March

Cactus Comments
New York Cactus and Succulent Society
est 1962
Next Meeting
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
6-7:45 pm
331 Madison Ave (near 43rd St)
7th Floor New York, NY
www.nycss.org
Cacti and Succulents for
Beginners
This meeting will introduce a
foundation for beginner cacti and
succulent owners. We will cover
general plant care and which
plants make good starters.
March
2013
UPDATES
Attention Members!
Please help make our next meeting more interactive by sending beginner cacti
and succulent suggestions to Stephanie.ciparis@gmail.com. What has worked
well for you in the past? We would like to know.
We’re now on facebook!
Like us at http://www.facebook.com/newyorkcactusandsucculentsociety
Members are encoraged to bring
in examples of their “beginner
plants.”
Guests are always welcomed!
Membership
Joining NYCSS gives you information
packed monthly meetings, talks from
experts and amateur enthusiasts, demonstrations, slide shows, trips, and our
monthly newsletter, Cactus Comments.
The 10$ annual dues covers everyone
in your household, from September
to June.
Mail membership checks payable to
Richard Stone
3777 Independence Ave. Apt 12C
Bronx, NY 10463
Officers & Board of
Directors:
President and Editor: Stephanie
Ciparis
•stephanie.ciparis@gmail.com
Vice President: Ivan Black
Vice President and Secretary:
Richard H. Stone
Treasurer: Norman Bobrow
Webmaster: Suzanne Bernard
•webmaster@nycss.org
Photo of Deb Donaldson’s Mammillaria rhodantha pringlei at the
Philadelphia flower show.
Directors
Ivan Black, MD
Norman Bobrow
Carol Smith
Lazaro Marrero
•yemaya75@hotmail.com
Contents
Updates.........................................1
Whitesoloanea........................................2
Ceropegia ..................................................2
Upcoming Events....................................4
Photo of Dr. Barad’s Second Place wining Echeveria setosa ciliata at the
Philadelphia flower show.
1
GENUS SPOTLIGHT: WHITESLOANEA
Described in 1937 by Emilio Chiovenda and named after Alain
C. White and Boyd L. Sloane, two American authors of important
books on euphorbias and asclepiads. This monotypic genus with
a compact four ribbed single erect stem, is to be found only in
Somalia. The shape of this strange plant looks somewhat like a
small Astrophytum myriostigma quadricostatum. It is thought to
be one of rarest succulents and sought after by succulent
enthusiasts. Its protected by the locals, being some kind of
sacred medicine. It is said that the locals will kill you, if you take it
with you. Some sources claims it is extinct in the wild due to war
and farming.
GENUS SPOTLIGHT: CEROPEGIA
The genus Ceropegia belongs to the Asclepiadoideae sub-family within the family Apocynaceae. There are
between 160 and 200 species worldwide and they range widely from the Canary Islands, Africa, Madagascar,
Arabia, India, Sri Lanka, southern China, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea and Queensland.
Ceropegia was named by Carl Linnaeus, who first described this genus in volume 1 of his Species plantarum,
in 1753. Linnaeus thought that the flowers looked like a fountain of wax. The name of the genera was derived
from this observation: ‘keros’ meaning wax and ‘pege’ meaning fountain. They have many common names
including lantern flower, parasol flower, parachute flower, bushman’s pipe, string of hearts, snake creeper,
wine-glass vine, rosary vine, and necklace vine.
The stems are vining or trailing in most species, though a few species from the Canary Islands have erect
growth habits. Among some species, such as Ceropegia woodii, the nodes swell, and the roots expand to form
enlarged tubers beneath the soil surface. The leaves are simple and opposite, but they can be rudimentary or
absent. In certain succulent species, the leaves may also be thick and fleshy.
Flowers occur either singly or in umbel-like clusters and have a tubular corolla twice as long as its diameter
and longer than the 5 lobes. The base of the tube is usually inflated and the tube may have down ward orientated hairs on the inside and hairs on the outside and at the edges of the lobes. Colors include reds, purples,
yellows, greens and mixtures of these. Flies entering the corolla may become trapped by the hairs until the
flower wilts. The tips of the lobes are fused together to form a cage-like flower structure in many species, but
are open in others. The flowers emit an odor that attracts flies.The angle of the flower hairs trap the flies in the
flower covering the flies with the flowers pollen. This technique helps pollenate the Ceropegia flowers, as the
flies are kept from escaping until the hairs wither.
