"Fat Plants" : cacti,succulents, caudiciforms, whatever..

[johnw]

Hello John , I read your message again and looking again at your picture I think the one you show is not Haworthia retusa.I think it is Haworthia truncata .

I agree with Kris, that your plant is Haworthia truncata.  Johnw we discussed this before   
Take a look at reply #40 on this page
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4828.msg131103#msg131103

Thanks.  Well at least my memory is not failing me in that I retained retusa    !  Indeed the label was changed to truncata.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

Of my 7 little baby cactus plants bought at the supermarket, this is the third to flower. You've seen the first, with golden yellow flowers out the top and the second had 6 tiny straw yellow flowers around the tallest growth but I didn't get to take a picture. This one is gorgeous and has another bud on the opposite side of the rosette. A name would be nice.

[Diane Clement]

This one is gorgeous and has another bud on the opposite side of the rosette. A name would be nice.  

I'd guess at Gymnocalycium but don't know about the species

[Lesley Cox]

Thank you Diane. something to start with anyway.

[krisderaeymaeker]

Hello  Lesley ,it is hard to say on your picture. Notting wrong with your picture but have to see more detail of the spines to be sure.
Nevertheless  I think this is a Sulcorebutia. 

[cohan]

i was also thinking sulco, and on the c+s group had the suggestion of S steinbachii--
http://www.astrokaktus.com/CactusBase/cactusbase/s/10_Sulcorebutia_steinbachii___.jpg
http://www.astrokaktus.com/CactusBase/cactusbase/s/rod_sulcorebutia.html

with cacti, often id's are based partly on spination, so a close shot of an areole showing details of spines can be useful for id; obviously, flowers are also good

[Lesley Cox]

I'll try a close-up when both flowers are finished. I love the silkiness of the flower.

[krisderaeymaeker]

Again another Mesemb in flower. This one is Argyroderma ,but I miss the second name because I lost the label.  
Could be delaetii wich flower in different kind of colours?

[Hans J]

Lesley
your plant is pretty shure :

Sulcorebutia mentosa ( Ritter )

[Darren]

We went to a talk on cacti & succulents last night, at which we were told that 'flowering season was over for this year'. So I came home and reprimanded this Conophytum praesectum for being late....

The speaker clearly does not grow many Mesembs!

[cohan]

We went to a talk on cacti & succulents last night, at which we were told that 'flowering season was over for this year'. So I came home and reprimanded this Conophytum praesectum for being late....

The speaker clearly does not grow many Mesembs!

nor various other winter growing south africans, nor some mexican mammillarias for example, which flower in the dormant season-- M laui subducta should be starting here soon...

lovely cono--excellent response to coming winter!

[Darren]

Hi Cohan,

Being a beginner to cacti, and I have no Mammilaria at all, I was not aware that some flowered during dormancy, thanks for enlightening me. I guess this mainly applies to the lower altitude species rather than the 'alpine' ones?

[TheOnionMan]

Here's a tiny one I received labeled Esterhuysenia alpina "compact form", with a note that it is probably a Lampranthus, ex. collected on Matroosberg, West Cape at over 8000 ft, October 2008. The leaf tips are tinged pink, and this first (and last for the season) very late flower bud showing some pink in it. I wondered if the flower would open because we're suddenly getting some nights with temperatures dipping below freezing, mid 20s F.

On November 3rd, it went down 24 F (-4 C), but did warm up to about 43 F (6 C) during the day, lo and behold the flower started to open, undeterred by the hard frost.

[krisderaeymaeker]

We went to a talk on cacti & succulents last night, at which we were told that 'flowering season was over for this year'. So I came home and reprimanded this Conophytum praesectum for being late....
The speaker clearly does not grow many Mesembs!

Very nice Cono Darren. I agree with your quote ... and also agree with Cohan.
There are indeed so many Mesembs that going on in the autumn and even in winter. But also Crassula ,Aeonium,Aloe ... and other succulents.
But as Cohan mentioned there are also a lot of cacti ...There are the allready mentioned Mammillaria but here also : many Neochilenia,Neoporteria (now considered as Eriosyce)Zygocactus ... 

[Darren]

I do have a Crassula tecta in flower at the moment (a very large and ancient plant - one of my first succulents). Interesting about Neoporteria, the only one I have (napina var lembckei from 2001 Flores & Watson seed) flowers in early summer.