Main activities of the Society

1 - Meetings are held every first Sunday of the month at 9.45 a.m. at the Hall of the Capuchin monks, F.S Fenech street, Floriana. Near the Polyclinic.

2 - A lending library of books dealing with the hobby is at the disposal of society's members during monthly meeting.

3 - An annual exhibition is organized at the end of October.

4 - Every other year the society hosts a foreign speaker to present the members with two lectures.

5 - Seeds are collected yearly from members which are then sold to those who would like to raise cacti or other succulents from seeds.

6 - A journal is printed yearly, which is given free to all members.

7 - A monthly Newsletter is sent to all members.


Anyone (especially those from the Maltese society) can send pictures of cacti and the other succulents or submit any article/s for this site. Please send any pictures or articles to amantedar@gmail.com. The society will post all pictures and writings, as long as they are of no offensive nature.

René Zahra

Secretary

Planned activities

Sunday 5th January, The Cactus Of Mexico, My fifth visit (12th lecture)
Venue: Cappuchin monks Hall Floriana, Near Floriana Polyclinic.
Speaker: Amante Darmanin
Time 9.45

Monday, July 20, 2009

Notocactus





























































The Genus Notocactus is found in Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

Notocactus leninghausii
(top picture). This cactus used to be included in the genus Eriocactus which contained short-columnar cacti with yellow stigma. Now, Eriocactus is a sub-genus of Notocactus and Notocactus itself is being merged with the Genus Parodia which precedes Notocactus. This arrangment is not getting down well with students of this genus. To begin with seeds of Parodia are much smaller than those of Notocactus. N. leninghausii was discovered by Frederico Guilermo Leninghaus, a Brazilian collector.

Notocactus graessneri (Second picture) used to be called Brasilicactus graessneri. Plants of this genus have small flowers and contained two species. Discovered by Robert Graessner and is named for him. N. graessneri is now placed as a subspecies of N. haselbergii. Thus, the name now reads as N. haselbergii ssp. graessneri, unless of course one accepts Parodia as the genus. Confusing isn't it?
N. graessneri, like N. leninghausii has a tendency for the upper stem to lean to one side.

Named for Hugo Selmer Schlosser, Notocactus schlosseri (third picture) is a charming plant and can be expected to flower after three years from seed. N. schlosseri hails from Uruguay. Plants have red spines and can be expected to grow to 20 cm in height.

Notocactus buiningii can be easily distinguished from other Notocacti by its sharp bluish-grey ribs. It remains solitary and is known to have shallow roots.

Pictures supplied by Jason Fenech. Information supplied by Amante Darmanin

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