August 19, 2009

Cactus and Succulent Show Highlights

Held by three local cactus and succulent societies, the InterCity Cactus and Succulent Show drew hundreds of aficionados of these plants to Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Collectors of these weird and wonderful plants brought their most prized specimens to the event to compete for ribbons and medals. Let’s take a look at some of this year's entrants:
Adenium obesum subsp. swazicum, commonly called the ‘Desert rose,’ is an African plant related to oleanders and garden vinca. It is summer deciduous, losing all its leaves in the summer and relying on water and nutrition stored in its caudex, the large fleshy structure that appears as a mass of swelling roots at the base of its stem. Plants with a caudex are referred to as ‘caudate’ and are much in demand by collectors because of their monstrous,  unusual nature and because they are fairly easy to grow in containers. 

Aztekium ritteri is native to a single valley to the state of Nueva Leon in northeast Mexico where it is found growing out of almost vertical limestone and gypsum cliffs. Its genus name comes from its resemblance to the stair-stepped structure of Aztec temples. It is thought to be one of the slowest growing cacti on earth. 

Cyphostemma seitziana is a pachycaul succulent, a type of caudate plant that has a swollen stem that appears as a bottle shaped structure. It’s found in Namibia where it grows in desert areas.  It produces small flowers followed by fruit, but be careful, even though Cyphostemma seitziana is in the same family as table grapes, the fruit are poisonous to humans and animals.