Opuntia basilaris var. treleasei Volume 14 July 2011 Number 7 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY This Month's Program A Cactus By Any Other Name Is Still A Cactus (or, is it?) by Maynard Moe photo by Stephen Cooley Malephora crassa at the CSUB Succulent Garden The Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society % Stephen Cooley, editor thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com INTERNET EDITION Monthly Meeting Tuesday, July 12 Jack & Sidney's House 6:30 PM (more info on page 7) Please note the CHANGE OF PLACE & TIME for the next meeting!
Volume 14 Number 7 July 2011 The is the official publication of the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society of Bakersfield, California JULY S PROGRAM please see page 7 for information on where we will be meeting this month! A Cactus By Any Other Name Is Still A Cactus (or, is it?) By L. M. Moe A cactus by any other name is still a cactus. Really? Some people call Euphorbia a cactus. Also, why isn t Dactylopsis a Phyllobolus? Is Pediocactus really a Turbinicarpus? Is the Bakersfield cactus Opuntia treleasei? What about fishhook cactus, is it a Mammillaria or a Sclerocactus? Is a pincushion cactus a Mammillaria, Escobaria, Sclerocactus, Pediocactus, Corypantha, or Echinocactus? (0r, for that matter, a Diapensia, Knautia, Leucospermum, Scabiosa or Navarretia all have pincushion plant as a common name.) What s in a name anyway? Why change them? Membership in the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society costs $10 per year for an individual and only $15 a year for a family. Scientific (Latin) plant names can seem very confusing (and hard to pronounce), but actually it is the common name that is most likely to mislead. A riveting talk will provide you with an -explanation how and why scientific plant names are important, why they keep on changing and what they mean. (This is a version of the talk I gave in 2004.) Visit Us On the Web! www.bakersfieldcactus.org CONTACT I NFORMATI ON President: Ed Colley CactusWoodsEd00@aol.com Membership: Maynard Moe lithops44@bak.rr.com Newsletter/Website: Stephen Cooley thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com Dolichothele or Mammillaria? -2- -3-
name of pin cushion plant. I wish I had one for my collection. They are dioecious (separate sexes). Male flowers are solitary on red peduncles 0.5-1.0 in. (8-25 mm.) long. Female flowers are yellow but enclosed in 4-6 red bracts. They bloom in the spring. There is the usual warning about caustic latex sap associated with these plants. They are not too picky about soil and receive rain almost year round so will tolerate moderate water during spring, summer and fall. They should be kept dry during the winter however. They are frost tolerant so would grow well in Bakersfield I think. They are easily propagated from seed or cuttings. Here I am in Van Horne, Texas facing the relentless deadline of the BCSS newsletter. What should I do? I know!!!!! Whip out the old laptop and get on the internet. We did a cactus last month so this month it has to be something else. Browse Euphorbias and there before my eyes is a beautiful one bright green with red spines. What a beautiful contrast! According to several internet sites it is native to south-western South Africa. That cinches it as plant of the month because I am going to SA in August so perhaps I will be able to see them in their native habitat. E enopla grows up to 3 ft. (1 meter) high in large clumps. The ribbed columnar stems are about 1.5-2 in. (3-5 cm.) in diameter. Along the ribs are many redish purple spines up to 2 in. (5 cm.) long. The contrast in colors is striking. The spines give it the common -4- Jack G. Reynolds [CHECK OUT more great pictures at: http://cactus-art.biz/gallery/photo_gallery_abc_cactus.htm] The Brag Table is for any succulent related item that you think would be of interest to the club. It is a great way for us to get to know some of the newer members. To save on time, the Brag Table is limited to just one item per person, and it would be nice if that person would also talk a little to the club about it. Let s get some new people up there! -5-
Meeting Change of Venue We had another great potluck at the Cal State Succulent Garden. with lots of good food, good people and good plants! Some years ago Maynard hosted a meeting at his home in the backyard. We enjoyed it so much we have always been interested in doing it at our home. So we ve offered to have the July 12 meeting at our house, in the backyard, instead of at the Olive Drive Church. It will be a normal meeting, at the regular time 6:30. Maynard will be giving the presentation. The club will supply the usual drinks. Members are welcome to bring a snack or dessert. (You know how much I like desserts!) Since this meeting in going to be at a private home, we can wet-our-whistles with our favorite beverage. Feel free to bring a couple of beers or whatever your pleasure is. Please bring a folding chair. We have a few but not enough for everyone. Looking forward to having you here. Jack and Sidney sbkelley@bak.rr.com If you need directions to Jack & Sidney's house please email them (above) or contact the editor: thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com A NOTE ABOUT AUGUST'S MEETING: I made reservations for 30-40 at Agave Grill & Cantina (250 Oak St Bakersfield) for our dinner August 9, 6:00PM, in banquet room. Lynn -6- -7-
THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY JULY 2011