2
Ceropegia Continued
Ceropegia sandersonii (1)is a species of flowering plant, native
to Mozambique, South Africa, and Swaziland. Common names
are parachute plant. It is an evergreen, prostrate, slender twiner,
nearly hairless, with sparse, succulent leaves. The roots form
narrowly fusiform clusters. The distinctive greenish white funnelshaped flowers are 5–7 cm long and attach to a delicate stalk.
1.
Ceropegia simoneae (2) this species hails from Madagascar. The
succulent twining stems are thin but produce large leaves. The
flowers are large and the petals fan out and do not unite like with
most other Ceropegia. They have an almost square bulbous base,
cream with maroon spots then a slim tube almost completely
covered in maroon spots then a small flare out at the top with long
thin petals waving like tentacles, all covered in spots.
2.
3. Ceropegia woodii (3) is native to South Africa, Swaziland, and
Zimbabwe. It is sometimes treated as a subspecies of the related
Ceropegia linearis, as C. linearis subsp. woodii. Common names
include chain of Hearts, collar of hearts, string of hearts, rosary
vine, hearts-on-a-string sweetheart vine.
The species was discovered in 1881 by John Medley Wood, curator
of the Durban Botanic Garden, hanging from rocks on Groenberg
in Natal at an altitude of 1800 feet. Thirteen years later, in 1894, he
sent a living plant to Kew. Its trailing habit, neat appearance and
tolerance of neglect, made it an ideal plant for hanging baskets.
The plant that had been sent to Kew subsequently flowered,
providing the material for Plate 7704 of Curtis’s Botanical
Magazine published in 1900. The prolific botanical artist Matilda
Smith prepared the plate, while the Kew taxonomist N. E. Brown
produced a detailed description, naming the plant after its
discoverer.
It is an evergreen succulent trailing vine that grows to 10
centimetres in height and spreads to reach up to 2–4 metres in
length. Its leaves are shaped like hearts, about 1-2 cm wide and
long. When exposed to sufficient light they have a deep green
colour; under insufficient lighting the leaves are pale green.
With age it develops a woody caudex at its base. The roots, and
occasionally the stems, will often develop tubers.
3
Ceropegia stapeliiformis (4) is native to South Africa and
Swaziland. Common names include Serpent Ceropegia, Snake
creeper, and Slangkambro.
4.
Ceropegia stapeliiformis is a prostrate, creeping, trailing or
climbing succulent creeper with fibrous roots and has clear
sap. The leaves are minute and rudimentary, soon falling off
the stems. The flowers are 5-7 cm long and have a distinctive
funnel-shape with a greenish white colour that is spotted or
streaked with maroon. The petals surrounding the mouth
are free-spreading, reflexed and fringed with hairs. The fruit a
follicle with tubercles. This species is usually found rooted in leaf
mould under the protection of shrubs.
The subspecies serpentina, which was initially described
as Ceropegia serpentina by E. A. Bruce, has a distribution
which ranges from Northern KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland
to Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South
Africa, where it occurs in scrub bush. The flowering time from
December to March.
UPCOMING EVENTS
THE FLOWER SHOW
March 2 – March 10, 2013
Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th & Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107-2299
General Admission - $27
http://www.theflowershow.com/
LONG ISLAND
REPTILE EXPO
Sunday, March 17, 2013
9AM to 3PM
Huntington Hilton Hotel
598 Broad Hollow Rd. (Rt. 110)
Melville, NY 11747
$9/Adults
http://reptileexpo.com/index.html
SPRINGFEST
GARDEN SHOW
CONNECTICUT CACTUS &
SUCCULENT SOCIETY
March 14-17th 2013
30th Annual Show & Sale 2013
Springfest Garden Show is held
Saturday, April 6 -10 AM to 5 PM
each year at the Sussex County
Sunday, April 7 -10AM to 4 PM
Fairgrounds
Naugatuck Valley Community
37 Plains Rd., Augusta, NJ 07822 College
http://www.njstatefair.org/images/ 50 Chase Parkway
image/2013_coupon.jpg
Waterbury, CT (exit 18 off I-84)
http://www.ctcactusclub.com/showsale2013.aspx
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS, ETC.
Comments, stories or information for our newsletter
can be submitted to webmaster@nycss.org
NYCSS
w w w.nycss.org
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