Welcome to the January eNews

To start the year we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that BCSS Zoom Talks will now take place only once per month. But don’t despair: there is some good news. If you are a BCSS Zoom Talkaholic we have a few offerings that might satisfy your addiction. Firstly, there are your monthly BCSS Branch meetings where you will be able to indulge in face-to-face talks as well as plant sales, etc. If you can’t make it to Branch meetings there will be occasional Zoom talks from the Mesemb Study Group, The Mammillaria Society, etc. eNews will continue to carry notices of all these talks. And if these don’t satisfy you, eNews will henceforth carry monthly suggestions of online videos, etc. that will help to satisfy your desires.

I wish you all Good Growing for 2024!

Brian Ayres (Editor)

BCSS Research Committee Vacancies

Cacti Tea Cards

Text and photos by Tony Clifford

I have a complete mint set of 25 cards issued by Lamberts of Norwich with packets of their blends of tea. The cards are undated, but are probably from the early 1960s, since this set is the same as that issued by Amalgamated Tobacco in 1961. Each card features a colour illustration of a species of cactus on the front and a descriptive text on the back. Whilst most of the species are familiar to me, and the illustrations seem to ‘fit’, there are one or two oddities. For example, card no. 10 (shown below) is entitled Hickenia microsperma.

Hickenia is a genus from Argentina published by Nathaniel Lord Britton and Joseph Nelson Rose in The Cactaceae (1922). They recognised just one variable species now known as Parodia microsperma. Indeed, the text on the card concludes, “Also known as Parodia microsperma”. The name Hickenia commemorates Cristobal Maria Hicken, a professor at the University of Buenos Aires. However, the name could not stand because it had been used three years earlier for a genus of Apocynaceae containing one species native to Argentina now reclassified as Morrenia scalae. Hickenia microsperma is now held by most authorities to be synonymous with Echinocactus microspermus and Parodia microsperma.

Card no. 8 (above) is entitled Malacocarpus mammulosus. The illustration shows a grafted plant. This species has also appeared under the genera Echinocactus, Notocactus and Ritterocactus. In 1987, Nigel Taylor placed it firmly in Parodia and its accepted scientific name is now Parodia mammulosa. It is among the most widespread of the Parodia species and is very variable in appearance.

Card no. 14 (top) is Nopales dejecta, a species widely cultivated and now also called Opuntia dejecta. The flowers are scarlet/dark red. The flower buds are boiled in water and eaten; the young stems are eaten as nopalitos, and the fruit (tunita) is sweet and edible. The International Union for Conservation of Nature records that the native range of this species is not known as it has been cultivated in many countries since historical times. The locations where it has been recorded are probably the result of historical introductions and subsequent naturalisation.

No. 24 (middle left) shows Opuntia bergeriana, now known as Opuntia elatior. This grows bushy and can reach a height of up to five metres. The flowers are numerous and of a rich red colour, with edible fruits.

No. 20 (middle right) is Opuntia lindheimeri, a prickly pear now known as Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri, with yellow, occasionally reddish flowers.

No. 16 (bottom) is Opuntia engelmannii, still known as such. It is generally shrubby, with dense clumps up to 3.5m (11ft) high, usually with no apparent trunk. The large flowers are yellow, occasionally reddish.

Editor's note: This article was previously published in Essex Succulent Review, December 2016, and is reproduced here with the permission of the author. Our resident expert on 'C&S in everything-but-the-kitchen-sink', Les Pearcy, is taking a well-earned break this month.

Moroccan Cacti

Text and photos by Greg Bulmer

Cacti are not native to Morocco, of course. But despite this fact, they can seem incredibly at home with the right garden design. After probably paying over the odds for some souvenirs in souks of the Marrakech Medina, I decided it was time to seek some reprieve from the scorching November sun. Situated in a palm grove a short (seatbelt-less) taxi drive from the Jemaa el-Fnaa (the main square), the Jardin Majorelle is a two-acre garden containing a mixture of cacti and other succulents but also many plants less associated with xerophytic gardening. 

The garden is the brainchild of the artist Jacques Majorelle (1886−1962), who in 1923 founded the garden with the purchase of a four-acre plot. He then set to work on the garden in the Moorish design, which included long water rills (reminiscent of the Generalife of Grenada) and a striking, blue cubist villa. The garden expanded and contracted in size over the years, with the expensive upkeep ultimately leading to Majorelle selling off portions of land following his divorce. After his death the garden and its characteristic cobalt blue villa were largely forgotten until being purchased in the ‘80s by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé who sought to restore it to its former glory. The grounds now house the Yves Saint-Laurent Museum and the Berber Arts Museum and are now run as a not-for-profit.

