Dirk’s collection of cristate and variegated cacti

Dirk is a lucky man. Anyway, judged by the quality of his collection of crested and variegated cacti, he has to be ;-) I think you’ll agree after seeing the pictures that Dirk has been kind enough to let me share in this post.


Ariocarpus retusus var. elongata crest

I’m particularly fond of this photo of a cristate Ariocarpus retusus, resembling a plant creature one would not be too surprised to encounter in a Tolkien novel.

Dirk is living in Belgium and knows a commercial cactus grower in Holland who lets him pick and choose interesting seedlings when he’s visiting (to stock up on Harrisia for grafting). On this account Dirk has got quite a collection of variegated Lophophora.


Lophophora williamsii f. variegata

I especially like the pastel pink, yellow, and green colors of the above plant – it’s almost a wine gum look-alike ;-) But the rest of the collection is definitely also nice.


Lophophora williamsii f. variegata grafted on Harrisia


Lophophora williamsii f. variegata 'Zebra'


Collection of variegated Lophophora williamsii

Dirk also has plants showing dichotomous branching like these beautifully symmetric two-headed Obregonia denegrii and Lophophora williamsii plants.


Two-headed Obregonia denegrii


Collection of two-headed Lophophora williamsii

Last I heard from Dirk he had just returned from a visit to the 2007 ELK. He had tried to obtain a cristate Lophophora – unfortunately without any luck. You can see more of Dirk’s amazing collection at his cactelders web site.

I hope you enjoyed this featured collection - if you have pictures or information you would like to share, you can drop me a mail at “lophophora [dot] blog [at] gmail [dot] com”.

Variegated and cristate Lophophora

Many Thai nurseries are offering large selections of variegated and crested cacti. Unfortunately the Lophophora plants are quickly sold out so I haven’t obtained any yet. The photos below are courtesy of Deaw Cactus.


Lophophora williamsii crest (own root) – 13cm


Variegated Lophophora williamsii – 3.5cm


Variegated Lophophora williamsii v. caespitosa – 6cm