INTERNET EDITION Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei Volume 11 August 2008 Number 8 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY This Month's Program Discocactus silicicola Photo by Stephen Cooley The Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society % Stephen Cooley, editor thecactuspatch@aol.com thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com Dinner at Cactus Valley Restaurant Monthly Meeting Tuesday, August 12 Cactus Valley Restaurant 4215 Rosedale Highway at 6:30 PM (see map on page 5) We Need To Start Preparing For The Show & Sale!
Volume 11 Number 8 August 2008 The Cactus Patch is the official publication of the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society (BCSS) of Bakersfield, California. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at the times and places noted within. GUEST ARE ALWAYS WELCOME 2008 Officers President Ed Colley Vice-President Jerry Garrison Treasurer - Maynard Moe Secretary Anne Lee Editors - Stephen Cooley Linda Cooley Material in The Cactus Patch may be reprinted by non-profit organizations (unless such permission is expressly denied in a note accompanying the material) provided that the proper credit is given to the BCSS & the author and that one copy of the publication containing the reprinted material is sent to the editor. Reproduction in whole or part by any other organization without the permission of the BCSS editor is prohibited. Contact thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com The meeting started with a reminder that our next Show & Sale is coming up soon on October 11-12. We also decided that we would not be meeting early for our August meeting at Cactus Valley Restaurant ( we had done this on some years) The presentation this night was Mary Carrisalez once again cooking for us. After Polly ran to get an electric skillet (while we munched on cactus soup and a cactus salsa/salad/relish sort of stuff I have forgotten the name of) we de-spined and cooked several pads of Opuntia. I am always surprised at how good they taste. At The Brag Table: Bruce brought in a Cnidoscolus michaecan a member of the Euphorbia family that has edible leaves. Stephen brought in pictures of and cuttings of Orbea namaquensis, which he had flowered, fruited, and dispersed seeds. Lynn showed off a 2 3 2008 Directors CSSA Representative Maynard Moe Past President Vonne Zdenek 2008 Chairpersons Hospitality - Bill McDonald Librarian Rose Mary Maguire Field Trips Lynn McDonald Historian Stephen Cooley Show & Sale Maynard Moe
marvelous fat-rooted plant from which she had lost the tag. Fortunately, Bruce was able to identify it as Euphorbia (Monadenium) rubriflora. We also had some very nice Raffle plants AUGUST S PROGRAM Our Annual Summer Dinner at Cactus Valley Join us for as sociable evening with all your friends and families from the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society at Cactus Valley Restaurant 4215 Rosedale Highway 6:30 pm 4 5
Plant of the Month Amorphophallus titanum by Jack G. Reynolds Last month I mentioned that I had seen accounts of two interesting plants that I wanted to use as plant of the month. The first was the saguaro cactus which was in last month s newsletter. Now we come to the second interesting plant, Amorphophallus titanium. I must apologize in advance to the purists in the club because A. t. is not strictly speaking a succulent although it does grow from a large tuber that may weigh over a hundred pounds (50 kg.). That is close enough to being a succulent to be of interest. The thing that caught my eye in the media was an internet notice of one blooming at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter Minn., last June. Of course the truly remarkable thing about the plant is the gigantic size of the inflorescence which can be over 8 ft. (2.5 m) tall (one seventeen footer has been recorded in nature). The flower is really a collection of perhaps 5000 male flowers making up the upper part of a columnar spadix which resembles a phallus. Below them will be 500-1000 female flowers occupying the 6 bottom part of the spadix. Surrounding the spadix is a single spathe which opens like a funnel to complete the flower. The flower emits a strong odor of rotting flesh often described as somewhere between rotting fish and burnt sugar. The flies and beetles that are attracted to the odor act as pollinators. Flowers last at most two days and then the whole mess collapses. They are in the arum family (Araceae). Amorphophallus titanum was discovered in Sumatra by an Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1878. Seeds were sent back to Italy and from there to Kew in England. A Kew specimen was the first to bloom in 1887. Specimens found their way