Life would succ without succulents

Oreocereus celsianus Today’s post is about the beautiful Oreocereus celsianus . Oreocereus celsianus also gets called the ‘ Old man of the mountain ’, which is possibly my favourite common name for a cacti every, it’s so full of character! It makes me antropomorphize my cacti and imagine it giving grumpy advice! I picked this cactus up at my favourite garden centre pre-lockdown. It cost £6. It came unlabelled and to be honest, I had no idea what species it was. After scouring my identification book, I was still unsure, so I posted in my favourite cacti forum, and a very kind member identified it for me, which was great. I really recommend https://www.cactiguide.com/forum/ for friendly advice. Anyway, back to Oreocereus celsianus . The Oreocereus genus is found at high altitudes in the Andes. ‘Oreo’ is from the ancient Greek word ‘oros’ which means mountain, and ‘cereus’ is derived from the Latin word for torch. I presume celsianus is reference to the botanist Jacques M...

Mammillaria elongata For post number 7, I have the magnificent Mammillaria elongata , commonly called the ‘Ladyfinger cactus’. This is a truly beautiful cactus, with tons of character (and spikes!). Mammillaria derives from the word nipple or teat! Carl Linnaeus named this genus in 1753 after the tubercles (round like nodules) sometimes found on these cacti. Carl was somewhat of an expert on naming things and is often called the ‘father of modern taxonomy’ (it was him who grouped humans with apes), so I begrudgingly accept his nipple naming of this un-nipple like plant. The name Mammillaria elongata  makes slightly more sense knowing that ‘elongata’ means ‘longer’ or ‘elongated’. Mammillaria elongata , will forever be called the elongated nipple to me. The Mammillaria genus contains around 200 species of cactus, varying greatly from single stems to clumps, balls to columns, with stiff to hairy spines. I picked my Mammillaria elongata  from my local ...

Cereus validus Today I am going to look at a cactus, the fabulous Cereus validus . Cereus validus is sometimes named Cereus forbesii or Cereus haneanus . Cactus naming history is full of renaming and reclassification, largely a result of botanists, horticulturalists and scientists disagreeing. I tend to choose the cactus name that I prefer or see most commonly to label my plants.   Cereus is a genus of cacti containing around 33 species. Cereus are desert cacti from South America, that tend to look like long columns. The word ‘cereus’ derives from the Latin word for ‘candle’, which is fitting, as these cacti look like long thin candles. The origin of the word ‘cereus’ is more interesting than this though, as it is derived from the Greek name Selene, a Greek moon goddess. Selene was thought to drive her moon chariot across the heavens. Cereus are sometimes called ‘nightblooming’ cacti, as they bloom after dark, which is cool, and explains the link to the ...

Ferocactus fordii (subspecies: borealis). Post number 3, and the 1 st cacti entry: Ferocactus fordii . The genus Ferocactus contains roughly 30 species of barrel shaped cacti. A cool fact about the Ferocactus genus is that the inner pulp has traditionally been eaten and even used to make ‘barrel cactus candy’ (though I do not recommend or condone eating these cuties). Cactus is a derivative of the Greek word ‘Kaktos’, which loosely means ‘spiny plant’. ‘Fero’ derives from ‘ferox’ which means ‘fierce’. Therefore, the genus name ‘Ferocactus’ means ‘fierce spiny plant’, which is obviously awesome! I think technically my plant is the subspecies variation borealis , which means northern, most likely a reference to where it was found. It has smaller spines than the true species. The common name is Ford barrel cactus, but I prefer my version: fierce spiny northern barrel! Ferocactus fordii is a desert dweller found in South United States and Mexico. It has long red ...