SucculentReviewEssex

Volume 54 Number 3 September 2017

In this issue

Exploring along the Orange Riverby Chris Rodgerson

Doing it my way:Hybridising Aloesby Sascha Meyer

Coryphanthaby Kathy Flanagan

and plenty more

Crassula sladeniana

2

SucculentReviewEssex

The Essex Succulent Review ispublished quarterly in March,June, September and December.

It is available on-line free ofcharge. Just send an email tosheila@essexsucculentreview.org.ukto receive a pdf of each issuewhen it is available.

Past issues are archived atwww.essexsucculentreview.org.ukEditor Sheila Cude

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Phone 020 8340 1928

Emailsheila@essexsucculentreview.org.uk

© The Essex Succulent Reviewmay be freely distributed while thecopyright of the text and picturesremains with the writers andphotographers. Permission isrequired for any use other thanreading, printing for your ownuse or storage.

Zone 6 International ConventionSaturday 14 October 2017

Capel Manor College, Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield, EN1 4RQ

Speakers

Ernst van Jaarsveld‘Succulents of Southern Africa

Expeditions from Cape Agulhas to AngolaIan Woolnough

Some Mexican highlights

Plant sales from Doug Sizmur, Terry Smale and Harrow Branch membersBook sales from Keith Larkin

Tickets, £15 to include refreshments, are available from Zone 6 Branch Secretaries or

Chris BackhouseFull details on the Zone 6 website: www.zone6.bcss.org.uk

The venue is close to the junction of the A10 and the M25 and there is ample free parking

Editorial

In common with quite a few otherBCSS members who attended theAGM in April I bought a plant ofMatucana oreodoxa subsp.roseiflora from Graham Charles.

This was discovered in November2009 by Graham and hiscompanions, growing about 130kmnorth of the type locality ofMatucana oreodoxa and at a loweraltitude. Graham published theplant in 2010 in ‘Quepo’, thejournal of the Peruvian CactusSociety, and described itsdiscovery in the first issue of ‘TheCactus Explorer’, from which I haveobtained this information. (See TheCactus Explorer Issue 1.)

My plant is seed grown by Graham,and already flowering size. I wasthrilled when a bud appeared,although after a little while thisseemed to stall in its development.Graham advised me that this mighthave been due to not enough water(my plants will tell you that I dosometimes err on the side ofmeanness with the water). The areafrom which this Matucana comes

receives quite a lot of rainfall,enough to support undergrowthand full-size trees, and so theMatucana can take quite generouswatering, (Graham Charles,personal communication, 19 August 2017).

Eventually the bud developed, andthe flower, which is a beautifulshade of pink, opened in midAugust. At the time of writing (lateAugust) there is another budbeginning to develop. n

Matucana oreodoxa subsp. roseiflora

Recently there was a thread on theBCSS Forum entitled ‘Printing e-journals’ which led on to thequestion of whether this wouldinfringe copyright. (See ‘Printing e-journals’.)

Copyright is a thorny question tosay the least, and I do not intend toexplore it again here. The EssexSucculent Review, like other onlinejournals, is freely available, and Iwould like it to be read by as manypeople as possible. I know some ofyou send it on to other readers,thank you for this and pleasecontinue to do so.

However the copyright of thematerial remains with the writersand photographers in all cases.

With this in mind therefore I amadding a copyright notice to eachissue (see below). This isshamelessly based on the oneused by Graham Charles for ‘TheCactus Explorer’. I hope there is nocopyright on copyright notices!

3

Keith and I grow Coryphantha along withmany other plants; we are not botanists,

we are enthusiasts who formed a love ofthese plants many years ago.

We both joined the Society in the 1980sand met and later married in the late1990s. Between us we have built up quitea large mixed collection of mostly cactus,but we do grow succulents as wellincluding agaves, gasterias, haworthias,Lithops and a few other mesembs, with afew other bits and pieces picked up alongthe way.

I have been very lucky in the hobby. Iworked at John Pilbeam’s nursery for manyyears and have nursery-sat for DerekBowdery, again for many years. The personwho has helped us most with thecoryphanthas, as he has such a wonderfulcollection is Elton Roberts from California.Keith knew him and took me out to visithim and his wife; (the following year wewent back again and were married inYosemite) and we now visit them almostevery other year. He put me in contact withReto Dicht, a couple of years before hisbook was published, because I was drivinghim nuts with all my questions.