into the U.S. and our first bloom came in 1937, at the New York botanic garden. The Huntington botanic garden has several specimens and I saw their first bloom in 1999. I along with thousands of others made the trip to the Huntington to see and sniff the corpse plant. It was very impressive but the odor was not as strong and offensive as I was expecting, but then I have a zoologist s nose, much abused by formaldehyde and the odors of rotting whales and Komodo dragons. Blooms come at irregular intervals. In between blooms the corm or tuber sends up a single leaf at a time which can reach up to twenty feet in height and then die to be replaced by another leaf. Everyone owes it to themselves to go and see this incredible bloom the next time the Huntington or any other nearby botanic garden produces a bloom. There are specimens at Berkeley also. 7
A Wedding of a Different Colour A Letter from Bruce June was again a slow month. On the 5th we drove up to the Fresno Succulent meeting with a fantastic Echinopsis hybrid called 'Madame Pele'. It was open for the meeting and has fantastic petals with mauve edged orange. That evening we stayed with Ron & Charlene Stebles on the eastern edge of Clovis. Next morning we toured their garden which had lots of Echinopsis in bloom -as did my garden in Bakersfield. We spent the afternoon shopping and went to an outdoor film in the evening. The weather suddenly turned cold and we were freezing! Next day we went to Cal State Fresno for a show called New Wrinkles in Time. We got there early and looked at the botanic garden not much, but then the Deutsch Garden is hard to compete with. The show was a fantastically fast-paced musical interspersed with one liners. All done by old folks like us! There were a number of pieces which Polly and I had done in Botswana, such as I remember it well. On the 10th we went to the BCSS potluck and saw the succulents at Cal State Devin & Catriona Bakersfield for the first time. A at Smith s Cove good beginning. I enjoyed the red-tailed hawk and the orange orioles. The food was great and the croquet was enjoyable (tho one-sided). 8 Finally, on the 27th we watched the travesty of the election in Zimbabwe. I try not to get into politics, but I already stepped in this one and will say just a few words. Back in 1976 I was lambasted in letters in the Cactus & Succulent Journal (US) (see the July-August issue.) I happened to be in Santa Barbara when the proofs came out and Charlie Glass showed me the forthcoming edition in which it was announced there will be no more politics in the journal. (Ironically the cover is decorated for the American Bicentennial!) [I had spoken against the earlier praise of Ian Smith in Rhodesia.] In 1988 I attended Aloe 88 in Zimbabwe and the article I wrote was neutral, not mentioning Mugabe who had been in power for eight years (C&SJ Nov-Dec. 1988). I would find it difficult to ignore him today, but on the other hand, I'm not likely to visit Zimbabwe under present conditions. Catriona at the computer centre Back to last year: In addition to touring and visiting, we were in Smith's Cove for the wedding of Catriona, Andrena's daughter and Devin from New Brunswick. It is hard to believe she is old enough (she is petite 9
did the US and other Arctic nations they all want the newly opened Northwest Passage.) The actual wedding was on the 4th. Catriona had a bouquet of red-orange Chasmanthe (a South-African Iris relative) to offset the dark blue dress. [We had seen this flower on the cliff at Plymouth and the giants head at Heligan and this year we saw it at the Iris Garden in Coarsegold.] There was a short ceremony on the beach (making sure the tide was out) and then a reception on another friend Bruce's farm (not mine). BBQs were set up in the barn and a white marque was set up on the lawn. The blue frosting stained everything and Nigel was very near to tears in his fatherly speech, but it was a beautiful wedding. Bruce & Andrena at the reception like her mother and grandmother), but she is over 21. Polly had sewn Andrena's dress when she got married in Botswana, but this time we were mostly spectators. The first thing we had to do was zip into Digby and replace our clothes the wedding was to be blue! Then we shopped for decorations and plates. The first visitors to arrive (besides us) were Barry and Anne, the godparents, who came from Fair Isle, Scotland, the ancestral home of the Teeds. At one point Barry said, Ahm trryan' me best ta speak English. Next were Andrena's parents and her brother Mariner. On the 2nd of Aug. we went with Catriona to Cornwallis Park where she had been working as supervisor in a computer lab for the public. (Cornwallis Park was the largest naval training base in the British Commonwealth