I have this Orbea bloom....

... and I have been trying to ID it.

I've been looking at Orbea photos till I am seeing "stars" .

The closest I've come is Orbea lutea ssp vaga. The color just isn't quite the same.

Wondering if anyone has an idea or any other references where I can look?

How about this one? http://cacti.fr/Asclep/Orbea%20caudata%20ssp%20caudata.html

Thank you so much! I do believe you have it! I had decided it was an Orbea caudata but couldn't find any in this color. Please tell me where you found that link? I have perused more asclepiad pages today but missed that one. As a result, I have developed a serious lust for more of these plants !!!

I looked back in my journal and did receive a caudata but it has never bloomed. This may be it but.... there are two distinctly different types of plants in this same pot and the other one now has flower buds on it. I will be curious to see what kind of blooms it delivers.

The plant these blooms came from is the mottled stems laying horizontally at 3 oclock. Would it be possible for a portion of the plant to revert to a previous plant?

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question. I only have one Huernia and am interested in more, also. Here is the site http://cacti.fr/Asclep/Asclepiadaceae.html

Thanks for that link. At times like this, I wish I was not on dialup. Oh well, it probably keeps me out of trouble.

While I was searching yesterday, I found this page that was in an earlier post by Faeden. It has links on different Asclepiad sites if you are interested. http://www.stapeliads.info/serv/core.s3?action=page::;doc=p_links

I do like the Huernias also with their shy blooms.

WOW what cool blooms!

They are! and fragrant too... smelly like rotting flesh. What's not to love?

Hey, they would love to be next to all my amorphophallus blooms!

That they would.... lol

Podster, I think the shape of that bloom is spectacular. How big is it? Don

Love your photos, podster! I've always enjoyed the Asclepiads, but only in the last couple of years have I been able to grow them successfully. I finally learned to ignore them enough!

I like Martin Heigan's website, but also love his two Flickr sites. Among the three you can go into serious Asclepiad overload.

"Ascplepiad overload" I have been there this weekend. I toured thru M Heigans' Orbea photos as well and the above link which you had posted a few years back, plus a few more sites. I found one of these same blooms posted on a blog from South America. It was purple and green and I could seriously lust after that one! Couldn't read the blog thread and now, I couldn't find that photo but it was gorgeous.

Don ~ this is not the best photo but in comparison with a quarter... The yellow Orbea is the same size but I am charmed by the points on this one.

LOL!! Been there, done that! Next time you go to a website which is in a foreign language use the Google Translator. They do a pretty good job.

I hadn't ever used Google translator. I was going to use BabelFish but was on a mission and forgot about it. Google is far more efficient I believe.

So, I just spent sometime touring thru the 'history' of this past weekends' searches and found it!

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://lisipatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/suculenta-em-flor-succulent-bloom.html&ei=FZeiTMSsBcOclge2kYCSBA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDAQ7gEwBg&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dorbea%2Bcaudata%2Bbloom%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS%26prmd%3Dfd

I don't know why but I WANT IT! lol

Wow ! great pics!

I know what you mean, podster! I'd love to have it too. Did you decide it was O. lutea or O. caudata?

In my uneducated opinion, it is O. caudata. Caudata meaning with a tail which is indicative of the tips of the flower petals. Lutea indicates the bloom color yellow.

What threw me on IDing mine was the color as all the photos I found online showed yellow blooms which I suspect should be called O. caudata lutea.

I have been shopping thru many of the online succulent sites in search of that particular bloom color on the link. It is one to aspire to...

All this research has made me jump to other conclusions also... such as I will never again attempt an ID with out a bloom on Orbea or Caralluma which I now find has been moved to the Orbea category. Never too old to learn or to be humbled. 8 /

I have a friend who is seriously into Asclepiads, and most of the time he won't even hazard a guess as to what a plant is without the bloom. So if he can't figure it out, how does anyone expect us to? LOL!! I think you did a great job with all of the research you did to determine which plant was yours. Good for you!

good for me??? I don't know. All it seems to do is feed the addiction! LOL And the credit for this ID goes to Smashedcactus. I was only getting more confused.

I can see why one cannot ID these. The stems are all so similar and vary only by moisture levels and sun exposure. It will make me keep every one long enough to see the blooms before they are shared as duplicates. And just think, I might have given that purple/green bloomer away or might still have it.

Anyone know of a good online orbea seller? 8 )

HEHEHEHEHE!!!

Here are a couple of sources that currently have Orbeas:

Mesa Gardens (look under "Other Succulent Plants"): http://www.mesagarden.com/
Miles To Go: http://www.miles2go.com/

Thanks... I have toured Miles2go, one of the better sites. I will visit mesagarden later tonight. Thought of a couple more to check. Did someone say Bob Smoley was shutting down? Their inventory is sparse.

