Death from old age; longevity

[Peter A]

I've something that came to me labelled "Rebutia Kesselringiana" fifty years ago that I suspect ought to be labelled Rebutia senilis va. Kesselringiana" (It looks like senilis, but has chrome yellow flowers). It remained solitary until this year when it started producing branches (rather than offsets - they are half-way up). It is quite large for a senilis - 8cm across and 7cm high - but is healthy, flowers well, and is still growing happily. Its seedlings have all remained solitary apart from one which produced a single branch. I think that one must have had insect damage to the root - it rotted from the root up, but since it continued growing at the top and the integument showed no change, it was a long time before I noticed. When I did, I decided to remove the branch, which was by then quite large, in case it was unaffected by the rot. Much to my surprise I found the branch had put down roots into the rotting - and very putrescent - body of its parent! (Waste not, want not, I suppose) Replanting it elsewhere, where it is growing happily, and plucking out the parent plant, I discovered a single seedling 3mm across at the side of the pot hidden beneath the long hair-like spines of the original plant. Deciding it was too small to repot, I continued watering it. To my surprise in the 'crater' left by the removal of the original plant about a week later I had more than fifty minute seedlings. This plant had not flowered for years, so the seed must have been quite old, and patiently waiting for the parent to breathe its last! - Immortality? Yes - and offspring! But it took my intervention to provide the space...

[Asclepiad Stevo]

That is gross and interesting in equal measure! Any photos, Peter?

[Peter A]

If I must...

This is the original plant photographed this spring. The one that died was its somewhat elderly seedling:

This is the branch that rooted into the body of the dying seedling. The flattened side (facing) was where it lay tight against the body of the dying plant, and the brown staining to the spines is from the putrescence of that. It hasn't affected the plant itself, just the spines - and will, of course, grow out:

This is the pot it came out of, with the 'crater' in the middle from which the dead plant was removed. (The root must still be there, but rotted.) The 3mm seedling which caused me to go on watering is at the top, a little right of centre. The bulk of the new seedlings, curiously, are in the middle of the 'crater' rather than outside or at the edge. They must have waited years for the sudden chance! [Query: do they need light to germinate, or does the plant itself give off some chemical to prevent it happening?]

[Asclepiad Stevo]

[Query: do they need light to germinate, or does the plant itself give off some chemical to prevent it happening?]

They don't need light to germinate, just warmth and moisture (and vitality). I'm pretty sure there's no hormonal suppressant to inhibit germination, but I'm (unfortunately) not a botanist so take everything I say with a huge pinch of salt.
The only plants/trees I am familiar with that does do this are coniferous species, most effectively Leylandii which apart from extreme water stress for anything trying to grow underneath them, also drop nasty chemicals to keep competition away.

[Peter A]

So does privet... But the fact is they did not germinate for some years, and did so immediately the grown plant was removed.

[Julie]

Amazing story Peter - and beautiful little seedlings!

[Aiko]

Had to discover today that one of my Ariocarpus trigonus plants is not going to make it to an old age, although it is of quite an age already at a size of about 15 centimeters. A final time watering 10 days ago seems to have been taken too much fait in the weather forecast. No sunny weather as promised; some pots were still wet after my return to my greenhouse resulting in at least one casualty. Some others can probably [hopefully] be saved - as they still feel hard - after taking them out of their pots and let the soil dry out without the plants.

Lesson learned to never feed my Ariocarpus water after the final August heat... Or move closer to the equator.

[Asclepiad Stevo]

I had to leave my collection with my mum with strict caveats as to who she could distribute my remaining plants, as I left home (glasshouse) and place I slept, when I went to study at Askham Bryan Hort' College in Yorkshire. I left behind an Echinocereus grandis that I'd grown from tiny and longed to see flower. Still one of my favourites. When I went home for xmas I saw around 30 plants that I loved, in a corner of a shed, either a diamorphus black mess, or worse, an etiolated crown reaching for the northern light thru the dusty window. I hated my mum for that. I'd given away my Turbinicarpus and Islaya collection at my local BCSS branch, but had over 2000 plants. It still rankles. Boo hoo.

[KarlR]

At the natural history museum in Kristiansand, Norway, where I grew up, there is an ancient Echinocactus grusonii. It's approximately 350 years old, and as far as I know it's age is documented (at least I believe it is). It came to the museum from a German collection, where I believe it had been grown for a very long time. If the story is true it must have been among the first E. grusonii to come to Europe.

[Lindsey]

an ancient Echinocactus grusonii. It's approximately 350 years old

Wow
Is it still there? I would love to see a photo!!

Sorry to hear your news Stevo