There is not a lot of literature available onCoryphantha. For a long time there wasonly a booklet, ‘Coryphantha andassociated genera’ by Ian Lawrie,published by the Mammillaria Society.There is also ‘Cacti the illustrateddictionary’ by Rod andKen Preston-Mafhamwhich contains somelovely pictures. But at thetime both of these werepublished the correctinformation was noteasily available. Then, in2005, we had‘Coryphantha’, by RetoDicht and Adrian Lüthy,(first published in Germanand later in English), inwhich they reduced thenumber of names fromaround 300 to only 43species.

They had done manyyears of field work,looking at all the originaldocumentation regardingwhen and where plantshad been found in

Coryphanthaby Kathy Flanagan

Coryphantha cornifera and radians

Coryphantha retusa

4

habitat and found much duplication. Theysplit the genus into four sections, nineseries, and three subseries.

I think it is a great book and the one I usedto compile myself a list. I have been calleda real Cory nut and I wanted to know whatall the plants I have acquired really are. I spent many hours just looking at themwhen they were first sorted by name, then I decided to put the plants that looked aliketogether, which made more sense, but theassortment of names just added to my

confusion. My original plantsmostly came from different

branch sales wheremembers had just

given up growingthem. Being asad person wholikes to keepthe same thingstogether Idecided toarrange myplants by how

they looked and,when the book

was published, I found my eye to be

a far better judge thanthe labels.

I then tried to attach all the synonyms tothe relevant accepted names that I havefound in various publications. Most ofthese make sense but I do not alwaysagree when looking at my own plants. Butwho is to say that the names on the labelsthat I have bought are correct anyway. I had so many names which have nowbeen subsumed into one of the 43 namedspecies.

I have a plant bought as C. roederiana. I believe its affinity lies with C. salinensisand not C. sulcata as my list says. I havebought several plants of C. borwigii fromdifferent sources, (but I think they all gottheir seed from the same place). This, Ithink, is also related to C. salinensis,whereas I picked up another plant labelledC. borwigii which is most definitely not C. salinensis and, to be honest, I am stillnot really sure where its affinity lies. Thename C. borwigii is also associated with C. delaetiana but I have not come acrossone that looks anything like C. delaetiana.C. palmeri is another name I foundassociated with two different species C. compacta and C. delicata which iswhere I think mine lie.

Coryphantha is a cactus genus foundmostly in Mexico and a few southern statesof the USA. They grow in dry or desert

Coryphantha continued

Elton Roberts’collection

Coryphanthasalinensis

5

regions between the Sierra Madre Orientaland the Sierra Madre Occidental. The namemeans flowering from the apex, on the newgrowth which is in the centre of the plant.Most of the flowers are yellow, all sorts ofdifferent shades of yellow, but a few arepink or magenta and a few are even white,sometimes turning pink with age. Thetubercles have a groove on their uppersurface which usually reaches from thespine bearing areole to the axil.

A lot of coryphanthas produce white woolwhich is, I think, what attracted me to themin the first place. When I first gave a talk onCoryphantha in 2007 I was asked how Ikept the wool so white, which puzzled mea bit at first. Then I thought: I always thinka lot of the plants we see in shows are notgrowing as there is no fresh white wool intheir centres. So that answered thequestion. If the plant is growing you shouldsee nice, clean, white wool in the centre.

The downside of keeping the plants woolly,of course, is that it is a wonderful place forred spider and mealy bugs to hide. By thetime you realise you have them, thedamage is done. I now make a point ofwatering with an insecticide overhead atleast a couple of times a year and I meanmaking sure the crown is soaked. This, ofcourse, needs to be done at the end of theday. I have been known to unpot a plantand put it head down in a large containerof insecticide, completely immersing it, fora couple of hours before repotting it. I alsospray them regularly with a special redspider spray being careful to follow theinstructions on the can.

