Without dwelling too much on the broad field of plant classification (here, if you want, you will find an article dedicated to this topic) and taking it for granted that the term “succulent plants” refers both to cacti and to many other succulent botanical families whose specimens have a different appearance from any other cactus, we are addressing a very “heartfelt” topic among novice growers. Even the grower who boasts a good knowledge of a given family, however, may find the following article useful, which recommends succulent plants (belonging to various botanical families) that are less demanding, more robust and simple to grow and therefore more suitable for those who are only now approaching the world of succulents. (…)

Premise

With a minimum of initial documentation and experience it is possible to grow all succulents without particular difficulties. Striking down to the essentials, the main cultivation elements to take into consideration are the substrates, watering, exposure and temperatures. In many cases these elements may be common to different types of succulents, for example the substrates, which for succulents must always be very draining, rich in inert materials and able to dry quickly. Other cultivation factors, however, can vary enormously from family to family but also from genus to genus. Some examples: cacti tolerate the cold well, while succulents originating from Madagascar or some African areas (e.g. Adenium, Uncarina, Pachypodium) cannot resist temperatures below 15-16 Celsius degrees. In the same Cactaceae family we find genera that are very resistant to cold (Echinopsis, Pediocactus, Opuntia) and genera that do not tolerate low temperatures (epiphytic cacti such as Epiphyllum, Schlumbergera, Rhipsalis or Melocactus and Discocactus).

This is why, for those who are only now approaching the cultivation of succulents, it is important to know which plants to start with in order to accumulate experience and best cultivate the newly purchased plants. The discussion, as mentioned, applies as much to cacti as to all other succulent families, since an enthusiast can be an expert in cacti and approach other families for the first time, such as Crassulaceae, Aizoaceae, Apocynaceae, Euphorbiaceae, etc.

Cactus

Let’s start with cacti. The first genera recommended to those who have no experience with these plants are undoubtedly Echinopsis, Gymnocalycium, Rebutia, Parodia (=Notocactus), Opuntia, Ferocactus. Be careful, there are many other cacti that are easy to grow but if you have to suggest some kind, you can’t go wrong with these. These are genera that group together very robust species, with few demands, capable of tolerating many cultivation errors and at the same time easily giving abundant and splendid blooms.

Attention: in some cases by clicking on the genus you will be directed to the downloadable PDF cultivation sheet of that same genus: a useful and detailed tool (4 pages) to deepen your knowledge of those plants.

Echinopsis are very common plants, extremely robust and able to tolerate the cold very well. They are therefore ideal for those who do not have a greenhouse or winter shelter (cold environment, necessary to encourage flowering). Echinopsis can spend the winter outdoors, often even in damp soil, although it is advisable to place them under a shed or porch. In spring and summer they produce showy flowers with a large corolla and long calyx.

Gymnocalycium are plants of South American origin (Argentina). They are easy to grow, tolerate the cold well (not frost: it is best that they do not go below 5 Celsius degrees and always in dry soil) and have growth rates that are not particularly slow. Furthermore, the genus brings together a large number of very different species and even just by cultivating Gymnocalycium it is possible to set up a very respectable collection. They flower in spring and summer already 4 or 5 years after sowing.

Other cacti recommended for those with little experience are the Rebutia. These are plants of South American origin, generally globose and with a tendency to cluster. Cultivation is very simple and their strong point are the flowers. In spring, these cacti produce an impressive quantity of medium-sized flowers of various colors depending on the species.

Parodia (once classified as Notocactus) are robust and very easy to grow cacti. They are satisfied with little care, have growth rates that are not excessively slow and produce beautiful blooms at the apex during the summer. Depending on the species, the flowers can be yellow, purple, red, orange. Even the thorns are variable from species to species and you can go from plants with slender and thin thorns to plants with very respectable thorns (P. maassii, P. buiningii).