Paradoxically, the garden represented one of the coolest (in both the temperature and superlative sense) parts of the trip – tall palm trees, bamboo and other foliage protected most of the paths and pagodas from the intense sun and also provided soundproofing from the noise of the city. More open, exposed areas were planted with the usual suspects such as palms, Yucca, large Euphorbia, Pachycereus, Trichocereus, Agave, Mammillaria mounds and tree Opuntia. However, with lows only normally reaching 13°C even in winter there were also mature Micranthocereus and other less hardy species. Next to the villa grow shorter plants, such as Ferocactus and Echinocactus grusonii; their short stature avoids blocking one of the most photographed tourist attractions in Morocco. There was also a display of smaller growing cacti and other succulents, each with a QR code which (unfortunately) just took you to their respective Wikipedia pages.

F is For..

Text and photos by Gareth Darbon
except where noted otherwise

The other significant feature of Faucaria is bright yellow flowers, as shown in Fig. 2, Faucaria tuberculosa. This flower colour is quite common in Mesembryanthemum, so it is the elongated teeth and rough leaves that differentiate it from other yellow-flowered Mesembryanthemum genera such as Pleiospilos or Glottiphyllum.

Fig. 2 Faucaria tuberculosa showing the bright yellow flowers (Photo: Adrian Weatherill)

The teeth and rough leaves make the plants particularly attractive and these features have been enhanced in recent years with hybrids, examples of which can be seen in Figs. 3 and 4.  These cultivars accentuate the teeth and rough leaf features and are only a small selection of those available.  This allows collectors the opportunity to pick the ones they like.

Fig. 3 Faucaria ‘Snow leopard’ (Photo: Adrian Weatherill)

Fig. 4 Faucaria cultivar (Photo: Adrian Weatherill)

Now for the cactus section of our letter F. There are several possibilities in F but I have landed on the genus Ferocactus.  In last month’s article I teased a little by mentioning that we would be looking at Echinocactus grusonii (Fig. 5).  “Echinocactus,” I hear you say. "That doesn’t begin with an F."  Well, DNA studies have shown that Echinocactus grusonii is a naturalised intergeneric hybrid between Echinocactus and Ferocactus.  This revelation has resulted in it being assigned a new genus, Kroenleinia (fear not - my labels still say Echinocactus!)

Fig. 5 Echinocactus grusonii growing in the late Colin Norton’s greenhouse 

Kroenleinia grusonii has many common names including Golden Barrel and Mother-in-Law’s Pin Cushion but, whatever you call it, we can define it as an intergeneric hybrid. Ferocactus can also hybridise with Leuchtenbergia principis (Fig. 6) to produce × Ferobergia (Fig. 7) that elongates the tubercles compared to the normal Ferocactus.

Fig. 6 Leuchtenbergia principis

Fig. 7 × Ferobergia species

Ferocactus plants are often grown for their ferocious spines which are frequently hooked and thicker than Echinocactus. Both species tend to assume a global form. However, as Ferocactus grow old they often take on a more columnar shape as seen in this venerable Ferocactus wislizeni pictured at a Bradford Show (Fig. 8).  

Fig. 8 Ferocactus wislizeni

The main thing that differentiates Ferocactus from Echinocactus is the nectaries. Ants are attracted to the nectar and distribute seeds in the wild. Seeds are really the only way to propagate these plants. If you want to grow them a little more quickly they should not be restrained in a pot. They grow quickly in the Canary Islands where they are farmed for impact plants for the garden.  

Grown in pots in our British climate these plants can take a long time to reach maturity. Many need to reach the size of a football before they will flower. But some species such as F. macrodiscus and F. fordii will flower when smaller.  Despite not being grown for their flowers, when they do eventually flower, they can have some fantastic displays as can be seen in Fig. 9.

Fig. 9 Ferocactus glaucescens f. inermis in full flower

For the first time, BCSS is planning a Cactus and Succulent National Plant Fair. This is intended to be a national event in lieu of a convention. While the focus will be on plant sales, there will also be talks and other attractions.

Details to follow. https://bcss.org.uk/event/inaugural-bcss-plant-mart/