I know other people choose to wateroverhead to completely remove the wool.That is, of course, their choice, but it takesa lot of beauty from the plants in myopinion. Plus, if a plant is shown, it makesit more difficult for a judge to be certain itis growing.

Coryphanthas are by nature amazinglyslow-growing plants, many of whichapparently will not flower until they areeight to ten years old. But I have not foundthat myself, but then again I do not reallyknow how old a plant is when I buy it, but Isuspect it could well be a good five yearsold if it is in a two inch pot. What I will sayis the juvenile form of the plant often belieswhat the adult plant will look like. I was onthe National Shows committee for 10

years, and have seena fair few shows in mytime, and am alwaysamazed by the factthat a lot of judgesignore coryphanthas infavour of escobarias. I grow both, but findcoryphanthasextremely slow, andalso intolerant of thecold. They will markup very easily or getsooty mould which isoften difficult toremove. They areeven more inclined togo off their roots thanescobarias. In eachgenus it is necessaryfor judges to decide ifthe plants are actuallyin growth and lookinghealthy and I do notthink this always happens.

Keith and I grow our plants in our usual soilmix which is a 50/50 mix which containsJohn Innes No 2 but one that is on theloamy side (not peat-based) and variousmixed grades of gravel which we recycle.No plant comes into our greenhousewithout first being hosed off and treatedwith chemical, before being repotted in ourown growing medium. We also use Seramis

Coryphantha continued

Coryphanthacompacta

Coryphantha pycnacantha

6

Coryphantha continued

for a lot for plants that need to regeneratetheir roots, so would put our usual soil mixin the base then use the Seramis to helpthe plant get established. The Seramiswould remain part of the soil in which theplant will continue to grow.

Some coryphanthas have a tap root and itis always important to make sure your planthas enough room for the tap root to grow.They will curl around the base of the potbut be sure to repot into a deeper potbefore it runs out of room. C. maiz-tablasensis is one such plant as is C. wohlschlageri, there is far moreunderground than on top. On the otherhand there are a lot of coryphanthas withfibrous roots which will not necessarilyneed a deep pot and will be more thanhappy living in a pan.

Keeping a large collection in a greenhouseit is obvious they are promiscuous, but inhabitat that would not happen as easily astheir locations are quite diverse. So takecare when you buy plants or grow them;use your eyes. I have 15 feet of stagingthat houses my coryphanthas and I keepplants together that look alike, notnecessarily what their labels say they are.

Flower variation inCoryphanthaelephantidens

Coryphantha elephantidens subsp. greenwoodii

7

Coryphantha continued

Sadly I fear a lot of what we buy now, bothon the continent and at home, are plantsproduced from greenhouse collected seedwhich has not been properly controlled.The only nursery that really sellsCoryphantha over here is that of Richardand Wendy Edginton who source their seedfrom Stephen Brack and other reputablesources. Southfields sell a fewCoryphantha but only three or four typesusually, but they are true to type. It ispossible to get some nice plants on thecontinent such as C. kracikii, and C. tripugionacantha but sadly I have notbeen to the continent for some years nowso cannot tell you where. I have certainlyseen some very nice plants that people tellme they have bought at ELK for instance. I have also seen a lot of very nice plantsthat sadly do not know their father and, insome cases, the nurserymen do not evenseem to know their mothers; they are justCoryphantha sp.

I guess it depends on why you grow yourplants. I buy plants because I like them, notbecause of what the label says they are, soI am happy with them.

When watering Coryphantha it is importantthat the ph of the water is around ph5. Ourtap water is ph7, but we have alwayscollected rain water which here is ph6. Soto bring it down to ph5 we add oneteaspoon of distilled vinegar (Sainsbury’sown is the cheapest I have found, a 568mlbottle is 50p,) to a gallon of rain water.

We found that plants that had not grown inyears immediately kicked in and started togrow. I water when they need it, when theyhave dried out, which is between one andtwo weeks depending on the size of thepot. We start in mid to late March,depending on the weather, and we waterthem until September. Unless it is anabnormally hot October they would onlyget a light watering once in October.

When we feed we useammonium sulphate, one

Flower variation in Coryphanthaposelgeriana

8

level teaspoon to one gallon of rain water,but not every time we water or you couldfind you have very bloated plants.