Opuntias are bombproof cacti. They grow quickly, tolerate intense cold, multiply extremely easily by cutting and in many countries they can grow in the open ground, even exposed to bad weather during the winter. They can reach large dimensions (especially if grown in open ground) and produce beautiful flowers with colors ranging from pink to red, from yellow to orange.

Finally, for lovers of thorns, the first genus to recommend is Ferocactus. These are very robust cacti, always equipped with notable thorns, easy to grow, as long as they are guaranteed plenty of light, and grow relatively quickly. Some species flower relatively early (F. macrodiscus, F. schwarzii), others require at least a dozen years to produce the first flowers. Many species of Ferocactus can reach considerable dimensions even if grown in pots. However, those who have little experience with cacti should avoid starting with Ferocactus johnstonianus and Ferocactus lindsayi: two slightly more demanding and slow-growing species.

Crassulaceae

If you’re not particularly fond of thorns, the Crassulaceae family offers a wide variety of succulent genera and species. This family includes genera such as Aeonium, Adromischus, Crassula, Echeveria, Kalanchoe, Graptopetalum, Pachyphytum and the immortals Sedum and Sempervivum. Recommending a genus or a single species is almost superfluous: all Crassulaceae are easy to grow, very decorative, resistant and have good tolerance to cold. Having to indicate a couple of plants of this family, we can mention the very widespread Crassula ovata, called “jade tree”, with a small tree shape and oval, fleshy and bright green leaves. Another very interesting genus from an aesthetic point of view and easy to grow is that of Echeveria: plants of Mexican origin, very robust and with a characteristic rosette shape. Thanks to the high number of species and the many crossings carried out over the years, an infinite variety of Echeveria is available, with colored leaves that can range from blue to red.

Euphorbia

The Euphorbia family is very vast and includes very different genera. You can go from plants with a rounded stem without thorns, such as E. obesa, to plants with a columnar, curled shape, with leaves and thorns. Overall, the cultivation of Euphorbia is simple, but there is no shortage of species that require some experience. To begin with, E. resinifera, a very resistant and adaptable plant, E. enopla and E. obesa, beautiful and with an epidermis characterized by fascinating striations, can be indicated.

Agaves

It’s hard to go wrong with Agaves. These are very robust succulents, extremely adaptable and very easy to grow. In reality, they can almost be ignored completely: if placed in draining soil they are satisfied with rainwater, they resist intense sun and cold very well, to the point that in many regions they are grown in the open ground. They have rather rapid growth rates and many species can reach considerable sizes within a few years, particularly if kept in open ground.

Aloe

Even Aloes, in some ways similar to Agaves, are succulent plants suitable for those who are approaching the world of succulents and do not yet have much experience. Compared to Agaves, however, Aloes (succulent plants of African origin) tolerate intense cold less and should be kept at minimum temperatures no lower than 6-7 degrees. To begin with, you can start from the common but always elegant Aloe vera, a robust and relatively fast growing plant. Other very widespread and easy to grow species are Aloe arborescens and Aloe variegata, very easy to propagate and very generous with blooms.

Hoya

Finally, a succulent plant belonging to the Asclepiadaceae family. Hoya has seen its popularity grow among green enthusiasts in recent years. Aesthetically it has little in common with other succulents, but it is still a very decorative plant, also suitable for home cultivation and capable of producing beautiful cluster blooms. The star-shaped flowers are very particular, they have fleshy and smooth petals to the point that the Hoya themselves are also known as “porcelain flower” or “wax flower”. The plant produces long stems from which thick and fleshy leaves are formed, ranging in color from dark green to bright green, up to green streaked with yellow. Cultivation is simple and growth is relatively fast. Furthermore, Hoya also tolerate relatively low temperatures well, around 10 Celsius degrees.