in WWII and is now a museum.) In the evening the women went to a hotel for a party and the men caroused at the Dockside Bar & Restaurant. It was a karaoke bar and I just had to join in when they played Streets of Bakersfield. On the 3rd we had a more sedate dinner at the Annapolis Restaurant at the Pines Resort. The 2nd was also the day Russia planted a flag on the seabed to claim the North Pole. Canada, of course, complained (as 10 That evening we went with Mariner to the Paradise Bar in Digby to hear the Green River Revival. The music was OK, but the volume was LOUD and Polly rolled up paper towels which we soaked and stuck in our ears. On the 5th we went back to Bruce's for a clean up and met Phyllis Pheasant on the way out. She is apparently well known. Then we played croquet back at Smith's Cove, but it was rather difficult on the 30 degree slope! In the evening we went to the Garrison House at Annapolis Royal for a birthday party for Mariner. Someone passed around a picture of him as a kid in a sailor suit and he was standing next to a girl who looked just like Catriona (but was actually Andrena.) Just as we ordered desert, there were fireworks outside (not for us, but they made a perfect ending to the party.) Phyllis Pheasant We all left Smith's Cove on the 6th, but I'll write about that next month. 11
The Upcoming Show & Sale by Stephen Cooley Our Annual Cactus & Succulent Show & Sale is coming up on October 11 and 12 at the East Hills Mall. This is by far the biggest event we do each year and member support is crucial to its success. Our previous Shows have all been very successful we ve had plenty of plants in the show and plenty of plants to sell. The responses from the people that came to see the show were always complimentary. Now is the time to start getting ready for the show! The most important element to our show is the plants themselves. Our show has always been different from most others in that its emphasis has been on education and not competition. We need a large variety of plants to show the public the great diversity that exists among the succulents. Many people are unaware of just how many weird and wonderful plants there are. In considering which plants you might want to bring to the show, remember that your most ordinary plant may be extraordinary to those viewing the show. No plant is too small to bring, it just needs to look nice. Start potting up your good plants into better pots if they need it. Clean out some of the dirt and leaves that have blown into your spines. Buy something nice at the upcoming Intercity Show (see next page). Get rid of any mealybugs/aphids/scale that may be on your plants. Another thing to keep in mind is that we need to have members available to talk to the public about the plants and about our club. This requires a lot of hours, but there are plenty of members to share the workload (There will be a sign-up sheet at the September meeting). Everyone has something to contribute, let s make this our best show ever! 12 You should really treat yourself and go to this show! It is the biggest show with the most plants on display. Also, there is always a great selection of plants for sale. Plants of the Southwest, Miles to Go, and Rainbow Gardens will be there selling (as well as many others! 13
ANNOUNCEMENTS Visit Us On The Web! UPCOMING EVENTS Aug 12 BCSS Meeting at the Cactus Valley restaurant. 4215 Rosedale Highway. 6:30 pm Sept 9 BCSS Meeting at 6:30PM Olive Dr. Church. program: Bolivia (a video) speaker: Mark Muradian who will also be selling his wonderful pots! October 11-12 BCSS Show & Sale! Oct. 14 BCSS Meeting at 6:30PM Olive Dr. Church. www.bakersfieldcactus.org Membership in the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society costs $10 per year for an individual and only $15 a year for a family. This extraordinarily reasonable price not only includes twelve issues of but entitles you to participate in club field trips to far-off (out-of-town) and exotic places (more exotic than Bakersfield). You will also receive a nifty name tag that will be your ticket to a members only plant raffle. All this is in addition to the wonderful programs and people at the meetings. To become a member contact: Maynard Moe, treasurer Lithops44@bak.rr.com 14 Aug 16-17 23rd Anual Intercity Show and Sale LA County Arboretum, Arcadia, CA (see page 13) Aug 30 Succulent Symposisum, Huntington Botanical Gardens All day event with renowned speakers each year Nov 8-9 San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society Show and Sale LA County Arboretum www.sgvcss.com Dec 6-7 Orange County Winter Show. Fullerton Arboretum contact the editor for more information Stephen Cooley thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com 15