The first real watering once you havewoken them up needs to be a goodsoaking to make sure the rootball is reallywet, otherwise the plant will not really kickin and get going for the year. The spring iswhen the spines really ripen and you getthe lovely reds and yellows in the spinesfor maybe a couple of months. The lovelywhite new wool should start to appear

around Christmas time and continue togrow with the plant. The flowers do notappear until July, August and Septembertime, when other things are giving upflowering. Do not worry if your plant is slowgrowing, it will not eat you out of houseand home quickly. Look after it, and it willreward you with beautiful flowers at a timewhen there is not a lot else in flower in thegreenhouse.

Enjoy your plants as we do. n

Photos: Kathy and Keith Flanagan

Coryphantha continued

Above: Coryphantharamillosa

Above right:Coryphanthatripugionacantha

Coryphantha wohlschlageri showing the root system Coryphantha wohlschlageri

9

I loved cacti fromschool days. Theywere my companions,together with my dogRocky, at home inKiel, when my parentswere away for longperiods overseas.

Years later I moved toSri Lanka, first on ashort workassignment, whichturned into a longterm residence. Atsome point, there wastime, and much morespace than I had inGermany, to start asucculent collectionagain. Conditions inalways warm, sunny,humid, Sri Lanka arevery different to dry,cool, cloudy northernGermany.

Doing it my way:Hybridising Aloesby Sascha Meyer

SM Firefly

I wanted to getsharp definedtexture and a redgreen mix. This wasthe result

SM Thunderstorm

In this I wanted a totally different colour – like gathering rain clouds

It took me several years to find the rightsoil mix from local material, wateringfrequencies and sunlight. Until then therewere so many casualties. The soil mix was

the key. Once I gotthat right, the plantsthrived in thetropical climate.Except for the oneswhich became foodto the numerousanimals in a tropicalisland. Pets andpests!

When I first saw thehybrid aloes andgasteraloes fromthe famoushybridisers like Kelly Griffin andDick Wright I washooked. I had tohave some! I gotseeds andexpanded mycollection to aloes,dyckias and somehaworthias.

I work as afreelance

consultant, so in between projects I spenta lot of time with the plants. Looking atsome plants, I was thinking, what if thiscould be a bit more colourful, or if that

could have a moreinteresting texture. I decided to have ago at hybridising onmy own.

I grow the plants onmy open rooftopgarden and severalopen balconies atmy home. This isthe advantage ofliving in the tropics.You never need totake your plantsinside. When thealoes startedblooming, severaltypes of butterfliesand other insectsbecame regularvisitors. They werefollowed by tinyhumming birds.Their pollinatingresulted incontinuous flowers

10

Hybridising Aloes continued

SM White Dragon

White colour, and wide leaves in this one

SM Silver Sheen

I was going for a totally different look on this one – the texture is smooth and flatalthough it looks rough

11

Hybridising Aloes continued

so I had a goodselection tohybridise with.

I cross pollinate withbare fingers, orsometimes with athin wooden skewer.It is tedious(resulting in myhaving to wearspectacles), but it isan awesome feelingto see the result.

I start with hybrids(why reinvent thewheel) that I alreadylike, and hybridise tohighlight somecharacteristic which I like most, andmaybe reduce thecharacteristic that I do not like somuch.

The characteristics I consider are colour(as colourful as possible orwhite), pattern (sharperdefined), texture (rough oruneven surfaces), leaf shape(wide leaves) and size (thesmaller the better). These aremy personal preferences,and the fun thing withhybridising on your own isthat you do not need tocomply with anyone else’sstandard. You just do whatyou like and mix what youlike.

To enhance somecharacteristics, I alsosometimes crossed hybridaloes with non-hybridoriginal species, or withother species such asGasteria.

After pollination, in thetropical climate, I can getseeds in about a month, andplants from seeds in anothermonth or so. But you cannotselect the good plantsproperly until they are aboutsix months old. Sometimes Iget exactly what I want on

SM Pink Lotus

Very wide leaves, with pink borders

SM Fire Dance

Here I tried to get everything together – small, colourful and rough texture

the first round, and sometimes I just keepcross-pollinating until I get what I want.Sometimes I get a plant which is totallyunexpected. I am a random-chaoshybridiser. Some of my hybrids are purechance!