Field Trips A Letter From Bruce After Isaac left (16th May) we sang five times with the Goldenaires, ending on the 27th at Bethany Lutheran in Oildale followed by the usual refreshments. On the 30th we saw Water for Elephants, an excellent circus story which we had just read. The movie follows the book as well as the medium allows. On the 31st we headed off to Joshua Tree at the start of another mini-adventure. There were great desert wild flowers at Johnson Valley. The next morning we went to three thrift stores in town (the fourth wasn t open). Then we drove to Riverside to stay with Buck Hemenway. We were impressed by his house and garden which is called Prickly Palace. That evening I spoke at the Gates CSS which meets at the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands. It has an excellent succulent garden out front managed by the club. They had a large selection of members plants. Fortunately Buck judged them so I got off lightly. My talk on The Karoo in Botswana came after a break with snacks. On the nd 2 we drove back to Bakersfield for lunch and then on to Fresno for a meeting on Bruce and Elephant Tree Baja (all of -10- it), by Charles Spott. We definitely have to go back to see the southern half. On the 3rd we helped set up for the FCSS show and sale and visited the result on the 4th before heading back to Bakersfield. They managed to expand a little by moving the raffle out into the mall courtyard, but they are still cramped for space. We had a quiet week and then went to the BCSS potluck at the club garden. Next day our exercise group had a lunch to honor Fathers. What good is exercise with all this eating? And now back to the CSSA convention: All field trips were held on the same day this year which made it hard to choose. One choice (which we took on the 26th of April) was to skip some talks and do our own tripping. We followed the advice of Gunnar Eisel, manager for the convention, and drove up to Ramona, a small town, and then east to Julian. The road from there led down into Anza Borego State Park. The hedgehogs, barrels, beavertails and ocotillos were all blooming. At Borego Springs we had an excellent (and inexpensive) lunch at Los Jilbertos. From there we went to the nearby visitors center with its underground museum. Luckily they had some Elephant Trees (Bursera microphylla) as we were told the ones marked elsewhere on the map had died. We then drove over Yaqui Pass back to the entrance where I asked for a stop to see some purple sticks in the road cut. These turned out to be flowers stalks of Dudleya saxosa! Back up at Julian in oak-pine woodland we saw a different Dudleya which had dinner-plate sized leaf rosettes. We then drove south to I-8 and back to San Diego. On the 27th we went on official field trips. Polly and Anne visited various gardens. Anne is busy back in South Dakota for a couple of months so Polly will write about this (with pictures by Anne.) I chose a Dudleya tour led by Kelly Griffin. Our first stop was under the Coast Highway at Oceanside to see Dudleya viscida which has sticky leaves. At this site the leaves were floppy. We also saw Mammillaria dioica as well as many foreign invaders (Jade plants, Cotyledon sp. etc.) which apparently came down from the houses above the steep slope. Next we visited the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park where -11-
natural ecosystems are being restored. There were rocks covered with Dudleya stolonifera and other species. We then went east to the second bridge on San Juan Creek to see Dudleya viscida with upright leaves growing alongside Dudleya pulvenulata which has white rosettes of wide leaves. Dudleya viscida @ Coast Highway, Oceanside From there we went back to the Tree of Life Nursery which grows native plants including dudleyas. We ate the lunches provided and bought plants. We then went back south to Rancho Soledad Nursery which has a lot of Kelly s succulents. Finally we visited the Torrey Pines State Reserve to see D. edulis, D. pulvinulata, D. lanceolata and some barrels. I ll finish off the convention events next month. [Bruce's opinions are his own and are not necessarily that of the BCSS] LET'S GET GOING!!! It is time to have committee meetings regarding the SHOW & SALE and the FAIR! We need people to help get this done! Find an officer and volunteer now! ALSO... We have found that it is possible to make a reproduction of the Club's original T-shirt design from an existing shirt. Now we will have to choose a couple of colors & designs. I will follow up on this. Lynn -12- CSSA Convention: Many Gardens All the trips were scheduled for Wednesday so Bruce and I split up. I went with Anne Lee to see three contrasting gardens: a private home, an institutional garden and a club-built one. First stop was the home of two Solana Beach artists, Irina Gronborg, a botanic illustrator, and Erik Gronborg, a ceramic artist, who have divided their house and yard into many small areas highlighted by their own Gronborg home pottery, furniture and other artwork. Second stop was the Sherman Library & Gardens, Corona del Mar, where Matthew Maggio (as a graduate student in horticulture) had the dream job of designing the Succulent Garden. He wanted a not just a desert garden showing all the niches occupied by succulent plants and still maintains the garden while running his own landscape business. After a box-lunch stop at the beach, we visited the Palomar Gardens run by the Palomar CSS. Over the years the planting has depended on the donations of members, but now it is being replanted and organized by Richard Henderson. It has more plants for its area than the Huntington Garden! The convention was held at the Marriott Hotel in San Diego. The San Diego SCC worked with the hotel to make the hotel gardens succulent friendly. The hotel was surprised at the Gronborg home -13-
savings in planting, labor and water they achieved! The San Diego CSS also acquired stainless steel water bottles for everyone attending the convention, making us all conscious of water saving. LAST CALL FOR CALENDAR PHOTOS! At our next meeting at Jack and Sidney Kelly's we will see the slide show of all our photography submissions for our upcoming 2012 Calendar. If you have any pictures you want us to include you must bring them on disc to our meeting or email them to Nancy@nancyharper.com by 5:00pm on July 11, 2011. THANKS! Lunch Stop Marriott Hotel Plantings UPCOMING EVENTS July 12 BCSS meeting. Jack & Sidney's see page 7. 6:30 PM Aug. 9 BCSS Meeting. Meet and Eat location to be announced Sept. 13 BCSS Meeting. Olive Dr. Church. 6:30 PM Sept. 21-Oct. 2 BCSS at the Kern County Fair Oct. 8-9 BCSS SHOW & SALE July 29-30 Orange County C&SS Summer Show & Sale Anaheim United Methodist Church, 1000 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim. Friday Noon -7pm Saturday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. August 13 and 14 26th Annual Intercity Show and Sale at the LA County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA. For information call Tom Glavich at 626-798-2430 or John Matthews at 661-297-5364. Matthew Maggio -14- If you would like to save the club some needed funds, please consider receiving your newsletter via email/internet. Email thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com -15-