Open Gates. October :30 PM. A publication of the Gates Cactus & Succulent Society. NEXT MEETING, WEDNESDAY, October 5

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1 Open Gates A publication of the Gates Cactus & Succulent Society October 2011 NEXT MEETING, WEDNESDAY, October 5 7:30 PM AT THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MUSEUM I- 10 AT CALIFORNIA STREET IN REDLANDS, CA. Sweepstakes Winner October 2011 Plants of the Month Monsters Variegated, Monstrose, Crested Cacti and Succulents Speaker: Mike Green Human medical uses of Cacti & Succulents Save These Dates: October1 HomeTour October29 Annual GatesBarbeque November2Annual AuctionWeneedat least2goodplantsfrom YOU.7:00START From the President: Most of you know I really like the Echinocereus genus. After the Cactus Rescue team removed two small plants from my raised beds I now have lots of room for more. The Neochilensis was only about 12" diameter, but also 12 foot tall with the tap root. When I bought the Agave decipiens I assumed it was a small to medium Agave. Well, yes, until it grows. It gets up to a ten foot trunk, a five foot rosette and ten to twenty foot bloom stalk. Imagine a 35 foot tall agave in a 2 foot high raised bed five feet from a single story house. Oh, that Neochilensis supposedly only gets 50 foot tall. The point of this: know before you buy, and especially before you plant! Back in the late 50's, during another long drought, our government decided that Carnegia gigantea was an invasive plant and paid money to any who wanted to remove them from their property. Now they are protected. What happened? As water rates go higher, and supply drys up, more people are going drought tolerant. While drought tolerant includes more than just cactus and succulents, our annual auction is coming up at the November 2nd meeting. Plants ranging from show quality to landscape size will be available Mjg See you at the meeting President Mike Green Director Cap Strano firelab@echinocereus.org Director Tony Marino Vice President Don McGrew Director Rene Hernandez Treasurer Karen Roholt Director Kim Urman Secretary Line Marie Thrane Librarian Karen Fleisher Past President Buck Hemenway Greeter Teresa Wassman Membership Karen Roholt Editor Buck Hemenway Leadership Team 2011

2 October Speaker Mike Green our President, is a trained forensic scientist and has an ongoing interest in things medical. He has put together a very interesting program on how natives and settlers in the American Southwest used the endemic plant species in their daily lives for medicinal purposes with a strong emphasis on succulent plants. This should be a very interesting program. The presentation for October is titled "Native American Ethnobotany and Modern Medicine" and is a compilation of cactus and succulents used medicinally by the various Native American peoples. When I first started with cactus, I was under the impression that everything was used "back then". Not all medicine was just Snake Oil; some of them were effective. The Native American pharmacopeia was extensive, but most plants used were more readily available. You've all heard about Hoodia and weight loss; now hear about Opuntia and diabetes and lowering cholesterol. The presentation does include numerous old photos of Native American activity. Pillows will NOT be provided. Visit the Gates Cactus & Succulent Society at Kitchen Duty for October 2011 Idon thavethelistinnamibia Pleasehelpout. Thankyou! DiscussionTable Bringyourplantsinforthediscussion table.bringsomethinginbloom,someplant. thatyoucan tnamenronethatisdoingsome veryweirdstuff.wecanallshare. I just want you to know that I am sitting on a stool, composing this newsletter in Luderitz, Namibia. The wind blew steadily at 40 mph today, we will look for plants tomorrow. This is the end of the world as we know it. GatesAnnualBarbeque,Saturday,Oct.2. Once again, Gary and Sue Sims have invited us to have our annual Barbeque and Pot Luck at their wonderful property. This event is always a terrific social gathering. The gardens at the Tree Learning Center are exquisite. In particular, the Joe Casey Cactus & Succulent Garden houses many plants that have been in the Sims family for decades. The conservatory and the palm gardens are worth exploring. Plan to arrive anytime after 3:00. The actual festivities will begin at about 5:00. The Cactus cook-off tasting will start at 5 and the main dinner will be served at about 5:30. Here s the Details 1. The club provides Chicken, Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, soft drinks and water. 2. The members provide side dishes and desserts. 3. We will have a tasting competition Cactus Cook Off for member prepared dishes using succulent plants in preparation. Any member who wishes to participate should bring a dish for tasting. This is always the highlight of the evening. Prizes are awarded. Everyone tastes and votes. Yvonne is preparing the Cactus Margaritas. Sims Tree Learning Center, 6111 Appaloosa Ave, Riverside, CA, 92509, To get to the Sims Tree Learning Center, travel on Limonite Avenue between I-15 and Van Buren. About 2 miles east of the freeway and 1 ½ miles west of Van Buren. Turn north (the only way available) on Bain St. where the stop light is. One block to 60 th, turn right on 60 th for one block and turn right on Appaloosa Avenue to Sims at the end of the street..