In the last five years, I have producedabout 3,000 hybrid aloes, and from those150 which in my mind are actually good. I keep multiplying and creating newhybrids so basically plants are taking overthe house. I started selling seeds andsome plants so that we still have somespace left at home to live!

I have named my best hybrids, but thenames are not registered, as keepingrecords of the generations of parents istoo tedious for me. So my hybrids do nothave a recorded family tree, but I thinkthey look good regardless.

This article is illustrated with some of mybest. You can find more photos on ourFacebook page or Instagram, under@saschasecretgarden. Feel free to contactme on saschasecretgarden@gmail.com n

Photos: Sascha Meyer

12

Hybridising Aloes continued

SM Fire and Ice

Doesn’t it look like that!

SM Green Viper

This is one of my smooth hybrids. No rough texture, but whitespots on the leaves. This is a cross with an original species.

13

Two interesting Euphorbias –Madagascarby Bob Potter

Much has been written about Madagascar, and quitea few people have visited the Island, but for me it

will always hold a big fascination as one ofthe more interesting plant locations.

I have now been to Madagascar severaltimes and no doubt will go again; there isalways something new to see if you can getto the right places, although that is notalways easy.

The first plant is one that I consider to beone of the most beautiful, although I do saythat about a lot of euphorbias, howeverhave a look at the pictures and I am sureyou will agree.

The plant is Euphorbia guillauminiana andhas proved most elusive to me over theyears. However, in 2010 I managed to reachthe habitat of this amazing plant, despitethe fact it was the most gruelling walk Ihave ever undertaken to get to a specificlocation. It was a trek of over 17km thereand back over hot open plains and then up

a steep sandy track and then a rocky hill ending up ona flat plateau. It was the most unlikely location for the

Last time I wrote about two interesting euphorbias from Zimbabwe, this time I would like to introduce youto two more plants that I feel are noteworthy but this time from Madagascar.

A field of Euphorbia guillauminiana

Euphorbia guillauminiana with stones placed in its crown by children

14

Two interesting Euphorbias – Madagascar continued

plant but there they were, over 100 specimens all ingreat condition. No sooner had I arrived at the locationthan a group of school children appeared, going backdown the hill to a village that I had passed on the wayup. Most of the children dropped a small stone ontothe crown of a plant, such that some of the plants onthe pathway were loaded down with stones. It wassome sort of religious thing I believe, but very strange.

The plant was described by Frenchman Pierre Boiteauin 1941 and there aresupposedly severallocations in northernMadagascar where itgrows. The plants exhibitan almost tree like qualityabout them, the plants Isaw being up to 75cm indiameter and about 50cmhigh, although varioussizes in between wereseen. The stems were inthe order of five to sevencentimetres thick and arequite woody, which makesthis a very difficult plant topropagate from cuttings,so seed is the bestmethod. Flowers are smallgreenish yellow tubes atthe tips of the stems.

Some years ago, these plants were available asimports. But it is an extremely difficult plant incultivation and I doubt that there are many still aroundin collections. Seedling plants have been available inthe last few years and quite a few have beendistributed.

If you manage to get hold of some seedling plants it iswell worth trying to grow this beautiful species.

The most beautiful Euphorbia guillauminiana

An inselberg – a typical habitat of Euphorbia duranii

15

The next plant is Euphorbia duranii which can bewidespread around the central part of the island. Itusually grows higher up on the tops of the largeinselbergs that are a common feature of this area.

The plant is basically a shrubby species with stemsabout 2–3cm thick and up to 40cm high. It has quitepronounced spines and the flowers, usually pale yellowto white, appear at the top of the stems and aretypically like the flowers exhibited by the millii complex.

Similar plants named Euphorbia fianarantsoae are nowthought to be synonymous with E. duranii and there

has also been in cultivation a plant going under thename of E. duranii v. ankaratrae now also considered a form of E. duranii.

Of late I have been growing several forms of E. duraniicoming from various regions of Central Madagascarbut it is fairly evident that they exhibit very littledifferences.

