Friday, April 16, 2010

Pretty picture: NOID cactus with a big white flower


I spent yesterday repotting. Like, the entire day. A lot of that time was spent just trying to come up with a list of what needed to be repotted in the first place, or what stuff might need to be repotted but would have to be checked first, or what stuff didn't need to be repotted so much as just divided and as long as I was dividing stuff anyway maybe I should take some cuttings of this thing next to it, and so on and so forth. The actual repotting of things only took maybe a couple hours, and when it was all over, I had 21 new plants (divisions and cuttings of things) and about as many old plants in larger pots. Which is great.

Unfortunately, my to-do list was about 150 items long yesterday (truth!), and this barely made a dent. So I am sad.


Anyway. This cactus was sitting around blooming last Friday when I was at the ex-job. I don't know anything about it beyond what you can see from the photos, but the flower is definitely interesting. Not that cactus flowers usually aren't.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, and here I thought I had a big job ahead of me and I have less than a dozen plants to repot! Whew! Now you're making me feel even worse for procrastinating on the repotting thing...

Very pretty flower on the cactus. Wish I could grow them but I don't get anywhere near enough light where I am. Boo hoo!

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

If you can grow cactus, you hardly ever have to repot or water (I don't water at all from Nov. to March)and they do reward you for just leaving them alone with beautiful flowers like the one you posted.

Anonymous said...

wow, such a long list. for cactus, what is the rule of thumb for when they need to be repotted? I am not as familiar with them. Matti

cconz said...

I think cactus blooms are some of the most beautiful. But, here today gone tomorrow. That's why i appreciate them when i do see them. I can sympathize with you, on your long to do lists.

Liza said...

Ugh, repotting is a LOT of work. Especially when you add all those chores - it made me tired just thinking about all your work!

Ivynettle said...

I imagine with your amount of plants, a round of repotting does take a while! I totally understand the getting distracted by the possibility of propagation - that's how I ended up with most of the plants I'm now desperately trying to give away.
You're making me feel a bit better about my own to-do list. It's nowhere near 150 items, and I did get one of the largest ones done today.

Leilani Smith said...

It is in the Euphorbia family. It is a huge, diverse family. But I do not know which specific member it is.

mr_subjunctive said...

SmithBiology:

There is no way that's in the Euphorbia family.

Both the big, showy flowers and the areoles from which the spines emerge are characteristic of the Cactaceae.

Unknown said...

I suspect this is Gymnocalycium capillaense Check out the pictures here: http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus=Gymnocalycium&species=capillaense Your plant has got the spines of the plant in the first picture and the flower of the plant in the second picture, LOL!

Anyway it is certainly a Gymnocalycium.

Anonymous said...

It is a Hamatocactus Setispinus Brevispinus :)

mr_subjunctive said...

Anonymous:

All but two of the first 50 or 60 results that come up for Hamatocactus setispinus "brevispinus" are of yellow flowers with an orange or red-orange center, not white with a pink center. Not saying Google can't misidentify something, but usually when things are misidentified, at least some of the results are correct.