Flowering Lophophora koehresii, spring 2010

Flowering Lophophora koehresii

My grafted Lophophora koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí) just flowered for the first time this growing season.

The light pink flower with unusually thin petals having a darker midstripe is true to the species. What appears to be a “double-flowered” variety with extra petals in the picture above is in reality just three flowers unfolding at the same time.


Lophophora koehresii flowers, top view

The Lophophora koehresii scion was badly disfigured by spider mites but managed to outgrow some of the scarring after I started showering my plants regularly and treating them with neem oil – a treatment I intend to continue this year as it seems to be an effective means of controlling the spider mites (and with a bit of luck the plant will outgrow its defacing completely in a couple of years).


Lophophora koehresii disfigured by spider mites

The Trichocereus pachanoi stock plant hosts two different Lophophora koehresii clones (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí), both started from seed March 3, 2007. The first scion was grafted June 7, 2007 and when the Trichocereus pachanoi stock plant grew an offset I grafted another seedling on it May 5, 2008 (the second scion is visible in the foreground of the above picture). I intend to get seeds off this self-sterile species and just need to wait for the second Lophophora koehresii clone to flower before this “all inclusive” graft starts to produce seed ;-)

Flowering Lophophora koehresii

Flowering Lophophora koehresii; close-up

Back in August this year my grafted Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí) flowered for the first time.


Flowering Lophophora koehresii grafted on Trichocereus pachanoi stock

Despite the difference in size of the two Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii scions in the above photo they were both started as part of the same batch of seeds March 3, 2007. The largest of the scions was grafted June 7, 2007 and when the Trichocereus pachanoi stock grew an offset I grafted another seedling on it May 5, 2008.


Flowering Lophophora koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí)

Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii is described as being of smaller size than the other Lophophora species (possibly with the exception of the newly described Lophophora alberto-vojtechii), and having a dark green epidermis and pinkish-white flowers with a light brownish mid stripe. The flower and epidermis of my plant fit the description while it might be difficult to say anything useful about size as the plant is grafted. As mentioned above the plant is still very young but I'll watch it closely as it matures.

Seed starting Lophophora, Ariocarpus, and Epithelantha

The last couple of days I’ve been busy starting the next generation of plants from seed. One of the more interesting lophs this year is a variety of Lophophora williamsii originating from El Oso, Coahuila, Mexico. According to The genus Lophophora – Kaktusy Special 2, 2005 this variety forms massive clusters with individual heads measuring up to 15 cm (5.9'') in diameter! Unfortunately it seems the El Oso site is severely threatened by agricultural activities.


Lophophora williamsii - El Oso, Coahuila (picture taken from The genus Lophophora – Kaktusy Special 2, 2005)

I’ve sown the following Lophophora seeds this year:

• Lophophora diffusa v. koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí)
  
• Lophophora diffusa ssp. kubesai (JJH 0010892; Puente Mezquitio, Querétaro)
  
• Lophophora fricii (RS 404B; Viesca, Coahuila)
  
• Lophophora williamsii (MMR 89; El Oso, Coahuila)
  
• Lophophora williamsii (RS 428A; Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila)

I have great expectations for the Lophophora diffusa ssp. kubesai. According to the retailer’s seed catalog this variety is prone to offsetting (in contrast to the typical single stemmed L. diffusa specimens), eventually forming multi-headed clumps as pictured below. Lophophora diffusa ssp. kubesai In addition to the Lophophora seeds I also started a handful of Ariocarpus from seed:

• Ariocarpus fissuratus (JDL 26; Hot Springs, Big Bend, Texas)
  
• Ariocarpus fissuratus (VVZ 204; Terlingua, Texas)
  
• Ariocarpus fissuratus (VVZ 205; North of Alpine Texas)
  
• Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus v. macdowellii (RS 134; Hipolito, Coahuila)

I’ve specifically selected extreme northerly types of A. fissuratus as most of the Ariocarpus seedlings will be moved to a coldhouse later in spring (along with half of the L. williamsii and L. fricii seedlings) to experiment with the cold hardiness of these species. The move is also a necessity because my windowsills are getting crammed ;-) Finally, the following Epithelantha seeds (also for the coldhouse) were sown:

• Epithelantha micromeris (JM 101; Sitting Bull Canyon, New Mexico)
  
• Epithelantha micromeris v. gregii (MMR 179; El Oso, Coahuila)

The seeds were bought from Jan Martin Jecminek and Jaromír Dohnalík – details for both are listed in the seed and plant retailers section. All seeds are sown in a mix of limestone gravel, regular soil, and loamy sand (mixed in a 2:2:1 ratio). The pots are placed in closed bags where they will stay until the seedlings are well established - check out the post on growing cactus from seeds for more information on seed starting.

lophophora.info by Gerhard Köhres

I've posted on Gerhard Köhres's Lophophora information site before, but thought it worth mentioning again.

The site is packed with photos of Lophophora plants growing in habitat (see the samples included below) and constitutes the most comprehensive pictorial documentation of the genus that I'm aware of. The pictures are ordered by state and location and can be found at http://lophophora.info/.


Lophophora williamsii (Hipolito, Coahuila)


Lophophora diffusa (Higuerillas, Queretaro)


Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii (San Francisco, San Luis Potosi)


Lophophora fricii (El Amparo, Coahuila)