CACTUS ROMANIA

Iata articolul lui Elton Roberts, furnizat de Cristian si tradus din nou de Lidia.
Am preferat de asta data sa pun ambele texte in acelas loc pentru o mai usoara lectura din partea unui cititor strain.








Copiapoa hypogaea





MULTUMIRI: Le multumim, lui Elton Roberts pentru articolul furnizat, lui Cristiasn pentru amabilitatea de a-l fi publicat si Lidiei pentru traducere.


There are forms of Copiapoa hypogaea that go under different names but the Copiapoa book by Graham Charles say they are all just forms this plant. There is C. hypogaea v. barquitensis and C.
> mollicula. C. hypogaea was described by Ritter in 1960 as coming from the coastal hills of Chile
> around Chanaral. Later he described C. hypogaea v. barquitensis as coming from Barquito, which is south of Chanaral. From north of Chanaral is where C. mollicula comes from. The above information comes from the above-mentioned book. Now if you look at the Anderson book you will see that he doesn’t mention C. barquitensis anywhere that I could find but he keeps C. mollicula standing alone. The NCL kind of side steps C. barquitensis and does not refer the name to any plant but makes sure that it says ‘[description non publiee]’. I have to assume that that means the description was not published. As for C. mollicula the NCL says that it is synonym for C. montana. I have to wonder where they got that idea. In this mailing I am sending out 8 photos of Copiapoa hypogaea from 10 miles north of Chanaral Chile. The seed was collected by W. Minnich and the plants were grown by C & J cactus wholesale nursery Vista CA.

Many people collect plants because of the rareness of the plant, others because of the name, the spines, or the flowers. I do not know of very many that collect plants because of the skin patterns or colors. Each plant in the photos is different from the others. It is about like fingerprints, no two are alike. Some people refer to some of the plants as ‘lizard skin plants’. As the skin is rough like sand paper, I think of those plants as having sand paper skin. Another way I think of the plants is ‘they are really something special and well worth having’. Besides each having a different skin pattern they are also quite different in color. Some are almost black in body color. Others are blackish-green some are black-gray, others are gray-to-gray-green, some are light gray green, others are brown-green and greenish-brown. I am sure that if there were 100 of the plants all together you would see differences in each of the plants in color of he body and patterns of the skin. From small tide-pool and topo map patterns to very rough sand paper and to skin that looks like lava flows. Such beautiful plants!!

Copiapoa hypogaea is a small plant that according to the description is usually single headed or sometimes two headed. The plants are from 3 cm to 6.5 cm in diameter and flush with or shrunken in the soil. The plant’s growing point is sunken in comparison to the rest of the top of the plant. [This can be seen in the photos of part 1 as those plants are very well grown. As I have only 2 plants of the rough form. I took photos of a friends plants and used the photos with his blessings.] In the photos in part 2 I am showing cultivated plants of the regular C. hypogaea that most people have. I have used an off set as the main photo to show what the plants look like without the dense wool that cultivated plants grow. My largest plant is 8 cm tall and 7.5 cm in diameter. In cultivation the plants often off set from close to the base of the plant, one of my plants has several off sets.

I have heard many times that Copiapoas have not acclimated to the northern hemisphere but this is not correct. The plants come from along the coastal areas of Chile where there is a cold fog influencing the day and nighttimes temperatures. Coming from along the coast the plants do not like our temperatures in the central valley of California. This is true of anywhere there are nighttime temperatures that stay above about 57 F degrees. If you live where the nighttime temperatures fall below about 57 F at night you do not have any problems growing Copiapoa. When the nighttime temperatures go above that 57 F degrees the plants go dormant and they stay that way till the nights cool off again. Here where I live and in most of the Southwestern states the night temperatures will stay above 57 F for most of the summer and so the plants are dormant during this time. They will start growing again when late summer or early fall arrives with cooler nights. So it has nothing to do with not acclimating to the northern hemisphere. Growers living along the coast from California to Washington State have no problem growing and flowering the plant most of the year. Those living where the temperatures are too high at night have to be careful with watering the plants while they are dormant. Here we have two growing seasons for the plants, spring and fall, the plants flower at these times of the year.

Give all the plants an open and fast draining soil. Keep the plants dry over the winter and keep above freezing. There are a few plants that can at times get a light ground frost in habitat but that last only an hour or two. The plants seem to grow best when the temperatures are between about 45F and 65 F. Now back to the last photo, that is my lizard skin plant. I had it in deep shade so it would acclimate to my green house. After a few weeks I moved it to an area where it still got shade but it was much lighter and the plant did not like that move, so the top burned, thankfully it is now throwing 4 new heads through the burn. So be sure to shade your plants, as they do not like all that much sun light especially when the temperatures are quite warm to hot.