3 Monsters Buck Hemenway Every so often, Mother Nature gets it wrong, or different, or just messes up. We are constantly reminded by the presenters at our meetings, that there is never one exact way for a plant to look. Variability of the genetic code when one plant s pollen is introduced to another plant is what makes them interesting and different. Occasionally Mom gets wild with her design and gives us really different variations on the norm. Many plant lovers and scientists consider Crested, monstrose and other genetic differences to be too far from normal and discard those from the seed batches. Cactus & Succulent people are not of that mind. The crazier the deviation from normal the better for us. So, in this month, when we celebrate the best Dead Plant, we will also get to look at the wildest genetic weirdness that Mom can produce. We have lumped all three basic deviations into the same basket. Plants can be entered in the Mini-Show if they exhibit crested, monstrose or variegated leaves and or stems. The plant must have at least 30% of the deviant form to qualify for the show. Judging this miasma is not a simple task, but viewing it is always an exciting experience. In particular, crested and monstrose plants have a much harder time growing than normal ones. Usually, plants grow from the tips of their branches. New little special cells are always forming at the very tip or apical growing point or meristem and that s what causes a plant to get bigger. Just imagine then that if instead of one apical point at the tip of each stem, you had a line (the crest) maybe 15 inches long that served the same purpose. It would be much harder to grow when the roots must supply energy to that whole crest instead of a few branches. Monstrose growth is even worse. The plant can t decide where its growing point is and actually creates new growing points all over the plant. That s why many monstrose cacti for example, never get spines and some never bloom. It s because every areole has decided to become the apical growing point and as such has no time or energy for normal functions such as spines and flowers. Variegated growth brings its own hazards to normal growth. Much variegation is supplied courtesy of a plant virus. Whether or not it is virus caused, it is obvious that the variegated part of the plant does not have as much green (chlorophyll) in it as the non variegated part. That makes most variegated plants much more slow growing than their healthy cousins and more sensitive to the sun. We should remember that some plants are variegated as a normal growing form. In general, the Monsters are less hardy than their normal counterparts. They get the same pests and tend to have a more difficult time with them. Usually, a plant will contain abnormal and normal growth. In many cases a crested plant will send enough normals to cause them to outstrip the crest and soon, it will not be visible. The normal growth will always be more vigorous than the abnormal. It is recommended that one cut the normal growth off of a Monster, so that the abnormal growth persists and is what one sees. There seems to be no word in the English language as monstrose. We would write Pachycereus schottii monstrosus as the proper binomial name of the Totem Pole cactus in the pseudo-latin. The term monstrose is commonly used to describe the condition defined by monstrosus. Likewise cristata is used to define the crested stated in a binomial and variegata for a variegate. Haageocereus pseudodomelanostele cristata

4 Echeveria crest Senecio talinoides cristata Pachycereus schottii Pachycereus schottii monstrosus Mammillaria bocasana Mammillaria bocasana monstrosus Fred

5 Gates Home Tour October 1, 2011 Phone numbers to know: Mike Green: Don McGrew: Our next home tour will be a little different, is coming up very soon, and before the next meeting. 10:00 AM First stop will be the new Drought Tolerant Outback Nursery being opened by Kim Urman at 8240 Reche Canyon Rd, Colton, CA From the north, take Washington to Reche Canyon, turn to go south for 5 miles, it will be on the left. look for the sign out front. From the south (Riverside, Moreno Valley, etc) take the 60 East to Heacock, exit the freeway and turn left. Go about 2.6 miles and turn right on Reche VISTA Rd (there is a stop sign) and go about 1.7 miles to the signal light at Reche Canyon. Turn LEFT and go about 0.8 miles, it will be on the right, set back a ways from the road. Or continue on 60 to Moreno Beach Bl. exit, turn left and drive until it becomes Reche Canyon to the address. Arrive at the McGrews at 12:00 noon: Lunch will be provided by the McGrews, BBQ Chicken, salads, and Chili verde con cerdo and fixins.

6 12 NOON we will be at Don and Mary Alice McGrew s, 2782 Dark Circle Canyon Rd, Colton CA The McGrew's are in the hills off Reche Canyon Rd. Don will have a large sign marking where you turn off of Reche Canyon. (From the north it's just past the mobile home park's block wall, from the south it's just before the wall) Lost? If you make it to the nursery, it will be easy to caravan (hint hint).

7 2011 Plants of the Month October Crests, Monstrose, Variegates Crests, Monstrose, Variegates Dead Plant Dead Plant November Annual Auction December Christmas Party 2011 Work Shops, Held at the Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center WHERE TO FIND STUFF Your Gates Library. The Library has most of the current authoritative publications on succulent genera. You need to be aware of the latest and most recognized publication on a specific genus. For example the New Cactus Lexicon, published in 2006, is currently the recognized authority on cacti. There are controversial genera that many do not agree with, but it is being used by all in the hobby. A book published in 1995 for example may not contain the same information. The Internet. Be aware that there is no review of what is published on the World Wide Web. There are many wonderful reference sites that are full of valuable information. We will make an effort, here, to illustrate several web sites that contain useful and mainly correct information. is an excellent starting point for all research on succulents. Not too much information, usually, but correct spelling, and genus reference. New on the Internet. There is a new Cactus & Succulent Journal on line. It is Cactus Explorer, edited and published by Graham Charles from England and can be accessed by using this link, just click it or type it into your URL bar.: CALENDAR OF UP COMING EVENTS FOR 2011 October 1, 2011 October 29, 2011 November 2, 2011 Gates Home Tour, tba. Gates Annual Barbeque at Sims Tree :Learning Center Gates Annual Auction November 5 & 6, 2011 San Gabriel Valley C&SS. Winter Show and Sale--- The La County Arboretum, 301 No. Baldwin Ave.,Arcadia, CA.. Orange County Winter Show & Sale- November 11 & 12..

8 From: Gates Cactus & Succulent Society 5890 Grinnell Dr Riverside, CA FIRST CLASS MAIL