Monilaria times three

[Mesemaniac]

Here are three monilarias in flower, to brighten the winter days. Clockwise from the bottom right: M. pisiformis, M. obconica, M. moniliformis.



[attachment 8509 Monilaria.jpg]

[sechjoh]

Those flowers are so very nice looking

Thanks for sharing, Tim!

[Tom J]

Excellent pics Tim.
The Mojave desert seems a better place than Belgium.
That's one of the plants that is unlikely to flower ever in Western Europe: too dark in winter.
They would be a good reason to move to the south of Spain or a similar place in the US or south africa

Tom

[BrianMc]

Hi Tim,

Wonderful flowers. Is the magenta flower colour normal or is it very variable? I have a M.moniliformis that I sowed in 2001 and one M.obconica sown in 1995 but it still struggles to fill a 2.75" pot. Obviously no flowers on mine. I have read that they can live for hundreds of years!::o So they are not in any rush:diss:
How old are yours from seed? Are they similar to Mitrophyllum in that they need to age before flowering or is it winter sun, or both?

It's still pretty weird here in my corner of Mesembworld. I still have lithops karasmontana bella in flower, various faucaria in full bloom. I even have a few Frithia humilis with fully formed flowers waiting for a sunny day to open! Quite a lot of conos flowered in Autumn, but not as good a show as usual. I can see the magenta flowers of lots of my C.luckhoffii under their skins wondering whether to put in an appearance or not - always a worry as this can lead to rot and body loss.I have had flowers on a couple of C.obscurum, a species (if I'm not mistaken) should flower in summer?

No sign of flowers on my Odontophorus plants, which have flowered each year in the last 3. My cephalophyllums and Acrodons are not interested this year. I even have a flower on Rebutia 'Apricot Ice' and a number of Haworthia thrusting flowers upwards which by my reckoning is almost two months early.

I wonder what sort of anomaly 2008 has in store for us?????:conf:

[Stuart Estell]

> I wonder what sort of anomaly 2008 has in store
> for us?????:conf:

Blossfeldias and Turbs in midwinter, probably...

...no, wait, that's already happened this year...

[Tom J]

Hi Brian, as far as I know, monilaria needs very intense light to form its flowers. If I remember well, they can flower at the age of 5 years already, so not like mitrophyllum. These Knersvlakte species get double light by the reflection on the white quartz.

Tom

[Maria J]

Cor! They're beautiful Tim! Thanks for brightening up a very wet dreary day here...

[iann]

[quote]I wonder what sort of anomaly 2008 has in store [/quote]

I'd consider it an anomolay only if we get a normal year with four seasons in the right order

Great plants, Tim. A little older than 5 years, I think?

[Mesemaniac]

Hi Brian,

> Is the magenta flower colour normal or is it very variable?

Very variable. Ihlenfeldt says in Hartmann's Handbook that the petals can be "white, yellow, orange, salmon, red or purple". Haven't seen all those colors yet. These plants are twenty years old from seed this month. They have been flowering for many years.

[AJ]

All beautiful, the magenta one particularly so!

Adrian