One for the Judges' Course? Solved

[Terry S.]

Some Forum members enjoy trying to work out the identity of various plants, it is also a necessary skill if one is going to try to pass the BCSS judges course. So here is photo of a plant that flowered a couple of weeks ago:

It is actually very distinctive with those tightly-hooked spines, but is fairly new to cultivation. The pot in the background is about 7cm diameter.

[Werewolf]

Austrocactus?

[Terry S.]

And a special ID for Werewolf only! Note the offsets in silly places. The flowers are redder than I would expect, so I wonder if there is some hybridity?

[el48tel]

And a special ID for Werewolf only! Note the offsets in silly places.


IMGP2999_edited.jpg

I'll be interested to know what this one is (my guess is Gymnocalycium perhaps marianae?)
No idea about the main image!

[KarlR]

Is the first one Austrocactus longicarpus?

[Tina]

First one reminds me of a pediocactus

[ralphrmartin]

Austrocactus pauxillus?

[Terry S.]

One gold star for Werewold and Karl, but two gold stars for Ralph; it is indeed Austrocactus pauxillus. All three of you can all have your judges' badges too, but I have no idea which show group it is in - that concept is too difficult for mere mortals and requires attending the secret initiation ceremonies held each year near Northampton.

Austrocactus pauxillus was described by Elisabeth and Norbert Sarnes in the German journal Kakteen Anderen Sukkulenten 67(6): 154. 2016 [Jun 2016], so it hasn't been around for very long. There are photos of wild plants on their website http://cactus-de-patagonia.de/austrocactus-pauxillus which show just the tips of stems above ground in its habitat near Domuyo in Mendoza Province, Argentina. My plant came from them at ELK and has formed a small cluster of somewhat elongated stems and flowered for the first time this May. The spines start off being quite small on young stems but later they develop these thick spines with a very tight hook at their tips.

It is one of the more northerly austrocacti and I have not yet tried growing it without heat. However along with my pediocacti and sclerocacti, my small austrocactus collection gets transferred to an open sided cold frame for the summer to allow growing conditions to be cooler than if they stayed in the greenhouse. I have rooted a couple of offsets quite easily and the Sarnes duo state that seeds germinate relatively easily. This is in contrast to the widespread A. bertinii whose seeds are reluctant to germinate. I think that as a species, it should make a nice addition to our collections.

[Terry S.]

The second photograph of the cactus with a red flower is Neoporteria (Eriosyce if you must) aspillagai. Werewolf gave a very interesting talk about this group of cacti to our branch last week, fortunately it was not a full moon and there were no incidences of lycanthropy. He told us that he had never flowered this species which is why I posted this photo after his austrocactus ID. What worries me about my plant is that published photos show the petals to be a quite pale orange with a darker red mid-stripe, but the overall morphology agrees well. Maybe it is just natural variation?

[KarlR]

I had never heard of A. pauxillus until Ralph suggested it. It looks like a very handsome plant!

I did think about N. aspillagai for the other one, but it looks quite dissimilar to the one in my own collection. Mine has much more salmon/light brown-like flowers, and the ribs are thicker. The spines are shorter and less pectinate too. It also offsets from lower down the body.

It's an interesting form you have, though!