It is quite an easy plant to cultivate and soon providesa worthwhile shrubby form that is rather attractive.

Photos: Bob Potter

Two interesting Euphorbias – Madagascar continued

Euphorbia duranii Euphorbia duranii

Euphorbia duranii alongside a Pachypodium densiflorum and the inevitable children

For those people who are unfamiliar with the plant Ishould say right from the start that it is not veryattractive. Mine is grown in the corner of mygreenhouse where it is climbing up a diagonal strut andlying on top of a large Agave. The plant consists ofseveral triangular segments which range from 100mmto 800mm in length with only the shortest of spinesfrom the areoles. This all changes when the flowerbuds appear as they are covered in fine spines. Theflower is about 50mm long and opens for one night, Ihave never had a seed pod so they are probablypollinated by moths in Costa Rica and other CentralAmerican countries where they are found.

To sum up, I have grown the plant from the time I hadan epiphytic house which is over 30 years ago. Itcertainly looked better in those days as it was gettingthe correct treatment but, as you will have gathered bynow, it adapts to the conditions. n

Photo: John Hayward

Werckleocereus tonduziiby John Hayward

16

Melocactus and the lizardby Joe Shaw

Melocactus violaceus fruits develop internally in thestem of the mother plant. They are completelyprotected in the cephalium, but they are driven out tothe surface by internal pressure. They are pink andfull of water when mature.

The fruits are driven to the exterior of the plant bypressure during the hottest part of the day where theyare easily noticed and consumed by a lizard,Tropidurus torquatus. Apparently, this specific lizard isthe only consumer of the fruits. The fruits are just theright size for the lizard, and they deliver a useful doseof water in the mid-day heat. Presumably the lizardconsumes the fruit to gain water as well as food.

The seeds pass through the lizard and are depositedin various places. Under laboratory conditions, lizard-passed seeds germinated quickly and easily. Incontrast, seeds that came directly from the fruits (notpassed through the lizard) did not germinate easilyunder the same conditions.

The plant makes fruits that entice the lizards duringthe hottest part of the day when the animals coulduse water. The lizards deposit the seeds in someplaces far from the mother plant and help distributethe cactus species. It is a win-win situation. n

It is not clear which name should be on the label as several of the experts have different opinions. In the ‘NewCactus Lexicon’ it is found under Weberocereus but as I have grown and flowered both I cannot see muchcomparison so I will continue with the name I have always had.

Melocactus violaceus Photo: Michael Wolf

Used under licence Creative Commons

This item is taken from Oblog – a blog created byJoe Shaw with information on cacti andsucculents and great pictures. See Oblog

17

From information supplied by Google:“Lorelei is a Germanic river spirit-

goddess from the river Rhine in Germany.The name Lorelei refers also to the rock atwhich is her court. She is a powerful riverspirit that has worldwide worshippers”.

Before being lucky enough to go theremyself, and having seen it on the labels ofa few different succulents, I had beenfascinated by the name Lorelei for manyyears. In the 1980s John Lavranos sent meConophytum ricardianum from Lorelei andlater I grew Adromischus montium-klinghardtii collected by Anthony Mitchellthere. I could see on the map that it has amine symbol next to the name and that it isright on the Namibian side of the OrangeRiver. It is an old and long-abandoned, orworked-out, open pit copper mine to thesouth of Rosh Pinah, but the name is alsoused for the hills between the mine and theriver. I suppose it was named by the earlyGerman settlers in Namibia (Fig. 3).

Exploring along the Orange Riverby Chris Rodgerson

Fig. 1 A view of theOrange River fromthe Lorelei hills

Fig. 2 Andy Young and Mike Thewles at the footof the Lorelei hills Fig. 3 Map

18

Exploring along the Orange River continued

In April 2015, in the companyof Andy Young, I climbed the

steep south-facing side of the south-western end of the hills, with our intentionbeing to find and photograph Conophytumricardianum. It was not an easy climb asthe rocks are sharp and loose. From theroad it looked very dry and completelybarren but we were not that high before thefirst succulents appeared. There were a

couple of conophytums,C. loeschianum (Figs. 4and 5) and C. quaesitum

(Fig. 6) and also Adromischus marianiae'hallii', (Figs. 7, 8 and 9) but I was moresurprised by the number and diversity ofdifferent Crassula species.