Mesa Garden has a lot of Orbeas. What are the others you thought of? I looked at a few nurseries, like Living Stones and Shoal Creek, which I thought would have Orbeas and they didn't. Where did you hear Bob was closing? I hadn't heard that.

Seems I read one of the growers was closing and I wondered if it were that one when I saw their diminished inventory. There it is again... sometimers disease.

Looked at the common ~ Logees, Glasshouse Works. Arid Lands, J & J Cactus & Succulents. Shoal Creek Succulents. I'm sure there were more but all in all I am finding them lacking in selection.

I have to admit, I am also one of those instant gratification people that doesn't have patience for seeds. After all, it took nurturing this plant for four years to get a bloom... you know, this Orbea caudata was a freebee that was sent with a plant order in 2006. I think from an ebay seller. What a treat!

Wonder which grower it was that was closing. Guess we'll see. If I can remember (LOL!) I'll ask around on Sunday when I go to the San Jose C&S Society sale. A couple of people who'll be there hear a lot about what's going on in the C&S world.

Forgot about J&J. I should add them to my Favorites. I was surprised Arid Lands didn't have many Asclepiads. FYI: Bob Smoley has always been neglectful in updating his website, that's probably really why you don't see a lot there. I don't think he's embraced online purchasing yet. LOL!!

I've kind of enjoyed growing some things from seed. Right now I have a LOT of Dudleya brittonii and some Lithops which need to be repotted after only a couple of years. I'm thinking about getting some seed from Mesa Garden, but he has so much I can't decide what I'd like.

I just ordered some seeds from Mesa Gardens and included in my order the mixed stapeliads (I couldn't choose.) He just left them out and didn't charge me....I wonder why?

And a few more... FranJ and Plant Delights Nursery, Rare Plants Research, Top Tropicals, YuccaDo, Cactus Mall.

Ouch MaryEv ~ that would bend me out of shape. I've not ever ordered from them.

I am surprised I have shopped till my eyeballs are tired and haven't bought the first thing. I will look at the GardenWatchDog first tho.

And why are there no succulent sellers linked to the PlantFile pages?

MaryEv - You need to ask Steve Brack that question. I'm sure he'd answer you.

podster, if I were you my head would be spinning right now. What a lot of shopping in just a short while!! Hope you find what you're looking for soon.

My guess re the succulent sellers is that if they have to constantly update PF re what they have to offer they probably don't find it cost-efficient. Most of them have a pretty broad base of clients already. But I don't know how this feature of PF works re the sellers.

Well, I just got lost in the GardenWatchDog doing an advanced search for businesses with succulent in their name. I toured many links (most in CA) and found virtually no Asclepiads. Not sure what I am looking for but there is a definite void in that type of plant.

I think so too. Mesa and Miles were the only two I found that had any kind of a selection.

If a person is lusting after Huernia, I will definitely steer them to Shoal Creek http://www.shoalcreeksucculents.com/Webasyst/shop/index.php?categoryID=139&offset=50

I need to email some of the smaller growers and see if they have any other selection.

MaryEv - I just had a similar experience this month - placed an order with Mesa Gardens for seeds & plants, but only received the seeds (and only charged for the seeds). I emailed Steve, and he answered immediately that they were out of the plants I ordered (he doesn't appear to update his available and sold out lists very frequently). I'd wish he'd contact prior to sending so you can perhaps order something else that IS available to make the shipping worth it though....

Thanks all. I decided not to pursue it this time because I just figured he didn't have any of the mix and it's okay with me to wait. I was a little disappointed, but I think I'll wait till next spring and order a few plants, instead (that way I'll know what I'm growing, which I prefer, anyway.)

I'm in a bit of a space crunch for all the plants that need to come inside tomorrow, (YIKES!) too.

I also have to add that I've had wonderful experiences with Shoal Creek, Miles2go, and Mesa, also! Are they what you would consider "large" growers?

I wouldn't consider any of them "large" growers, especially Miles. I've been to his place and it looks the same as many of the hobby growers we have around here. I don't think his space is much bigger than that I work in at the Garden.

I'm surprised I haven't found any one in particular that specializes in Asclepiads. Only a grower in Amsterdam and they no longer ship to the US.

Minime8484 ~ are there any good succulent growers in the valley that may do online sales? I had thought about emailing FranJ. He used to handle some Staps. Think he is in Tucson...

Woo Hoo!! That is one I hadn't been to yet. Thank you!

Well, they aren't in the valley but in Tucson - I'd recommend Sticky Situation. Great people, great plants.

http://www.stickysituation.com/

I wasn't even aware that orbeas existed till I saw your thread. Now I am seeig them all over! LOL

From a show the other day: Orbea aurantiaca