,700m. Although the species probably has a wider distribution, its small size plus the strongly camouflaged aspect make it difficult to know its distribution with any degree of confidence.


Hydrated Yavia cryptocarpa

As is evident from the above photo, a fully hydrated Yavia is very exposed to the sun. As the plant dehydrates the small spines “lock up” to form an armor that helps protect the plant from the sun.

The genus is named after the Department of Yavi, Argentina and the specific name cryptocarpa refers to the plant being a cryptocarp, i.e. bearing fruits that are retained concealed inside the stem of the plant, only becoming visible when the plant shrinks in the drought period.


Yavia cryptocarpa with two fruits

You can find more of Sebastián's Yavia photos here and view all his pictures of cactuses in habitat (Bolivia and northern Argentina) at the SagtaCactus flickr photostream.

References
Roberto Kiesling & Jörg Piltz, Yavia cryptocarpa R. Kiesling & Piltz, gen. & sp. nov. Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten 52 (3): 57-63, 2001.

Roberto Kiesling & O Ferrari, Yavia cryptocarpa – conservation action on a new and interesting cactus. British Cactus and Succulent Journal 21 (1): 20–25, 2003

Blossfeldia liliputana habitat pictures

Sebastián Santecchia from Salta, Argentina has generously allowed me to post some of his amazing habitat photos.


Blossfeldia liliputana (Tupiza, Potosí, Bolivia) displaying a fruit

I was immediately taken with the beauty of the above picture – it almost seems surreal seeing a Blossfeldia liliputana in such a lush green environment. According to Sebastián the individual stems of the Tupiza plants grow to a maximum size of 2 cm in diameter – a fairly large size for this species. The plants grow in rock crevices, usually associated with mosses.


Blossfeldia liliputana habitat (Tupiza, Potosí, Bolivia)

The habitat of Blossfeldia is severe and plants are subjected to extreme desiccation. In contrast to most other cactus species Blossfeldia has no thickened cuticle (thickened outer cell wall) but instead appears to be poikilohydric, meaning the plants can endure severe drying out, like many mosses and lichens (see this link for a more detailed explanation of what being poikilohydric means).

Another interesting feature of Blossfeldia is that the plants virtually lack stomata, their being restricted to the areolar pits. According to Ted Anderson, Blossfeldia probably has the lowest number of stomata per unit of surface area of any photosynthesizing plant.


Blossfeldia liliputana about to flower (Alemania, Salta, Argentina)

The flowers of Blossfeldia liliputana are capable of self-pollination. The photo above shows a plant at the beginning of flowering in early spring.

Blossfeldia liliputana is fairly common and widespread, occurring over a north-south range of more than 1200 km, primarily on the eastern side of the Andes in southern Bolivia and northern and northwestern Argentina at elevations of 1200-3500m. Several species of Blossfeldia have been described but most botanists agree that there is but one species (given the extent of its habitat the plants are bound to show some variation).

You can find more of Sebastián's Blossfeldia photos here and view all his pictures of cactuses in habitat (Bolivia and northern Argentina) at the SagtaCactus flickr photostream.

References
Edward F. Anderson, The Cactus Family (Timber Press, 2001) ISBN 0-88192-498-9, pp. 129-130

Habitat photos – Lophophora etc.; second installment

The previous post featured habitat photos by Kauderwelsch who, in the meantime, has been kind enough to share more pictures at Wikimedia Commons. I’ve included a handful of his photos below.

The epidermis of this peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) is slightly bruised and looks like some animal nibbled on it but changed its mind after tasting the first couple of bitter bites (or maybe the bruises are just damage from the rocks scattered around the plant, but I like the “nibbling explanation” better ;-)


Peyote (Lophophora williamsii), near Monterrey, Nuevo León, México

Previously I haven’t been much into Mammillaria but seeing this magnificent picture of a flowering M. kraehenbuehlii has me wondering if I should grow some of these beautiful plants.


Flowering Mammillaria kraehenbuehlii

The next picture shows a Strombocactus disciformis growing in its typical habitat; nearly vertical, flaking limestone cliffs. It seems almost surreal that any plant is able to grow in this harsh biotope, but Strombocactus, Aztekium ritteri, and other species of cactus thrive in such conditions.