First a large, grey form of C. tomentosa(Fig. 10) was only a few metres away from C. sericea. Just a little higher were lovelyorange-red leaved C. rupestris subsp.commutata (Fig. 11) growing near to ashale slope holding a pubescent form of C. elegans (Fig. 12). Further climbingbecame steeper until it became clear that

Above and centre: Figs. 4 and 5Conophytumloeschianum

Fig. 6Conophytum

quaesitum

Figs. 7, 8 and 9Adromischusmarianiae ‘hallii’

19

we could not get further or near to the top bythis route but before turning back, (it was lateafternoon anyway), I noticed a superb plant ofthe rare C. sladeniana (Fig. 13) looking like ahuge form of C. perforata.

Unfortunately we failed to find our targetConophytum so once back at the car wedecided to drive the few kilometres length ofthe hills where they hug the river to theireastern limit. It was far enough to make achange of flora possible so we decided toreturn the next day and try again.

Exploring along the Orange River continued

Fig. 10 Crassula tomentosa

Fig. 11 Crassularupestris subsp.commutata

Fig. 12 Crassula elegans Fig. 13 Crassula sladeniana (see also front cover)

20

The climb was even more difficult than theprevious day as the shale was very looseunderfoot and finding handholds to supportoneself was precarious. Often it came awayin the hand and made it one of those timeswhen I wonder if it is worth nearly killingyourself! This time Mike Thewles had joinedAndy and I and we managed to make it toabout half way up before I took a route tothe left of them.

We had not seen as much here as theprevious day but there were big, old plantsof Adromischus montium-klinghardtii(Fig. 14) which had not been on the otherpart of the hill. Mainly looking for a safeand level area to take a break I cameacross a narrow and shady ravine runningparallel to where we had climbed and inthere was the Conophytum in abundance,typically south-west facing where theymust only receive direct sun for a fewhours each day.

This area gets very little rain,just 1-2mm average per

month during thewinter, so the healthy

condition of all thesucculents wesaw wasamazing.Usually wehave to climbto mountaintops whereoccasional lowcloud provides

moisture but, less than half way up, thesehills were rich in plant life. It is too far fromthe coast to benefit from sea fog (at least85km from Alexander Bay) so we came tothe conclusion that the only explanationcould be regular fogs forming over the riverwhich extend to the adjacent hill slopes.

This theory was later reinforced when weexplored Sandberg even further east andsaw other conophytums growing in asimilar niche.

Photos: Chris Rodgerson

Exploring along the Orange River continued

Figs. 15, 16 and 17Conophytumricardianum Fig. 14 Adromischus montium-klinghardtii

One of the botanically richest places I have visited isthe area north of Mexico City where the states of

Hidalgo, Queretaro and Guanajuato run close to eachother. And it is around this area where you will findYucca queretaroensis, in my opinion the most beautifulof all yucca species (Fig. 1).

This extra-special plant is only found growing on thealmost sheer sides of largely inaccessible canyonsfeeding into the River Estorax, but fortunately there areone or two places where populations of plants havebecome accessible. Mining is big business around hereand roads, (often scarily vertiginous!), cut into canyonsides to allow access to the mines have, as a usefulby-product, made it possible to gain close proximity tosome populations of the Yucca. One such mine isfound on the end of a road leading out of the town ofZimapan – a place I had the privilege of visiting in both2005 and 2006.

Yucca queretaroensis rarely flowers and even morerarely sets seed. In the time since it was first describedin 1989 seed has never been available, so it was withgreat excitement that in 2010 reports of its floweringand setting seed started to filter out to Europe.Pictures appeared of fleshy seed capsules, meaningthe initial grouping with dry-fruited Yucca had to beturned on its head; instead it showed greater affinitywith another beautiful Yucca species, Yucca linearifolia.But not just pictures – seed was offered for the firsttime! So the scramble began to start growing thiselusive and enigmatic Yucca.