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Correlated articles

• Recognising succulents plants and cactus
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• Most frequent questions and doubts
• All cultivation cards in pdf
• Distribution of cacti and succulents: maps

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L'articolo Succulent plants, a small guide for those approaching this world: the simplest species to grow proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Those who have been cultivating cacti for some time know it well:  Melocactus  are as fascinating as they are “capricious” and you have to come to terms with it. In this article we deepen the knowledge with this genus, in particular from the point of view of the needs, so as to grow robust specimens and limit losses as much as possible. (…)

Introduction

It is usually said that Melocactus and Discocactus (similar genus in some ways) are plants that are loved and hated at the same time. Yes, because if in fact  Melocactus  have their own undoubted charm, at the same time they are among the most mangy cacti to cultivate. Or rather, all things considered, cultivation is not difficult, the fact is that these plants have a marked “tendency to suicide”: having reached a certain stage (almost always when they have formed the cephalium) they tend to lose their roots and only in rare cases they manage to reform the root system, unlike what happens with most cacti. In summary, it can be said that until Melocactus do not develop the cephalium, they have the same needs as other cacti and are not difficult to grow. Once the cephalium is formed – which is their characteristic element – they become extremely delicate plants,  they cannot bear repotting and do not tolerate low temperatures. All this in cultivation, since these plants abound in nature and manage to be quite long-lived.

Distribution and history

Fundamental, as for all plants, is the knowledge of the area of ​​origin of this genus, knowledge that can provide useful data for the cultivation of these plants. Well, all Melocactus are native to the warm areas of the American continent, in particular south-western Mexico, the Antilles, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and, above all, Brazil. It follows that these are cacti originating from the central belt of the continent, where temperatures are warmer than, for example, those of the American states or northern Mexico. It is precisely for this reason that Melocactus do not tolerate the cold, unlike most other cacti (except for epiphytes).

From a historical point of view, the Melocactus mark a starting point in the story of the study of cacti, since according to many sources, these plants were the first cacti encountered by Europeans during their expeditions to the Americas at the end of the fifteenth century. As far as it turns out, Christopher Columbus himself observed some specimens in the West Indies, precisely in conjunction with his landing on the American continent. It is clear that for Europeans, who did not know cacti in any way since these plants originate exclusively from the Americas, from a botanical point of view that meeting represented an enormous surprise. It is no coincidence that several specimens of these plants were sent to Europe to be subjected to in-depth studies (and it is to be assumed that only a very few specimens torn from their habitat arrived overseas alive and even those few, if equipped with a cephalium, lasted a few months).

If you want to learn more about the distribution of cacti and succulents in the world you can consult this article, complete with maps.

As further confirmation of what is reported by the sources, there would be the fact that the very name attributed to these plants would probably be the origin of the word “cactus”, deriving from the Greek “kaktos“. The latter term had actually been in use for some time to generically indicate thorny plants such as thistle or artichoke and on the occasion of the Melocactus discovery it was decided to keep it, simply by having it preceded by the terms “melon” (i.e. melon) and “ekinos” (i.e. “curly”, or “thorny”). It follows that the first Melocactus were classified as Echinomelocactus, a term later shortened to Melocactus. The first scientific descriptions of this kind date back to several centuries after the discovery, i.e. in the mid-eighteenth century and are by Carlo Linnaeus, botanist and “father” of modern scientific classification. In particular, Linnaeus described 22 species of Melocactus in his famous Species Plantarum, published in 1753. Over the years, many studies followed one another and today this genus has around thirty species in all.

A short description

Regardless of the species, Melocactus are plants with a globular habit, tending to become short-cylindrical with age. The stems are solitary and have no tendency to bunch or shoot, except as a result of trauma. The dimensions of these plants can be defined as medium and range from twenty centimeters in height of M. matanzanus (the smallest and earliest species to form the cephalium) up to one meter in height, without however counting the cephalium, which can reach about thirty centimeters in the oldest specimens. The stems are generally bright green to dark green in colour, but do not lack the bluish tinge typical of the azureus species. The bodies of the plants are divided into very marked ribs capable of thinning or expanding (“accordion”) depending on the quantity of water present in the stem. The spines vary according to the species: they form at regular intervals along the coasts, they are always pointed and never hooked, slightly curved downwards. In some species they can be robust and short, in others thin and up to ten centimeters long (M. ernestii). The color of the thorns is usually white, tending to gray over time (except in some species, where the spine is brown).

