Chimaera

[Ace]

Just brousing Ebay and happened to stumble on a couple chimera (chimera = singular; chimaera = plural) grafts (unfortunately located in Asia):

After arousing a little curiosity, I decided to do a little research on the ol' chimaera:

A plant that contains a mixture of tissues from two or more genetically different cells or tissues in the same part of a plant.

These different tissues can be spontaneously mutated cells of the host organism or cells from a different organism or species produced as a result of organ transplant, grafting (Graft chimera), artificial fusion of unlike tissues or genetic engineering. A chimaera show variegation when some of the plant’s tissues lose the ability to produce chlorophyll so that this tissue lacking of chlorophyll (usually white or yellow) contrasting with the normal green tissue. Because the chimera is due to the presence of two kinds of plant tissue, propagating the plant must be by a vegetative method of propagation that preserves both types of tissue in relation to each other.

From HERE

There are also 'Graft Chimeras' or 'Graft Hybrids':

Graft chimaera (frequently called 'graft hybrids') are cellular hybrids between representatives of two or more named genera. They are a rare phenomenon arising exclusively in cultivation where two species, frequently of two distinct genera, are grafted together.

The mingling of tissues belonging to the stock and scion through grafting in a nonsexual manner. The chimaera come up as a branch or shoot from the point of union which contains tissues of both species, resulting in a arrangement of both species being expressed in the shoot. Such shoots can be vegetatively propagated and cultivated.

The formula for the graft-chimaeral nature of such a plants uses a “ + “ sign against the initial letter of the generic name and to connect the two "parent" species (not the multiplication sign “ X “ this show that they are not sexual hybrids). If intergeneric, graft-chimaeras can be given their own genus name (which is a combination of the two constituent generic names) preceded by a + sign. An example is: + Ortegopuntia (Ortegocactus macdougalii + Opuntia compressa). Graft chimaeras can be given cultivar names. The example above has been named +Ortegopuntia cv. Percy, They cannot be given species names

From HERE

[The name chimera derives from the Old French, from Latin “chimaera”, from Greek “khimaira”, which means chimera, she-goat. From Indo-European Root “ghei-“ Chimera is a Greek mythological character a fire-breathing she-monster made up of the front parts of a lion, the middle parts of a goat, and the tail of a snake she is the daughter of Typhon.]

Thought this phenomenon was quite cool and would like to hear of any stories or info that might be available via you lot Has anyone here ever owned a chimera? Has anyone ever created one?

[Auxin]

Thats pretty damn cool.

a Trich + Loph would be amazing

[Conan Troutman]

WOW...I wanna play god!

[incognito]

errrrr i dunno whether or not i like the look of em!!!!

id like to see a more mature scion.

bit to fuked up lookin for me. i draw the line at crestate.

[MORG]

(chimera = singular; chimaera = plural)

I think you might mean chimaerae for plural

But "chimaeras" as the English plural of a Latin word also used (e.g. in your text boxes).

Any ideas what the grafting stock in the first four photos are?

[Ace]

I think you might mean chimaerae for plural

I would have thought so too - but those definitions came from the sites linked above

They certainly are a weird looking type of 'plant'... I guess when you combine two very different species then you are bound to run into something bizare! I would love to see a couple more of these chimaera (FYI the top 2 scions are ariocarpus crosses - the first is A. fissuratus x ? and the second is an Ario hybrid x ?).

[ferret]

im with jono. i do like freaks but these are just plain fucked up.

true frankencactus

[KanJe]

They look truly amazing.

The more chaotic the better I say. Cactus less bound by their genes and left to grow more along the lines of chaos...

Nice one Ace...

[Ace]

Agreed Kanje - its like a gold fish crossed with a rhino, just bloody weird! But damn, wouldnt you love one as a pet!

[userofthename]

Some of my chimerae. One is O.denegrii/pereskiopsis, the other one A.fissuratus/pereskiopsis. I have yet to see how they will turn out. The chimerae are on the connection surface between stock and scion.

Edited September 25, 2007 by userofthename

[Monk]

This is the only chimeral cactus I've seen that looks relatively "stable" or uniform:

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/ORTEGOPUN...ia_cv_Percy.htm

[Ace]

Hi Userofthename - I saw your pix on the nook recently. They certainly are weird!! The older one looks like its wearing a skirt or something I cant wait to see them in a couple months time to see how they have progressed. Any idea how old they are? About a month or two?

