NEWSLETTEROF TUCSONCACTUS AND BOTANICAL SOCIETY Aff iliote of Coctus ond SucculeniSocicty of Amcrico, Inc. AL Subscriptions 32.50 Membership $4.00 (includes Cactus Capital Chatter) VOLUME XIV EDITOR: JosephineShelby ASSISTANT EDITORS William A. Pluemer John B. Hales STA FF Plant Reports Myrtle Ethington Translations Hildegard Nase News Features Betty Blackburn Subscriptions Josephine Shelby Special Reports Agnes Da.niels CONTRIBUTORS Christa Roberts, Coolidge, Az. peg young Joe Brick Clifford Woodward, Pennsylvania John Hales H ildegard Nase CONTENTIN THE INTEREST OF CACTOPHILES EVERYWHERE." PUBLISHEDQUARTERLY P.O. Box 3723Collcac Stotion Tucson,Arizona85722 JOEBRICK AND HIS }IEIY CACTUSPLANT J oe wri tes us that he i s very thri l'led over becom- iffl,:, ing the owner of a cactus ' '1,14'l plant that he had never l!, " seen before. It has been identified to him as a Monstrose Astrophytum myrjostigma. Its tex- ture i s the same as that Dear Tucson Cactus'& Botanical Society: of a normal myriostigma. Each contibution from our members A great numberof mal- has specialmeaning. Your generous gift of g 50 . 00 formed-I ooki ng warts com- in respons€to our Annual Giving appeal is deeply pl etely cover i t. Through appreciatedand will help greatly in maintaining a magnifyi ng g'lass, they and enriching the quality of your living Desert Museum. show the same five segments as the main head. Its lvlany thanks from all of us. three branches are on a c0mmons tem. This plant i s comp1 etel y free of spines. It is grafted on a euphorbia..l,. Drectof { Arizona-SonoraDesert Museum TRICHOCEREUSAND HE LIAl{THOCERE US Mrs. hl. H. (Christa) Roberts of Coolidge, Arizona is a friend of our member, Mrs. Hildegard Nase. She visits us at times. She is an experienced cactophile and a s k'i'l'led transl ator. |^lethank her very much for this excel'lent contri buti on to CACTUSCAp ITAL CHATTER. Arti c1e by: Karl Eckert, D-850'lTuchenbach l,Jiesengrundstr.I 3 West-Germany Pub'lished: "Kakteen.l975,und andere Sukkul enten" volume page 260 TransI ated: Fromthe Germanlanguaoe by Christa Roberts, 529 t,l.pima Coo'li dge n Ari zona 85228 USA It's. perp!q*jnS, finding t'ime and time again how litt'le known the beautifu'l Hybrids of thi s genusare. cacti I overs, having :gen lhe:e. uniqireplants ftowei in their cotiections, ire en-" thused with the size of the b'loomsand the bril'l.iance of co'lor displayed. But then, who does not knowthe robust rrjchocereus cacti i n thei r ro'le as graf ti ng stock. Tr.ichocereuspachanoi , bridgesi'i and macrogonus,just-to namethree of the mbst ulea' species, are sure'ly representedin every co'llection. Howevei, in order to avoi9 giving the impression-of Inot to be with it'i, it is a stylish fad nowadaysto keep co'r'rectedp'lants of Ario- 93lpus, Neochilenia, Parodia or Matucana. Also be'longingto thi s . category_are the. genera of copiapoa, Neoporter.ial u6uet- mannia and sulcorebuti a. But very few p6op1e' get the-i dea to just for once grolva Trichocereusto f'lbweri ng'si ze i nstead of y:ing,it fof.Sl^gft'ingstock on1y. This setdofrhas anyth.ingto do w'ith available space as even in spacious greenhouslson6 rarely sees Trichocereuscacti, despite the iact that in order to be able to flower, by far not a'll of them have to attain a feight of yp to two meters. l^Jeshou'ld really thjnk about itl is it not better !o give free reign to what we actually'looking-ior- desire l!" plants, instead of .putting so riucllemphas'is on the namesof new species in the cacti caiarogs? TheseiIecies f requent'lyare not nearly as nev{as the nameseems to i nii cate. I most assured'lyknow about the stimulus and the charmof a new import, of a rare species, but if one has experiencein howder- !9atory a mannermany a beautiful Hybrid is treated, then I do feel compelledto put a word in for this hobby, and part.icular'ly for the Trichocerei Hybrids. The numberof cicti-fahcjers com- mitted to Trichocere'iHybrids ,,to-dat;'. 'in does not date from cacti "breeders", years past, have tried to cross thi robust al9. strongTy growing Irichocerei'ianthocereus of the large white b'lossoms with rel ated genera, I i ke He'l , Iobi vi a, ectrinops 'habi-I s etc., aiming at surpassing the starter plants in beauty of tus and fl ower. 0ne can consider Helianthocereus with its mostly colored, d'iur- nal fl owers as the cl osest rel ati ve to Tri chocereus. The rel a- ti onship i s so c'lose that Backeberg, who estabf i shed Heli antho- cereus in the first p1ace, has already rec'lassjfied it as Trich- 0cereus. Amongstthe fri ends of Tri chocereus-Hybrids the_genY: H?li antho- cereis js still justified, even though one should'like to say ,'no,' to this, beiause it does tend to bastardize the two genera. A bloom diameter of l4cm and more can be expected of a good Tri- chocereus Hybrid. For example, the large b'lossomsof Trichocereus candicans aira tri chocereus tfrel egonus come to mind here. Hybrids ' dominated by heredi tary factors of Heli anthocereus' show a- fl ower diameter of about 8 to-'l2cm. Here, one has mainly used Helian-.