Unknown Melos/Melo

[Roger]

Hello All,

These are 2 different Melos or the same species of Melo, either way they are nameless. Help please.

This one is my mums'
[IMG]http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/ss26 ... C01254.jpg[/IMG]

This one is mine
[IMG]http://i582.photobucket.com/albums/ss26 ... C01256.jpg[/IMG]

[Marlon Machado]

Melocactus ernestii. Both.

Cheers,

Marlon.

[Roger]

Thanks Marlon:)

[IanW]

They could well be ernestii or oreas, I have trouble distinguishing between the two. Here are my plants:

Mature Melocactus ernestii:

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... estii2.jpg[/img]

Young M. ernestii:

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... iyoung.jpg[/img]

Melocactus oreas:

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... /oreas.jpg[/img]

Then a subspecies of M. ernestii, Melocactus ernestii ssp. longicarpus. The spines are much more red and seem to be a little shorter:

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... estiil.jpg[/img]

Going off topic slightly, here's M. neryi which I suggested was probably the Melocactus you asked for an ID for yesterday:

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... /neryi.jpg[/img]

And then back to your other topic about the rootless M. bahiensis I mentioned I had an M. matanzanus that was also in this state, but when placed on a mound of substrate and watered carefully still managed to plump up well. Here it is, so as you can see, they can be given a new lease of life even when they lose their roots! -

[img]http://www.xest-net.org/misc/ghouse/10- ... nzanus.jpg[/img]

I think your plants are probably both Melocactus oreas (mine is listed as ssp. multiceps btw). It is just the young Melocactus ernestii that shows similarities to your plants that leaves me in a little doubt coupled with the fact some of the spines do appear longer enough to lead me to second guess that they might indeed be M. ernestii!

Marlon will probably be able to tell either way

[IanW]

Oops, Marlon beat me to the punch anyway

Is my Melocactus oreas correctly labelled Marlon? If so then what are the key differences between the two, simply spine length or have I missed something a little more subtle ?

[Malcolm]

Hello Roger,

Nice plants, but your wanted list seems to have disappeared.

[Roger]

I have no idea why that is:(

[Marlon Machado]

Hi Ian,

All of your plants are M. ernestii. Right now I am in the airport on the way to Switzerland, and from there I am going to Prague to attend the Spiny Perspectives congress. I will answer with more detail when I get back in a couple of weeks.

Cheers,

Marlon.

[IanW]

Cheers Marlon!