Tephrocactus geometricus
The National Capital Cactus and Succulent Society's (Washington, D.C. C&S Society) annual Plant Show will continue tomorrow, but here's my favorite plant for today. There was little doubt that it was also one of the visitors' favorites. Quite a few visitors were convinced this was artificial, green painted ping pong balls glued together. It's real alright, closely related to the opuntias and native to northern Argentina. The green, spheroid stems are analogous to the pads of the opuntias and the plant produces a new one on each arm each year. It is a neat and strange looking plant. One of the outstanding cacti of the show this year.
Imagine how alien it would look to have a bed of these! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat would be a pretty amazing sight. This is a rather slow growing cactus. It usually produces one new joint (ball) a year on each stem. This is not my plant, and the grower told me he has had it for 8 years. He said it had two stem pieces (the balls) on the plant when he bought it. A lot of the visitors to the show didn't think this was a real plant. Take care an enjoy your vegetables. :)
ReplyDeleteThe wife thinks this plant looks as if it was made by Dr. Suess.
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