The analysis of the root system is interesting, probably this is the real weak point of these plants. The roots of Melocactus are usually underdeveloped, fibrous in the part close to the stem. Here is what George Thomson notes in his volume “Melocactus” published by Cactus&Co Libri (2009): “This means that even modest damage in the first few centimeters of the root can lead to the loss of the entire root“. And this could actually explain why, once the cephalium has formed, it is advisable to avoid repotting these cacti. Thomson observes again: “The roots are very sensitive and the plants lose them easily in case of prolonged periods of drought or in conditions of stagnant water”.

The cephalium

As we have seen, the cephalium represents the element that distinguishes this genus, although over time other genera of cacti also form what is called “false cephalium” (for example the Discocactus). In Melocactus the cephalium represents the watershed that separates the “juvenile” age from the maturity of the plant, i.e. the moment in which the latter is able to flower, produce fruit and therefore reproduce. Before the formation of the cephalium, the Melocactus develop the stem, which almost always takes on a short-cylindrical shape with age. The Melocactus produces offshoots very rarely and generally do so following an arrest in growth caused by a parasitic attack or, in any case, following a trauma sustained during growth, in particular at the vegetative apex. Once the adult stage is reached, after six or seven years in the earliest species (M. matanzanus) or after at least ten years in other species, the stem stops growing and the plant concentrates its energies on the production of the cephalium, which it forms at the apex of the plants and is composed of short, bristly and thick hair, usually red or white. From this moment on, only the cephalium will grow, which in some species reaches 4-5 centimeters (M. bahiensis), and in others it can reach twenty centimeters (M. peruvianus), giving the plant a bizarre appearance. Here is what George Thomson writes about it in the aforementioned “Melocactus – care and cultivation”: “It has been demonstrated that a large part of the stem of a mature Melocactus comprises only juvenile tissue with a transparent epidermis, and the adult tissue, without stomata, is mostly confined to the central nucleus of the cephalium. This juvenile tissue in the stem of melocactus is probably the reason why it is very difficult, though not impossible, to revive a plant that has lost its roots”.

It is from the cephalium that, during the summer, the flowers are formed, which are tiny in size and vary in color from pink to magenta, and subsequently  the fruits, which appear in the form of oblong, smooth, white, pink or red. The growth of the cephalium in height is annual and in some cases it is possible to observe the layers which make evident the annual development of this curious organism. Finally, in some specimens, it is possible to observe the dichotomization of the cephalium, i.e. its division into two distinct parts according to a phenomenon common to other cacti, in which the vegetative apex can divide (dichotomize precisely) and give life to two distinct “heads” (the phenomenon often occurs in Mammillaria parkinsonii, for example).

Cultivation

Fascinating, particular, bizarre but “touchy” plants, Melocactus are certainly not among the simplest cacti in terms of cultivation. Their life and consequently the level of cultivation can be divided into two phases: pre-cephalian and post-cephalian. Before the formation of the cephalium  the Melocactus can be treated exactly like most cacti and  also tolerate minimum winter temperatures close to zero Celsius degrees. Once the cephalium has formed, cultivation becomes more demanding: the plants no longer tolerate repotting, unless you simply remove the plant from the old container to gently insert it into a new pot without touching the roots (even in these cases, however, some specimens can go into stress and stop growth). Furthermore, since the plant has reached the adult stage, it is advisable  to avoid the winter cold and the Melocactus, from mid-October to the end of April, must be placed in environments sheltered from the rain and where the minimum temperatures do not drop below 15-16 degrees. They can also be placed in the apartment, in a bright place, but they must be watered in moderation no more than once a month and only to prevent the root system from drying out completely. If the stem does not show signs of suffering (in other words if it remains swollen and turgid) it is also possible to limit winter watering to once every two months, so as to further reduce the risk of collar rot.

