CSSA VOL.81, July-August 2009 No.4 |
Cephalium-bearing and globular cacti of eastern Brazil Part 2. | Marlon C Machado |
Camelhair brush confidential : Hybridizing Fouquieria | Daniel Houston & Joseph Stead |
Conophytum confessional : Three new species from South Africa | Steven A.Hammer |
Under Discussion : Crassula Part 1: Trees, shrubs, and necklaces | Fred Dortort |
Book Review : Gymnocalycium by Graham Charles | Massimo Meregalli |
Book Review : Adenium : Sculptural Elegance, Floral Extravagance by Mark
Dimmitt, Gene Joseph and David Palzkil | Brian Kemble |
The search for Madagascar's Aloe andringitrensis And a chance encounter
with Perrierosedum madagascariense | Kelly Griffin |
Stylothelae dilemmas, old and new | W.A. & Betty Fitz Maurice |
Succulents on stamps Opuntia, Part 3 | Peg Spaete |
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On the cover Unsatisfied with the slow trickle of succulent novelties, a few intrepid succulentists turn to hybridizing in search of new forms and flowers, and from their efforts have
come some of the most vigorous, beautiful, and prized succulent collectibles. Recent efforts at hybridizing members of the genus Fouquieria - a genus of spiny, xerophytic trees popular with fat-plant collectors-have produced plants with a surprising degree of hybrid vigor. Our cover features a hybrid newly-named in this issue, Fouquieria 'Pink Instead', a play on the name of chief hybridizer, Joe Stead, and a reference to the plant's pink flowers, which are a perfect intermediate between the white flowers of the seed parent, F.purpusii, and the carmine blooms of the pollen donor, F.macdougalii. And amazingly, this vigorous hybrid can grow a meter in its first year (imagine the opportunities this
presents for bonsai training!), and seedlings may flower in their second growing season.
Dan Houston captured our cover image and, in the accompanying article, takes us
through the process of producing this and other crosses, a little-explored avenue of breeding with a great deal of promise.
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