[rahli]

Very cool grafts userofthename,

Do you have any ideas on what might have triggered this responce?

and how long after the graft had healed did the chimerae appear?

very cool

cheers

[userofthename]

Any idea how old they are? About a month or two?

Yup, closer to two months I think, I never keep track of that. Other plants grafted at the same time made much more progress (in the topic pics for psych0tic on the nook), the conditions for growth were far from ideal.

Do you have any ideas on what might have triggered this responce?

and how long after the graft had healed did the chimerae appear?

I was thinking myself what could have triggered this.

Firstly A.fissuratus is very susceptible to forming chimerae, it also seems that the same applies to O.denegrii. Then a relatively long perod of them idling on my balcony could also have something to do with it. The chemicals I treated the seedlings with to prevent mold could also be a factor. That would be Benomyl, Copper sulfate and some other things premixed into the fungicide that I use, I'd have to look it up.

I noticed the chimerae about a week ago.

Thanks for replies!

Edited September 26, 2007 by userofthename

[blangschpeer]

I recon the ario/pere will look something like a fatally spikey aloe. Dangerously alluring

[userofthename]

New year update..

Cheers yall!

[SaBReT00tH]

did anyone see that post in the Nook about the albino loph??? It was very small and so slow growing, and overcame attacks from ferocious magpies and then the grower began to cultivate the fuck out of it. I'm interested as to if any precious cuttings ever made it into oz?

Regarding strange growths I grafted my apparent offspring from a crested Loph a few months ago. For some reason growth has been VERY slow, but this may have been due to rot in some places of the graft and poor growth due to a badly connected core lineup possibly, which the cactus has been overcoming. I've just grafted a tiny tiny pup of one of its small pups and am hoping that it will grow and show some crested growth. The original graft seems to be growing in an oval (football) shape rather than a circular round loph shape, and the new head from the original rooted plant is beginning to crow, looking a little zigzaggy so fingers crossed!!!!

Edited January 7, 2008 by SaBReT00tH

[Ace]

UOTN: Aside from the unusual(ish) peres shoots, the rest look fairly normal to me. What makes you think they are chimerae? Whether they are indeed freaks, or just regular grafts, you have done a fantastic job. They are looking great! (also posted on the nook)

Sabretooth: That's great news about your supposed crested lophie mate! Hope you plan on bringing it to town when you move down In regards to the albino loph, I doubt very much that it'll make it to aus due to import restrictions and a severe lack of propagatable material (at least at this point - perhaps a couple years worth of intense propagation will prove otherwise).

But, on a great note, it's official. I have a verigated lophophora williamsii!!! I will have to get my backside into gear and take some photos to show off

[userofthename]

UOTN: Aside from the unusual(ish) peres shoots, the rest look fairly normal to me. What makes you think they are chimerae? Whether they are indeed freaks, or just regular grafts, you have done a fantastic job. They are looking great! (also posted on the nook)

The second one looks like it aint a cactus, it mostly lacks areoles. (see post 10, pic 2. this is the update) It's completely different from regular A.fissuratus.

The third one started looking normal just recently, apparently O. denegrii cells prevailed but it was most certainly a chimera. That one is the update of the pup from the connection from post 10, pic 1. The original graft was regrafted. The part of the seedling that was left on the stock had no areoles at all.

The fourth one grew hairs between all the tubercles throughout the graft and started pupping like mad, certainly not a normal A.fissuratus.

The last one ain't that special, it just lacks some areoles.

I should post my normal fissuratus pics of the same age, the difference should be obvious.

As for the 'pereskiopsis' shoot, it didn't come out of a pereskiopsis but from the graft. It lacks spines for now and compared to a normal pereskiopsis grown in the same conditions it has much shorter leaves and the growth is pretty dense. Regular pereskiopsis etiolates in the same conditions.

What makes me think that they are chimerae? Well the first three grew from the connection surface of graft and stock, not from areoles like cacti normally do. The fourth one grew hairs (or tiny spines?) throughout the graft just like the second graft did on the connection surface(see post 10, pic 2).