Kew Gardens visit

[Maria J]

Interesting info & pictures! Thanks Marlon! Are their fruit edible as with some Opuntias?

[Marlon Machado]

Hi Maria,

The fruits probably are edible, but I never tried them

Here is a picture of the fruits (sorry, a bit out of focus)

[img]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc42 ... nsis02.jpg[/img]

Cheers,

[Maria J]

Blimey they certainly have some glochids on them!!
It amazed me to watch a series a few months ago on the Lemurs in Madagascar, eating the pads and fruit with apparently no concern of the spines!! They also leapt from plant to plant, which made me cringe!
I can understand the need to protect the plant, but surely fruit being eaten would be the most efficient way to distribute seeds?
I've never eaten a 'prickly pear' but my Mum loves them!!

[Herts Mike]

I was also at Kew last Saturday.

I am always disappointed at how few stapeliads are on show. There was a couple of small Hoodias in a sort of side area with a little Welwitschia and not much else.

Mike.

[Vic]

Nice to see how they grow in habitat Marlon, they certainly grow tall, from a distance you could mistake them for any other tree.

[Marlon Machado]

Hi Vic,

Yes they grow tall. It is only possible to get decent photographs of Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis in habitat if the plants photographed are small and young like those in the pictures above, and this only when they are growing at the edges of the forest and thus are clear of other vegetation. However most of the plants grow within the forest, and then there is nothing you can see, only this:

Dr. Nigel Taylor of Kew next to the trunk of a mature specimen:

[img]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc42 ... nsis07.jpg[/img]

Avaldo Soares-Filho next to another mature specimen:

[img]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc42 ... nsis06.jpg[/img]

Would you believe that these trees are actually cacti?

Maria,

The fruits have lots of glochids to protect them while they are immature, but once the fruits are ripe the glochids are shed and fall from the fruit. The fruits in the photograph were nearly fully ripe, and the glochids could be rubbed out quite easily. When the fruits are ripe they drop from the trees, and little animals in the ground eat them and disperse the seeds.

Cheers,

[Maria J]

Thanks again Marlon!!
You are right! No-one would ever imagine that they were cacti! Amazing!!

[Julie]

Wow, thanks for the photos Marlon! The "small" trees actually look huge.. and looking at the trunk you would never know it were a cactus.

I can see the logic with the seed glochids. "Don't eat until ready".

Even so, I would eat very carefully.

[Greenlarry]

[quote=The Birmingham Botanical Gardens c&s collection/display isn't anything worth writing home about Larry, there's some good specimens in there but overall it's quite disappointing, the collection of smaller cacti etc. are quite pathetic and are hidden behind hideous chicken wire][/quote]

Sounds like its definitely gone downhill since I visited then, i remenmber being quite impressed at the time!

Love that Pereskia bark close up BTW, and yes I read in a cactus book how Pereskia and Opuntia are quite similar, both being fairly primitive.

[Richard_G]

Apicra Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> By coincidence, I was at Kew on Saturday. How come
> you have no photos of the Henry Moore sculptures?
> They have a special exhibition of a couple of
> dozen pieces dotted around the grass (until
> March). With a blue sky, they looked very
> interesting - different from different directions.
> Wonderful textures - very photogenic.
>
> Oh, and I did visit the c&s in the PoW, of course!
> The Welwitchia looks quite happy. I too admire
> that Fero glaucescens (as in photo above). The new
> Bromeliad display above the water-lilies is
> settling in now and looking good.
>
> Always enjoyable for a visit.
>
> Best wishes,
> Derek Tribble,
> North London.

I did see the sculptures, but i'm afraid to say that they just look like something that my 5 year old niece would have created at school. I'm not an 'arty' type so really can not see what people find so impressive about these sculptures.

I did, however capture one in a photograph!

[img]http://www.rchrdgrov.pwp.blueyonder.co. ... /Moore.jpg[/img]