Product Description

Like the other titles in this series, this handsome full-color book is accessible but provides sufficient depth and detail to satisfy more experienced cactus enthusiasts. It includes an extensive A-Z listing, with useful information on cultivation and propagation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #281670 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Review
"One of the best on the subject for beginners and experienced growers alike." George Cohen, Booklist, July 1, 1999 (Booklist )

"With increasing American interest in a southwestern gardening style, the publication of The Plantfinder's Guide to Cacti David Salman, American Gardener, September/October 1999 (American Gardener )

"One of the best on the subject for beginners and experienced growers alike."
—George Cohen, Booklist, July 1, 1999 (Booklist )

"With increasing American interest in a southwestern gardening style, the publication of The Plantfinder's Guide to Cacti & Other Succulents couldn't have come at a better time.[T]his book provides very useful information on cacti and succulents and will, I believe, spawn more interest in these often-overlooked garden plants."
—David Salman, American Gardener, September/October 1999 (American Gardener )

About the Author
Paul Klaassen is an amateur cacti grower and writes internationally on the subject. He is a member of British Cacti and Succulent Society.

Keith Grantham has been growing succulents for 40 years and is a member of the British Cactus and Succulent Society and the Linnean Society. He judges exhibits and shows his own plants.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
So many succulent plants are threatened with extinction that their propagation is an important aspect of the hobby. The popular methods used are to raise plants from seed or take cuttings. In addition, grafting plants can greatly reduce the age at which they will flower, increase the number of flowers and increase the number of offsets produced. For very rare plants, micropropagation can be used to take cells from the growing point of the plant and grow these in laboratory conditions into "proper" plants. Using this technique, Mammillaria hernandezii was grown during the 1980s in sufficient numbers to satisfy demand for the plant in the UK, thus reducing the threat of extinction through over-collection of plants in their natural habitat. The main disadvantage of this and other methods of vegetative reproduction is that the gene pool of plants in cultivation is limited. Raising plants from seed, on the other hand, produces specimens where the genes of both parents are represented in the new plant, thus providing a range of variability within the species. However, unless great care is taken to prevent the introduction of 'foreign' pollen by insects visiting the plants, unintentional hybrids can result.

From Chapter 9, "A-Z Cacti and Other Succulents"


MAMMILLARIA
Haworth


Cactaceae
There are still nearly 500 accepted or provisionally accepted species in this genus, despite some very thorough research in recent years. Mammillaria species are among the most popular cacti — many are easy to grow and, as they remain relatively small, rarely outgrow their welcome. Most can be relied upon to produce an abundance of flowers that are followed later by often brightly coloured berries.

Most Mammillaria species are freely offsetting and form large clumps of globular stems, each being 5-10 cm (2-4 in) in diameter. There are, however, many exceptions, with some species — such as Mammillaria matudae, where the 3¼ cm (1¼ in) diameter stem can reach 20-30 cm (8-12 in) in length — forming a snake-like plant that has given rise to the variety name serpentiformis.

Other species remain as solitary stems that over many years can grow to 50 cm (20 in) tall and 30 cm (12 in) across. New species continue to be discovered in Mexico, but are seldom seen in cultivation as the Mexican government has forbidden the export of plants and seed.


Mammillaria theresae

Cutak
This species is named after Theresa Bock who, together with her husband John, discovered the plants on the eastern slopes of the Coneto Mountains in Durango, Mexico, in 1996. It is one of the most distinctive dwarf members in the series Loniflorae and comes from the Sierra Madre Occidental, where it is found only at its type locality.