Not had any for a while!

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:12 am

Not posted a cactus for a while, so here is a fairly recently discovered one (also a new genus):-

Yavia cryptocarpa

Grafted plant. about 2" diameter (50mm)

DaveW

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:23 pm

WOW Dave, that is a strange looking one for sure. A beautiful picture. I just bought a grafted cactus and a local building store..It is really bright orange and red with lots of little cacti growing all around. What is the reason for grafting and are these things natural color or are they crazy genetic freaks of cactus nature?

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:18 pm

That sucking noise was me peeling my eyeballs of the screen

.

This has gotta be pretty new. Unlike anything I recognise from my cactus collecting years ...and....Yavia????

It's beautiful too - body reminds me a bit of....well nothing I can think of and the flowers are gorgeous! How old is this plant Dave? Is it difficult?

Thanks for posting.

Bruce

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:27 pm

I presume you mean the "red lollipops" or Gymnocalycium cv. 'Hibotan' Doug?

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/ ... botan.html

The reason for grafting this plant is it is deficient in chlorophyll and relies on the photosynthesis of the green stock to keep it alive. The plant was discovered as a tiny seedling a few days old in a seed pan of normal seedlings in Japan and seedling grafted at around match head size before it died, because obviously it was not able to produce it's own chlorophyll. The Japanese just love these weirdies, just as they like to produce bizaar goldfish. There are new many versions of this plant from yellow to red and also brown or striped.

The reason for grafting normal cacti is if you wish to push them on faster because many grow much faster on a graft, they are usually grafted on some form of Cereus. This is often used as a means of rapid propagation, the plant being pushed on then beheaded leaving part of the scion on the stock which then produces numerous offsets (like your red plant) that can be in turn grafted. Using these means the Japanese and the Dutch can soon produce thousands of plants from just a few originals.

DaveW

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:40 pm

Hi Bruce,

This was from plants the BCSS put out from seed they were allowed to collect for propagation purposes. For the full story see here:-

http://www.bcss.org.uk/yavia.pdf

My plant looks as if it has set fruit, but as I only have one it must either be self fertile or have hybridised with something. I don't know what though but I suppose it could even be parthenogenesis (self fertilisation after stimulation by foreign pollen).

As to age I would think about 3 years on a graft from a small offset as obviously the BCSS grew them from seed, grafted and then topped and regrafted the offsets as I described above for Doug.

The article is probably them collecting the original seed.

All the best,

DaveW

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:44 am

Nice delicate plant and flowers Dave.

I was already worried about your cacti collection.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 5:03 pm

Thanks Dave, those are the ones I am talking about.