Aylostera euanthema

[ralphrmartin]

I think this has to be about my favourite Aylostera, Aylostera euanthema MN46, with long wispy white spines, and superb bicoloured flowers.

[el48tel]

Just like little pots of sunsets

[Diane]

That is really handsome, Ralph!

[KathyM]

What an amazing plant. I really love bicoloured flowers.

[ralphrmartin]

I've got quite a few bicoloured Sulcorebutias, Kathy. They seem to produce these bicoloured forms a bit more often than Aylosteras or Rebutias, for example.

You need to find the right clone. I remember going to a small field in Bolivia, and seeing it full of Sulcos in flower (all the same species, but I don't remember which). About 95% had purple flowers, 5% had yellow flowers, and perhaps three or four plants in a total of hundreds and hundreds had purple/yellow bicoloured flowers. Of course, the bicoloured ones find their way into cultivation at a much higher frequency. If you are really lucky, you even get the odd one from seed.

[KathyM]

That's really interesting, I had always assumed bicoloured flowers were the norm for some Sulcorebutia species, I hadn't considered it was because of selective collecting. As someone who will never get to see cacti in habitat, I love finding out this kind of stuff from people who have.

I don't actually know if I have any Sulcorebutia with bicolour flowers because I only have a small collection and most have been bought since last summer. I guess I will find out soon.

[Phil_SK]

Mine (not MN, but s.n.) has caught up! Flowering today (and yesterday, unnoticed, it would seem):

Ay. einsteinii aureiflora 'euanthema'

[ralphrmartin]

Phil, yours looks a little different, but is surely a nice plant too.

[Phil_SK]

Yes, smaller flowers and a paler throat. According to my list, I have a few plants under the name euanthema knocking about - I'll have to fish them out.

[ralphrmartin]

Most of the plants I have labelled as R. euanthema are impostors. Same is true for R. tuberosa, and a couple of other "misunderstood" names.