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.

Living tangles of incredibly intricate spines, “globes” wrapped in beautiful, deep yellow spines. This is how Ferocactus johnstonianus could be defined, perhaps hastily but at the same time realistically. We are talking about one of the most appreciated and sought after species among enthusiasts of the Ferocactus genus throughout the world. These are relatively uncommon and poorly propagated plants, not easily available on the market. They also do not grow quickly, and perhaps these are some of the factors that contribute to fueling the charm of johnstonianus. In these days of repotting I have had the opportunity to focus on some specimens of this species that I received a few years ago from my friend Francesco Soldi, a highly experienced italian grower especially with regards to the Ferocactus genus, although today he is concentrating on the Echinocactus genus and in particular on the horizonthalonius species. Well, the plants I got from him a few years ago initially grew very slowly – mostly my fault, because I put off repotting for a long time and used an excessively poor substrate – but in the last two years, also thanks to a slightly richer substrate, have recovered and today they are well characterized and proportioned and are starting to show their full potential.

In this article here is an in-depth look at this splendid species. (…)

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L'articolo Johnstonianus, the most beautiful and sought after species of the entire Ferocactus genus 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.

Based on the experiences of some growers, plants of the genus Ferocactus seem to appreciate the addition of calcareous material in the substrate. Above all, the thorns would benefit from it, which would be significantly strengthened compared to those of specimens grown in more “traditional” soils, for example the classic pumice, lapillus, peat mix in equal parts. Based on this consideration, I wanted to make an experiment with some of my sowings of Ferocactus acanthodes (seeds obtained from a dried fruit taken from an adult plant during a trip to Arizona) and Ferocactus latispinus. The acanthodes were born in 2013, while the latispinus are from 2010. Except for the seedling soil, which was based on peat, pumice and gravel, these plants grew up in the traditional compost with 30% fine peat and the rest pumice and lapillus in equal parts. I generally use this mix when I want to help seedlings develop more quickly, and then pass them into what I consider my “standard potting soil” made of sandy clay, pumice, gravel and 10% peat.

In the following article we see exactly what my experiment consists of, what type of soil I decided to use and above all we see the results with the photos taken two years after the test. (…)

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L'articolo Strengthening the thorns of cacti: a small experiment with some Ferocactus sowings proviene da Il fiore tra le spine.