|5" thocereus grandif'lorus, huascha and variet'ies, and "Vatter in differeit colors, the latter probably being a Hybrid already. To my knowledge, Robert Graeser of Nuernberg applied h'imself most extensively to Trjchocerei Hybrlds, mostly using Echinopsis (Kakteen eyriesii var. grandiflora as the.|953). father plant: 9nd andere Sukkulenten, December At the time, the mother olants Graeser used comprised TrichOcereus candicans, spach'ianus' ihel egonus and pachanoi. The two most eminent crosses here are Trichocereus candicans x Echinopsis eyriesii var. grandiflora and Tri chocereus thel egonus x Echinopsi s eyri esi i var. grandi - In both forms of Hybrids Tri chocereus i s dominant as to l fl ora. and rib number, Echinops'is eyriesii var.Slgndiflora body build 'i s hows up i n the spi nes. Color of fl owers vvas ntermediary i n both Hybrids, the first Hybrid showing a tendency towards wh'ite' the second I eaning more towards the pi nk f1 ower of Echinopsi s eyries'ii var. granaiflora. The f'lower diameter of both Hybrids 'ii approximately 20cm. The f'lowers themselves have the typical Trichocereus form, only the edges of the inner petals' by way of new hereditary factors, are s'lightly fringed. In the meantime, the Hybrid'lora Trichocereus candicans x Echinopsis eyriesi i var. grandif js represented in a few co'llections, sii t't unnamed,-which i s undeserving f or thi s beauti f u'l and good cultivar. I therefore namedit "Noris". It is always a tickf ish matter' this naming of Hybrids, the cu'ltivators themselves be'ing some- what negle-ttu1 in th'is regard. Somecultivars (especia'l'ly Ech- i nopsis Hybri ds) have therefore been repeatedly named. The Hybrid Trichocereus thelegonus x Echinopsis eyriesii var. grandiflora (already knownas "The'lef1ora") must be considered in habitus as one of the most beautiful. It could be admired in full bloom in the Hoesslihger co'llection on occasion of the annual'1974 meetinq.af the GermanCactus Society at Nuernberg. ji Grafts of thi s Hybrid can attai n abif ity to b'looma'lready upon having reacheda height of I 5cm. 'l A few years ater Graeseri ntroducedtwo other'1 Tri chocereusHyb ri ds (Kakteenund andereSukkul enten, September, 957) . 0he of them i s the cross of Trichocereusthelegonus x Echinopsis kermesina,from which derives my Trichocereus-Hybrid"Siege'lsdorf", which was in- troduced i n " Kakteenund andereSukku'l enten" , December197 3 i ssue. Theseplants attain bloomingability at an early age, proving thereby that it'is possible to inbreed that attribute of Echin- opsis (even whenused as the f ather p'lant). It has to be ment'ionedat this point that TrichocereusHybrids, true to thei r nature, cannot fl owerduri ng the fi rst few years. The exceptions are seedlings grafted on Eri ocereusj usberti i , which are I ater re-grafted on robust Tri chocereusor 0ounti a bergeriana stocks. .As a rul e, mostof them attain b'loomingabil- ity at a height of 20cm,the crosseswith Helianthocereusat even approx'imate'lyl0cm. Interesting things can be reported con.cern'ingGraeser's second Hybrid, namely Aporacactus f1 agel li formi s x Tri chocereus candi- cans. The parent p1ants are a1ready someth'ing special . The larger trunk diameter of this Hybrid'is a remarkab'lel5cm, some- thi ng not to be expected when starti ng w'ith Aporocactus-'l.5cm, and Trichocereus-l2cm. The delft-pink co'lored f'lower, diameter l5cm, has slightly waved petals, seamedon the edges with dark- red, narrow stripes. These new and pleasingly evident hered'itary marks assert themselves a'lso in Trjchocereus Hybrid "Graeser", the'latter being, I guess, the most beautiful Trichocereus Hybrid so far. I t was i ntroduced i n " Kakteen und andere Sukkulenten" , January, 1967, by p'icture and with exact lineage g'iven. This Hybrid is the result of cross-breeding a "Sch'igra" Hybrid wi th the previ ously mentioned " f'l agel I i formi s x candjcans " Hybrid. Schigra'is a cross between'lorus. Trichocereus schickendantzii and He'l- janthocereus grandif A number of He'ljanthocereus-Hybrids in different color nuances fron red to pink are presently named Sch'igra. Most of them reach, as aiready previously mentioned, a flower diameter of only 8 to l2cm, but have to be mentioned again and again in connection with Trichocereus-Hybrids, as they have been crossed frequently wi th 1arge-flowered Trichocerei , and al so jn havlng been crossed amongst themselves, 'lowersthey are even the F 2 and F 3 generati on ab'le to show l arger f than thei r origi na1 parents.