As far as the substrate is concerned, whether the plant is still young or has a cephalium, the situation does not change and  the Melocactus need very draining and light soils. You can use the tested mix based on peat, pumice and lapilli in equal parts (possibly reducing the peat part and increasing the pumice or adding river gravel or quartzite), or you can create a substrate starting from common clay (a maximum of 20%) by adding a little sand, a little peat (10%) and for the remainder various inert materials such as pumice, gravel or quartzite.

No particular indications regarding  watering and fertilization: during the growing season, Melocactus (with or without cephalium) must be treated like most cacti, with regular watering every two weeks and three or four fertilizations at most. Finally, as far as exposure is concerned, these plants need a lot of light but not necessarily direct sun, which can burn or discolor the epidermis since the thorns are thick enough to protect it from the intense rays of the sun in July and August, especially between noon and 3 pm. A shaded greenhouse, a windowsill, a balcony or a terrace facing Southeast will be ideal and if the direct sun hits the plants throughout the day, it will be sufficient to place the Melocactus in the shelter of shrubs or large plants.

Sowing

The sowing of these cacti is simple and also suitable for those who intend to practice. The fruits are produced autonomously by the plants and emerge from the cephalium during the summer. It is sufficient to extract them by gently pulling the “petiole” formed after the flower has dried, but be careful: it is advisable to wait until the plant has expelled the fruit for at least half of its length. The berry must be able to slip off without any effort; otherwise it should be left in place because tearing the fruit would put the plant at risk, which would end up with a broken and moist berry inside the cephalium (actually, a gateway for pathogens and bacteria). Once the berries have been removed, they are left to dry for a few weeks, then they are opened and the round, black and small seeds are extracted. The sowing procedure is the same that we adopt for almost all cacti (the seeds do not require any  treatment) and growth during the first few years is not particularly slow. With the matanzanus species, for example, 7-8 years are “sufficient” to obtain plants with cephalium.

Main problems

Overall, Melocactus are quite robust plants and if well cultivated they are not subject to adversity in a different way than other cacti. They are certainly  particularly sensitive to water stagnation, especially in winter, therefore it is advisable, with these plants, to always have a light hand when it comes to watering. A phenomenon that frequently affects Melocactus (and which can happen with any cacti, albeit less frequently) is the loss of the root system. Often, even without apparent causes, in the absence of parasites and without having repotted, the roots of Melocactus go into “tilt”. It almost always happens with specimens equipped with cephalium and when we realize it, it’s too late to intervene: the stem dehydrates, deflates and despite watering it does not regain volume. The problem is that a plant with a cephalium seems almost incapable of reforming its root system. In other words, no matter how much care we give to the specimen (flaring it, cleaning the roots, removing the dry ones, placing the plant on pumice), the touchy Melocactus always seems to prefer a slow agony rather than reforming the roots and starting again, as does the most cacti. The sad consequence is that the specimen can remain alive even for two or more years, until the water reserves accumulated inside the stem are completely consumed…

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Correlated articles

Culivation cards in pdf
How to save a cactus without roots
Cacti and succulents: seasonal care
Distribution of cacti and succulents: maps
Growing with Seramis

© The texts, videos, photos and graphic elaborations of the site “Il fiore tra le spine” are original material and are covered by copyright. It’s forbidden to reproduce them in any way.

L'articolo How to cultivate Melocactus, cacti that with age put on… the hat (“cephalium”)! proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Would you throw away that specimen of Echinocactus grusonii you see in the photo above? Obviously the answer is no. Indeed, with such perfect thorns it would be a crime to let such a plant die. Nevertheless, a few years ago, when that plant was still a few months old seedling, I was about to throw it away! No, I hadn’t suddenly gone crazy, simply this plant, around 2015, was just one of the many grusonii seedlings obtained with a particularly lucky sowing (that is, characterized by high germination). What you see in the picture was the only seedling born from that sowing to have reached the stage of the first repotting in pitiful conditions, to the point that, convinced that it would not even pass the first repotting, I intended to throw it together with the sowing soil. Today, almost ten years later, that malformed, underdeveloped and sickly-looking seedling has become exactly as you see it in the photo I took a few days ago.

