Monday, March 24, 2008

Lophophora bargain

When visiting garden centers and flower shops I'm always checking out their cacti and succulents to see if they have any interesting plants. Usually they don't. This Easter my girlfriend and I were browsing a garden center looking for common hollyhock (Alcea rosea) to plant at our summerhouse when I eyed a trayful of Lophophora plants.

Six large Lophophora plants
Six large Lophophora plants

The plants are quite large, 7.5 - 8 cm (~ 3'') in diameter, and are looking a bit bloated; they don't have the ancient, mature look and feel you would normally expect from plants this size.

Lophophora 7.5 cm in diameter
Lophophora 7.5 cm in diameter

Despite their youngish appearance the plants are old enough to be sexually active (many have flower remains peering out of the wool).

Lophophora with flower remains
Lophophora with flower remains

I don't think the garden center exactly knows what they are selling. The plants are mislabeled as "Lophophera williamsii" and when asked the people at the center had no idea where the plants were produced. Maybe that's why the plants are sold dirt cheap at 35 DKK apiece (approximately 7 USD or 4.5 EUR). Anyway, I ended up buying 9 plants and even though they are allegedly Lophophora williamsii I'm pretty convinced there's at least one L. diffusa among my plants.

Root-bound Lophophora cactus
Root-bound Lophophora cactus

The plants are extremely root-bound and growing in a peat based soil with (what looks like) blackish lava granules in the mix. After carefully removing the plants from their pots they were left to dry for a couple of days before being repotted.

Four of the plants will probably end up in my coldhouse, and I'm planning to dissect one of the plants to study its anatomy. She who must be obeyed is particularly fond of the last idea - she's already bitching about where to find room for all my new plants ;-)

You can see photos of some of the plants flowering in this post.

4 comments:

  1. Nice Diffusae!

    Those off white flowers will be along shortly.

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  2. Yeah, I also have my doubts about what species the plants are. Currently they are not particularly true to any type with their bloated growth form but, as you say, the flowers should give a better understanding about what species they actually are.

    Otherwise the "coldhouse test" will tell ;-) If they actually are Lophophora diffusa the ones in my coldhouse will probably have a hard time surviving next winter.

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  3. Such cruelty,a greenhouse kept frost free with an electric fan heater will keep them alive.

    Perhaps your Girl is saying you should buy a greenhouse!

    In some ways the Diffusa is more interesting than the Williamsii and at such a size you could sell them on for a healthy profit.

    I would love to have found them,all i find are Mamillaria,Notocactus,Ferocactus,Stenocactus and Gymnocalycium.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My coldhouse is built in connection with my summerhouse, and I have no way of reliably heating it all thru winter. Fortunately the Danish winters have been very mild lately.

    Anyway, I might revise my decision when the plants flower. If they turn out to be Lophophora diffusa for sure, I might chicken out and bring most of them indoors ;-)

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