I believe Halda even transferred it to Blossfeldia, but it does not seem to have any close relationship with that genus, just a superficially looks similar. A white flowered form has been mentioned, but I have never seen any others illustrated than with the characteristic pink flower.
Cannot really trust anything Halda does.
I haven't really trawled the Internet for Yavia, although I have seen some sites offering grafted plants. I'll definitely buy seeds if ever I come across any, though they seem to be incredibly scarce. Even though it's a cryptocarp and doesn't produce many seeds either, I would have expected Yavia seeds to be a bit easier to find than the likes of Mammillaria bertholdii for instance.
KarlR wrote:
Cannot really trust anything Halda does.
I haven't really trawled the Internet for Yavia, although I have seen some sites offering grafted plants. I'll definitely buy seeds if ever I come across any, though they seem to be incredibly scarce. Even though it's a cryptocarp and doesn't produce many seeds either, I would have expected Yavia seeds to be a bit easier to find than the likes of Mammillaria bertholdii for instance.
I had to Google that mamm. Quite a cool looking plant! Why do so many of these cacti need to be grafted?
You can take the boy out of the greenhouse, but you can't take the greenhouse out of the boy!
Greenlarry wrote:
I had to Google that mamm. Quite a cool looking plant! Why do so many of these cacti need to be grafted?
It's a very pretty Mammillaria. It was discovered only a couple of years ago and while Mexican legislation prohibits any export of seeds and plants, I have seen it for sale here and there.
I don't think it has to be grafted, much like M. luethyi doesn't have to be grafted at all, it's just the fastest way to propagate them for selling on. These Mammillarias are cryptocarps (like Yavia) which means they hide their seeds within the plant body and only release them very slowly. In some cases they may perhaps only be released upon the plant's death. Much easier and faster to make cuttings and graft them than wait for seeds, though I've seen seeds of M. luethyi offered from time to time. I currently have a few seedlings that are growing well.
Having said that, I understand Yavia isn't the easiest plant on it's own roots so that's probably another reason for grafting it.
Greenlarry wrote:
I had to Google that mamm. Quite a cool looking plant! Why do so many of these cacti need to be grafted?
I understand Yavia isn't the easiest plant on it's own roots so that's probably another reason for grafting it.
I have a Yavia which has been rooted down from a graft after the stock dried up. It has been own roots for years now and is no more difficult than the Turbinicarpus, Ariocarpus, Pelecyphora, Lophophora, Epithelantha and tuberous rooted Mammillaria that it shares a tray with. It hasn't flowered for me yet though.
Here's my original BCSS Yavia, now long gone alas. I sometimes wonder if it is differential shrinkage between stock and scion in winter that breaks the graft union, since I also get the same problem with Mammillaria luethyi and Rimocactus (Eriosyce) laui. The stock remains healthy but the scion shrivels up breaking the union. Maybe I keep my plants too cool in winter?
I hope yours is with you for a long time Diane since you obviously know how to keep it.
Nottingham Branch BCSS. Joined the then NCSS in 1961, Membership number 11944. Cactus only collection.
unfortunately my camera wasn´t in working order the other day when my two grafted Yavias flowered for the first time, one with six flowers, the other with eighteen! But i have a pup that i removed last year which has rooted down and is now sporting five buds! Hope my camera will work when these flowers come!
Growing mostly globular,smallgrowing cacti north of Stockholm