However, plants raised from this seed collection haveshown an unexpected and much debated variability,with a good percentage of plants having much widerleaves and growing rather vigorously. Many theorieshave been put forward, from the seed collectoradulterating the collection, (either accidentally or onpurpose), to it being a hybrid between Yuccaqueretaroensis and another nearby species, althoughexactly what that species might be was unclear.American plantsman and nurseryman Greg Starr had

found what looked like a hybrid plant in habitat at acouple of other locations, adding weight to themounting stack of evidence towards these beinghybrids. I started planning a trip, one aim of which wasto return and have a closer look at the population ofYucca queretaroensis I had seen before.

So it was that in November 2014 we found ourselvesstaying in the mining town of Zimapan. But,frustratingly, as we drove around town I could notremember which road we needed to take to get us tothe mine. I notoriously get lost practically everywhere

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More sleuthing in Central MexicoA Yucca queretaroensis x filifera hybrid?by Paul Spracklin

Fig. 1 Yucca queretaroensis

Fig. 2 Yucca queretaroensis seedlings

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More sleuthing in Central Mexico continued

I go but this really was not helpful!Eventually we just headed randomly out oftown on a road I knew was the wrong road,but in an encouraging direction, and

eventually found ourselvesheading towards a steep

canyon. Beyond reason we hadsomehow found our way down

another road leading to anothercanyon and another mine.

Fig 7 Hybrid plant growing in the UKFig 6 Plant showing leaf margins

Fig.3 Hybrid Yucca Above: Fig. 4 Hybrid Yucca

Left: Fig. 5 Hybrid Yucca,detail of leaves

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Suddenly ahead I couldnot believe my eyes – inthe distance were some ofthe ‘hybrids’! Or at least,plants that were identicalto those seen by GregStarr some months earlierand elsewhere. These areunlike any other Yuccathat grows in this location,the only species presentaside from Yuccaqueretaroensis beingYucca filifera. Yet herewere a few mature plantsthat looked, to my eyes,intermediate incharacteristics betweenthese two (Figs. 3, 4 and 5).

Plants were robust, withdense crowns of stiff narrow leaves and a persistentpetticoat of dead leaves. It was interesting to note oneor two marginal threads on the leaves which is a trait ofYucca filifera.

Also the young plants showed strong reddish brownleaf margins, a feature of the seedling plants backhome in the UK (Figs 6 and 7). In total there were six

adult plants with severalsmall ones here and there.We noted that belowwhere a large plant’s maintrunk had died there wasregrowth from suckers atthe base. This wasinteresting as it is a featureof Yucca queretaroensis. (Fig. 8). Within view therewere a few Yuccaqueretaroensis plants –taller here in this shelteredvalley than I had seenbefore (Fig. 9). But wherewas the other parentspecies to make this‘hybrid’?

We forced ourselves toleave these beautifulplants, dragged ourselves

back to the car and drove around the corner to thenext barranco to be greeted with a handsome Yuccafilifera (Fig. 10). Just about 500m as the crow, orperhaps moth, flies from the plants we had just lookedat. Then around the next corner we saw both Yuccaqueretaroensis and Yucca filifera side by side (Fig. 11).The ‘smoking gun’? Both were to be seen further down

Fig.9 Tall growing Yucca queretaroensis

Fig. 8 Hybrid plant showing re-growth from base

Fig. 10 Yucca filifera

More sleuthing in Central Mexico continued

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More sleuthing in Central Mexico continued

the road towards the mine; remember this was adifferent road and different mine to the one I hadvisited before! (Figs. 12 and 13). All of which presentsvery strong evidence that this ‘odd’ Yucca we saw firstof all, and has appeared in the seed batch, is a Yuccaqueretaroensis x filifera hybrid.

My grasp of plant genetics is rudimentary at best, but Iwould consider these as perhaps a sterile F1 hybrid,

which would account for why the few specimens seemnearly identical wherever they appear, rather thanmixed appearance intergrades. I am sure at some pointa genetic study will be undertaken to demonstrate theexact relationships involved but, for now, we can enjoythis marvellous plant for its own sake. However, I stillmarvel at the serendipity of it all!

Photos: Paul Spracklin

Fig. 12 Yucca queretaroensis

Fig.11 Yucca queretaroensis and Yucca filifera growing together

Fig. 13 Yucca filifera