Traducere in limba romana

Exista forme ale Copiapoa hypogaea ce sunt cunoscute sub nume diferite, dar cartea despre Copiapoa a lui Graham Charles afirma ca sunt de fapt varietati ale aceleiasi plante. Exista Copiapoa hypogaea v. barquitensis si Copiapoa mollicula. Copiapoa hypogaea a fost descrisa de Ritter in 1960 ca originara din Chile, provenind de pe dealurile din zona de coasta, aproape de Chanaral. Mai tarziu a descris Copiapoa hypogaea v. barquitensis ca avandu-si originea in zona Barquito, care este la sud de Chanaral. De la nord de Chanaral provine Copiapoa mollicula. Aceste informatii provin din cartea mentionata mai sus. Daca studiezi cartea lui Anderson vei vedea ca el nu mentioneaza nicaieri (eu nu am gasit) Copiapoa barquitensis, si descrie doar Copiapoa mollicula.

NCL(New Cactus Lexicon) evita intr-un fel Copiapoa barquitensis si nu asociaza numele nici unei plante, dar specifica “[description non publiee]”. Presupun ca aceasta inseamna ca descrierea nu a fost publicata. Cat despre Copiapoa mollicula, NCL afirma ca este sinonim cu Copiapoa montana. Ma intreb de unde au ajuns la aceasta concluzie.

Aveti alaturi 8 fotografii ale Copiapoa hypogaea, facute cu plante provenind din Chile, de la 10 mile nord de Chanaral. Semintele au fost colectate de catre W. Minnich si plantele crescute de catre C & J cactus wholesale nursery Vista CA.

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Multi oameni colectioneaza plante datorita raritatii plantei, altii pentru numele, spinii sau florile acesteia. Nu stiu multi care sa le colectioneze datorita texturii sau al culorilor tesutului ce acopera planta. Fiecare planta din fotografii e diferita de alta. E ca si cu amprentele, nu sunt doua la fel. Unii se refera la ele numindu-le plante cu pielea de soparla. Deoarece pielea le este aspra ca si glaspapirul, ma gandesc la aceste plante ca avand „piele de smirghel”. Alt mod in care le privesc este „sunt ceva special si merita din plin sa le ai”. Pe langa faptul ca fiecare are o textura diferita a pielii, ele, de asemenea, au culori destul de variate. Cateva au corpul plantei aproape negru. Altele il au verde spre negru, altele negru-gri, altele sunt gri spre gri-verde, altele sunt verde-gri deschis, altele sunt verde-maroniu sau maro-verzuliu. Sunt sigur ca daca erau 100 de plante impreuna, tot s-ar vedea diferentele pentru fiecare planta, in ce priveste culoarea corpului plantei si textura pielii. De la textura cu mici unduiri ca suprafata unei ape, sau ca a unei harti topografice, pana la textura ca de glaspapir, sau care seamana cu scurgeri de lava. Ce frumoase plante!

Copiapoa hypogaea e o planta mica care, conform descrierii, are de obicei un singur capat, sau cateodata 2 capete. Plantele au de la 3 cm pana la 6,5 cm in diametru si se dilata sau se contracta in sol. Punctul de crestere al plantei este ingropat comparativ cu restul varfului plantei. (Aceasta se poate observa in fotografiile din prima parte, ele fiind foarte bine dezvoltate. Fiindca am doar 2 plante in forma bruta, am fotografiat plantele unui prieten si am folosit pozele cu acordul sau.) In fotografiile din partea a 2-a sunt Copiapoa hypogaea in forma de planta cultivata, cum se intalneste la cei mai multi ce o detin. Am fotografiat un lastar langa planta mama pentru a evidentia cum arata plantele fara „lana” densa ce creste in cazul plantelor cultivate. Cea mai mare planta a mea are 8 cm inaltime si 7,5 cm diametru. In cazul plantelor cultivate se formeaza adesea pui la baza plantei, una din plantele mele are lastari numerosi.

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Am auzit spunandu-se de multe ori ca Copiapoa nu s-a aclimatizat in emisfera nordica, dar nu este adevarat. Plantele provin din zona de coasta a statului Chile, unde se formeaza o ceata rece care influenteaza temperaturile de zi si de noapte. Fiind originare de pe coasta, plantelor nu le convin temperaturile din valea centrala a Californiei. E de altfel valabil cu orice loc in care temperaturile nocturne depasesc 57F (aprox 14 grade C). Daca locuiti in zone in care noaptea temperaturile scad sub 57F, nu aveti probleme in a creste Copiapoa. Cand temperaturile nocturne cresc peste 57F, plantele intra in repaus si raman astfel pana cand noptile se racoresc din nou.
In zona in care locuiesc, ca si in majoritatea statelor din sudul USA, noaptea temperaturile depasesc 57F in cea mai mare parte a verii, de aceea plantele sunt in repaus in acest timp. Vor incepe sa creasca din nou la sfarsitul verii sau inceputul toamnei, odata ce noptile sunt mai reci. Deci nu avem de-a face cu ne-aclimatizare la emisfera nordica. Cultivatorii ce locuiesc de-a lungul coastei, din California pana la statul Washington nu au probleme in ce priveste cresterea si inflorirea plantei, in cea mai mare parte din an. Cei ce traiesc in zone unde temperaturile sunt prea ridicate noaptea


Elton Roberts (trad. Lidia)