Parodia magnifica (formerly Notocactus magnificus). It has nice lemon yellow flowers in the summer. This little group of 5 is about to become 6 but not by the normal route. The biggest barrel is about 6 inches tall but its not the one that is have an identity crisis.
Daisy
One of my few surviving cacti, with the potential to be a real beast some day. I put it in a big bed facing south and it seems to like the space.
Are any of them developing a split personality? I've seen mammillaria do this but never a Parodia.
The split personality thing is a bit weird for a Parodia, I think... was there some event that set this off, or did it just happen on its own?
It just happened on its own and pretty fast too. I'd say just in the last month.
That's pretty cool. I have seen plants that normally only branch from the base can sometimes generate a second growth point up top. Not common, sort of an anomaly. Among my baby Euphorbia seedlings for example maybe 1 in 30. Some kind of minimally disordered growth, not very far along the continuum up to the crest.
It will be interesting to see if it completely splits.
Is this a case of fasciation?
That's a good question and I have been thinking about it.
It was a perfectly normal barrel living in a family of barrels until it started growing this spring. The rest of the plant doesn't seem to be affected. I don't understand the cause of fasciation well enough to figure that out. I assume that just one part of the plant could be affected but would it show up on an already established barrel? Instead of one just emerging from the ground?
That kind of abnormal growth often comes and goes. A normal plant may have just 1 fasciated branch, a fasciated plant may have several normal branches. I had a normal Graptopetalum that branched normally last year and each of the 4 new branches started to crest (separately) shortly thereafter. After I cut down the crested branches and potted each one up separately, two have since started to grow what appear to be normal rosettes. I wish I could say what makes these things (un)happen.
This message was edited Apr 9, 2015 4:22 PM