Here, in the following article, is the story of this plant, a plant that has been able to teach me an important lesson: never judge a book by its cover. In life as well as when dealing with Nature. (…)

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L'articolo Here is the story of an Echinocactus grusonii born to lose but alive to win! proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Cacti are plants that have made drought resistance their strong point. These are “xerophytic” or “xerophilous” plants, i.e. plants capable of accumulating water reserves for surviving in arid and semi-desert environments. If this is the rule, there is no lack of exception, which is represented by the epiphytic cactaceae. We are still in the Cactaceae family, but these are very particular genera, starting from their habit, which thrive in rainforests and which in sub-desert areas would not be able to survive. Epiphytic cacti are widespread on the market and in cultivation, just think of the Epiphyllum genus, but they have particular and very different needs compared to most cacti, starting from the substrates, passing to the water regime and to the exposure. And this is why it is important to know which genera of cacti belong to the “epiphytic branch”: because in cultivation we will have to ensure very different conditions for these plants compared to those we can – and must – guarantee for genera such as Ferocactus, Echinocactus, Ariocarpus, etc.

In this article, therefore, we see what the epiphytic genera are, what their needs are and how they should be cultivated (…).

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L'articolo What are epiphytic cacti and how to cultivate these plants native to rainforests? proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

For the avoidance of doubt: the title is ironic and here we are talking about rot, unfortunately. No new Copiapoa has been discovered, neither the one you see in this photo and in the other incredible images within this article. Simply, this is what remains of one of my Copiapoa cinerea that rotted this winter without me even realizing it. What we see now is nothing but the armor of thorns that the plant has left me. The quills are so compact and close together that they perfectly maintain the shape of the plant (complete with a dry flower at the apex). The stem simply no longer exists. It has rotted and “evaporated”, disappeared.

Here is what happened and, above all, here are the exceptional photos of this plant, whose fate, moreover, from time to time also touches the specimens in habitat, as I happened to see in some online photos and once, directly, with a young specimen of Ferocactus during a trip to Mexico. (…)

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L'articolo New cactus species discovered: “Copiapoa invisibilis”! Exceptional photos of a plant… that no longer exists proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

It’s a bit like that shy and reserved distant relative: everyone in the family knows he exists, but little or nothing is known about him, or his history. Those who grow cacti and succulent plants, those who are used to attending market-exhibitions of succulent plants, those who hang out in well-stocked nurseries, have certainly observed more than one specimen. Many enthusiasts have one or more specimens in their cacti collection. Yet, very little is known about this Echinopsis Haku-jo. In the many texts dedicated to cacti (not only in Italian) the plant often appears in photographs but the information is always scarce; online there are only brief synthetic cards, almost always accompanying the specimens for sale. For the rest, nothing. The history of this cultivar (a plant that does not exist in nature but obtained through hybridization and crossbreeding by man) remains shrouded in mystery.

In this article I try to summarize what I have learned in years of cultivation and what I have managed to learn about this intriguing Echinopsis cultivar, whose flowering is among the most bizarre in the whole family of cacti (…).

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L'articolo Echinopsis Haku-jo, the cactus with mysterious origins: it does not exist in nature but it’s very popular on the market proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Unfortunately it is a less rare phenomenon than one might think. The flower itself, the maximum expression of the plant, its instrument for reproducing and safeguarding the species, can transform itself into its executioner. With cacti, plants that require seasonal rest corresponding to the winter months, the flower can sometimes be fatal. It obviously only happens with those species that flower in mid-winter, therefore a small minority compared to all cacti. But it is often precisely from there, from that flower that blooms in November, December or January, that the rot is triggered and which, if neglected or not seen, can lead the specimen to death. This is what happened to two of my Ferocactus latispinus in recent days. Or rather, in the past few weeks, except that the damage has become apparent recently. And now it was too late to intervene and save the plants.

