Here's a few of mine, most are nice or interesting to look at but the Gymno is bizarre & ugly even by my standards.
My variegated gymnocalycium saglionis, yes its UGLY its also odd as the yellow part grows faster than the green part, normally you find the green is dominant & faster & will often over grow the variegation but this one is special, as Colin would say 'a plant only a mother could love' .
This is its first seed pod & even the pod is UGLY.
Uebellmannia pectinifera
Seed numbers vary a lot per pod & no germination yet so maybe a seed that needs to age.
Lophophora jourdaniana lovely dark flowers & darker pods than the normal loph willaimsii but you don't get many seed to a pad
Echinocactus horizontalonius big pod & a few seeds if your lucky but they have been germinating Ok
Tina
varied collection of succulents and cacti but I especially like Euphorbia's, Ariocarpus and variegated agaves.
The fruit in Photo 2 looks like a Pac-Man waiting to devour all the baddies!
Appropriate on the 40th Anniversary of Pac-Man.
Tony Roberts
Treasurer, Haworthia Society
Chairman, Tephrocactus Study Group
Moderator, BCSS Forum
Kent
(Gasteria, Mammillaria, small Opuntia, Cleistocactus and Sempervivum are my current special interests)
Hi Tony,
Yes thats what I thought too, seriously odd pod.
Ralph,
I get more seed from the long spined green one so it normally just gets put together, pick n mix for what you end up with.
I'll do it different next year.
Tina
varied collection of succulents and cacti but I especially like Euphorbia's, Ariocarpus and variegated agaves.
That's not a pod... That's a pod! Stapelia leendertziae has crossed itself with something in the greenhouse. Getting prepared for a lot of dandelion like seeds when it decides to break. Sorry for the poor quality, camera's focussing really doesn't like the shape...
I'm sure there are bigger pods out there, although we may be getting into "Invasion of the body snatchers" territory!
In the past year I've had three Asclepiadaceae throw up pods. Orbea variegata double pod, Stapelia leendertziae single pod and Ceropegia sandersonii, which had a massive double pod. I sowed the latter early this year and they are all climbers/trailers with differing leaf shapes and patterns and one has flowered with a typical sandersonii flower, but they can only have crossed with C woodii. The variegata seed I've just collected and I will collect the leendertziae. I've never had them set seed before, are they self fertile? Not sure whether to wait until Spring to sow them though as I'm guessing they tend to like heat.
The size of the pods must represent quite an investment by the plants and they don't seem to produce a lot of seed in relation to the size.. The only pity is that my enthusiasm for them is shared by mealy bugs....
Great topic, some succulents seem to have more developed seed distribution than most cacti (Pterocactus excepted?) i.e. not reliant on something eating the fruit without which the seed ends up all over the parent plant or at its base where it will eventually compete with it. I wonder how many restricted populations may be due to absence of a seed distributor for whatever reason.
!.
Stapelia leendertziae has crossed itself with something in the greenhouse. Getting prepared for a lot of dandelion like seeds when it decides to break. Sorry for the poor quality, camera's focussing really doesn't like the shape...