Strombocactus disciformis, near Vizarrón, Querétaro, México

The next two photos are a bit out of context (they are certainly not showing “small Mexican species”; and one is not even picturing a cactus ;-) I just fell for the beauty of the band of Cephalocereus columna-trajani standing tall against the background of towering clouds, and the sprawl of branches on that ancient looking Beaucarnea gracilis.


Cephalocereus columna-trajani,(syn. C. hoppenstedtii), near Tehuacán, Puebla, México


Adult specimen of Beaucarnea gracilis, Zapotitlán Salinas, Oaxaca, México

I have to visit México!

The photos are published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. The original high resolution copies of the pictures are available here:

• Lophophora williamsii, near Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
  
• Flowering Mammillaria kraehenbuehlii
  
• Strombocactus disciformis, near Vizarrón, Querétaro, México
  
• Cephalocereus columna-trajani (syn. C. hoppenstedtii), near Tehuacán, Puebla, México
  
• Adult specimen of Beaucarnea gracilis, Zapotitlán Salinas, Oaxaca, México

Habitat photos – Lophophora etc.

A while ago I stumbled upon a handful of great Lophophora habitat photos published on Wikimedia Commons by Kauderwelsch.


Flowering Lophophora diffusa, near Vizarron, Quéretaro, Mexico


Group of Lophophora diffusa near Vizarron, Queretaro, Mexico


Peyote (Lophophora williamsii), Wirikuta near Wadley, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

Kauderwelsch has also made pictures of other cactus species available; a couple of examples are included below.


Ferocactus latispinus, Oaxaca, Mexico


Mammillaria kraehenbuehlii, Oaxaca, Mexico

Unfortunately no new images have been added by Kauderwelsch lately; based on the quality of the photos already contributed I would like to see more of his work.

The photos are published under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. The original high resolution copies of the pictures are available here:

• Flowering Lophophora diffusa, near Vizarron, Quéretaro, Mexico
  
• Group of Lophophora diffusa near Vizarron, Queretaro, Mexico
  
• Lophophora williamsii, Wirikuta, near Wadley, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
  
• Ferocactus latispinus, Oaxaca, Mexico
  
• Mammillaria kraehenbuehlii, Oaxaca, Mexico

You can see more of Kauderwelsch's photos in this post.

The genus Lophophora – Kaktusy Special 2, 2005: A Review

I just received the new Kaktusy Special monograph on Lophophora. It comprehensively describes the distribution, characteristics and classification of the genus. In an attempt to resolve some of the taxonomic confusion surrounding Lophophora the authors propose a division of the genus into two sections and a change of rank.

Based on factors like chemical composition, habitats, incompatibility of the species, rib numbers and morphology, etc, a division of the genus into the two sections Lophophora and Diffusae is proposed.

Section Lophophora comprises the various forms of the species L. williamsii including the type species (hence the autonym for the section).

Section Diffusae includes the three species related to L. diffusa, i.e. L. diffusa itself, L. fricii, and L. koehresii (aka L. diffusa v. koehresii, aka L. viridescens).

The authors argue convincingly for the taxonomic revision but it would have been interesting if the revision was supported by DNA sequencing results (like Butterworth et al. who confirmed that L. diffusa and L. williamsii are indeed distinct species).

The description for each species includes a detailed distribution map showing the range of the species. The booklet is packed with excellent habitat photos showing the plants natural growth forms (actually some of the very best habitat photos I’ve seen are included in this work – see examples below).


Left – Lophophora williamsii, Sierra de la Paila, Coahuila
Right – Lophophora diffusa, Peña Miller, Queretaro

The booklet is rounded of with a few notes on the cultivation of Lophophora.

The genus Lophophora is a comprehensive and long needed review of the genus. As mentioned it would have been great with DNA sequencing results supporting the change of rank for L. fricii and L. koehresii. Also an index and a list of literature references would have been helpful. That being said, The genus Lophophora must be recommended to anyone interested in these fascinating plants.

The booklet is written by Jaroslav Bohata, Vojtĕch Myšák, and Jaroslav Šnicer; it comprises 48 pages, contains 89 color photos, 3 black and white photos, and 6 drawings. It is available from the Society of Czech and Slovak Cactus and Succulent Growers. Apart from the English edition I believe German and Czech editions are published as well.

Update - March 21, 2006
I have to mention the review of the Genus Lophophora published in the latest edition of CactusWorld (the journal of the British Cactus and Succulent Society). According to the reviewer this work “boldly goes where no taxonomist has gone before” in the attempt at clarifying the systematics of Lophophora ;-)