In this article we look into this phenomenon and see what can be done to prevent it or, at least, be able to intervene before the rot passes from the flower to the plant. (…)

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L'articolo Be careful of winter blooms: rot can start from here. Here are the species at risk proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Just as we find a wide variability of shapes and colors in the leaves of botanical species in general, which can be flat, fleshy, needle-shaped, ovate, heart-shaped, lanceolate, etc., we find the same variety in the thorns of cacti. Over the millennia, evolution has led to a remarkable range of shapes and colors, with spines that can have a papery or elastic and very fine consistency or, again, appear rigid, squat and short, long and broad, flat or tapered, sharp, hooked, black, gray, white, red, yellow. In general we can say that cacti are the only plants to have thorns, since in other specimens of the botanical world it is not entirely correct to speak of real thorns. Let’s think of the common roses: what we call thorns are actually excrescences that are produced along the stems, alternating with the leaves, which cacti do not have. So what exactly are thorns and how did cacti come to evolve with these “weapons” along the stem? What is the function of the spines in cacti? Why are some pointed while others are hooked? And why are there also cacti that have no thorns at all?

We will answer all these questions in the following article. (…)

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L'articolo The thorns of cacti: what they are for and why these plants have abandoned their leaves proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Let’s talk about cacti and diseases starting from a simple photo. The plant that inspired this article, and which you see above, is (or rather, was) an Ancistrocactus (=Glandulicactus) mathssonii. I had obtained this specimen with my sowing about ten years ago and fortunately eight or nine other “brothers” of this plant are still in perfect health, growing and flowering regularly. This particular plant, although treated exactly like the other specimens of that sowing and planted in the same type of substrate in which my other mathssonii live (clay, marl and 60% aggregates), a couple of years ago took a fungal pathology and within a few weeks it was dead. I think it was fusarium, but today it doesn’t matter, because the disease has run its course and what remains is… the armor of this cactus, that is a beautiful interweaving of thorns that embraces the void left by the stem which, over time, it dried up until it decomposed and disappeared altogether. The observation of what remains of this plant, which for a couple of years I have kept along a low wall not far from the greenhouse, where I usually move the diseased plants (by diseases, in this case, I mean generically pathogens and parasites) to prevent them from infecting other specimens, led me to some considerations on the cultivation and treatment of plant diseases.

Considerations that I have condensed in the following article an excerpt of which was also published in the British Cactus and Succulent Society newsletter. (…)

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L'articolo Cacti and diseases: stop anxiety, sometimes we can’t help but let Nature take its course proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

Unlike what usually happens with cacti, Mammillaria luethyi was first observed by a researcher not in its habitat but in a… coffee can. Weird? Wait until you read the whole story, then. Yes, because the discovery of this species of Mammillaria is relatively recent (half of the Fifties of the twentieth century) and still today we cannot certainly define it as a widespread plant in cultivation or regularly available on the market. Nevertheless, it’s one of the most fascinating species among Mammillaria, one of the most intriguing and undoubtedly the one having the showiest flowering, and at the same time delicate and charming. As a counterbalance to these qualities, there are some difficulties in cultivation and the tendency of the root to rot: these aspects, in addition to the slowness in growth, make M. luethyi reserved for pure enthusiasts and experienced cactophiles, although with not a few difficulties.

The following article was published in Volume 61, Issue 2 (May 2021) of the Journal of The Mammillaria Society. Thanks to the editors for their welcome publication. (…)

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L'articolo Mammillaria luethyi, the incredible story of its discovery in the Fifties and tips for growing it proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.

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