The Amateurs’ Digest Archive

Many thanks for your recent e-mail searching for information on Hylotelephium.  This generic name was erected some years ago, in 1977 to be precise, by H. Ohba, with Sedum telephium  as the type.

Grandma died (rest her soul) and left this huge Jade behind with no instructions how to look after it. It was very healthy but now, after a year in my care, the plant looks very sick. There are brown spots on the leaves, the stems are falling over and the plant has never flowered.

By Ed Perfect, Kitchener, Ontario Featured image:  AI-generated text-to-image of Welwitschia mirabilis  in flower. Welwitschia mirabilis  is a unique, tap-rooted plant from the Namib desert in the south-west of Africa. Because of its rarity and tap-rooted (non-clustering) nature, the only practical method of propagation is by seed. I have about ten years experience

Notocactus uebelmannianus  flowers at an early age.  In fact it flowered the first year and quickly outgrew the small two inch pot it came in.  I grow most of my cacti in a mixture of John Innes compost mixed with coarse grit and perlite in the ratio of one part grit, one part Perlite to three parts John Innes.

Those who often dismiss opuntias as nothing but prickly, uninteresting plants, might be overlooking some very interesting species not the least of which is Opuntia pachypus. This cactus was first described by Karl Schumann in 1904.

The Afrikaans common name “kanniedood” (literally “cannot die”) refers to the exceptional ability of all commiphoras to retain their water content and withstand drought for long periods.  To my knowledge, very little is written in C&S; literature or on the internet on the succulent commiphoras.

Plants have been flowering away for several weeks in shops and garden centers.  You bought one, attracted by the lovely flowers, and soon after you got it home, all the buds and/or flowers fell off.  You may wonder why.

If anyone has ever told you that cacti and succulents don’t ever need much water, be assured that they are dead wrong.  It is a widely believed myth that cacti and succulents need very little water, if any, and that cacti in particular can go forever without it.

Buying a new plant is exciting. If it is healthy when you buy it, it should give you years of enjoyment. The most critical time in the life of your new plant is going to be the first few weeks in your care.

The intensity of the acid/alkali reaction of soil or compost is commonly expressed in terms of pH units. pH stands for pondus hydrogenii, the concentration of hydrogen ions.

Post-mortem examination of people killed by Euphorbia latex has revealed severe inflammation of the walls of the stomach and intestine and in some cases the wall of the stomach has been perforated.  The poison is called euphorbon about which little is known.

Epiphyllums (type Epiphyllum phyllanthus) are epiphytic cacti with flattened leaf-like stems and large white flowers that open at night.  Outer petals usually have some color, usually yellow.

This species is occasionally known as Jatropha cathartica and not very common in collections here.  It is highly prized as a neat, compact and handsome plant, bearing many small and pretty red flowers in midsummer, being very suitable for the show bench.

Cacti and succulents can safely be sent through the mail, but if you are mailing plants from one country to another, you should contact the Plant Protection Division of the Department of Agriculture for that country to find out what the guidelines are about plants you are allowed to mail and where you can mail them.

Adeniums are from Arabia through Kenya to Tanzania and also south-west Africa. They are stem succulents with thickened tuberous stems and thick branches not to mention lovely flowers.  The milky sap of adeniums is VERY poisonous.

Nearly everybody’s grandma grew Hen and Chicks in her garden.  She could enjoy these reliable succulents with minimum time spent on their care.  Each year the central, fleshy rosette would surround itself with little duplicate plants, hence Hen and Chicks.

These plants grow in the most inhospitable place possible, the dry coastal deserts of Peru and Chile, a desert directly on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, where rain is almost unknown.

The only plants that should be grown in terrariums are those which benefit from the cool, humid, shaded environment these containers create.  No succulent plants, including cacti, will get any benefit from being grown under these conditions because these are not the conditions under which these plants thrive.

In the early 1980s, the classification of the monocot families was examined closely, and, in 1985, Dahlgren, Clifford & Yeo published The Families of the Monocotyledons.  Structure, Evolution and Taxonomy (Springer-Verlag, Berlin).

By Steve Miles, Colorado (6 April 2001) Foreword:  Some people dream of having a year-’round outdoor succulent garden.  This nature lover made his dream come true …   Steve Miles, Colorado I’m a life-long lover of Mother Earth and anything that roots in Her and an addict of Desert flora starting about 7 years ago … to me a source of nutrition for the soul.   Photos: