Plants associated with Lophophora -- project updated

[trucha]

A major revision occurred to

http://www.largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com/cp/cp.html

In coming weeks many more images will be added and the missing entries completed. With luck the presently unidentifed species will have names assigned.

Help in identifications or ID corrections are hugely welcomed.

[trucha]

My apologies on that posting containing so many glitches.

I recently discovered that I had somehow both overwritten and then uploaded a number of older file sets. I THINK I've gotten that all corrected now?

Edited May 1, 2012 by trucha

[Halcyon Daze]

Out of curiosity, is there anything that actually helps pollinate a loph? Or are they simply self pollinating.

Pollinators are often induced closer to certain flowers by the surrounding flowers.

Many terrestrial orchids in Australia will be pollinated far more often when situated close to certain other flowers. Often flowers of the same colour.

I wonder what other plants you might find flowering at the same time as a loph.

Edited May 15, 2012 by Halcyon Daze

[trucha]

Lots of people have tried making lopho hybrids. Some seem to have succeeded but more failures than successes are reported. It would be interesting to know the rate of successful crosses from the deliberate attempts to create hybrids.

Echinocactus texensis, Mammillaria hemisphaerica, Mammillaria heyderi and Sclerocactus uncinatus are often flowering together with it in Texas when we've visited. Borzicactus warnockii, Echinocereus poselgeriana and Mammillaria lasiacantha were flowering also despite none not being open the day I saw them. Coryphantha robertii and Echinocereus enneacanthus should also be expected to share flowering periods with lw in South Texas. I would imagine I'm missing many Spring flowering cacti.

And a LOT of cacti will be flowering during lw's second flowering period in the summer.

As for other plants Castella texana, Tiquilia canescens if its rained, Thamnosma texana, Yucca torreyi, Mimosa something, Acacia berlandieri, Acacia rigidula, Ephedra, Gochnatia, Leucophyllum, Viguiera, several Dyssodias, Weddelia hispida, Jeffea brevifolia, Lepidium, Draba cuneifola, Chamaecyce, -- a whole bunch of plants can be flowering if there has been any rain.

If a plant flower is shown on a plant from the study site it was most likely happening during our visits which typically occur during or at the beginning of lw's Spring flowering period.

Some lw populations are self-sterile so require additional plants as pollinators (such as within the El Huizache population in Mexico) but others such as are from Texas (whether South or West) are self fertile and have no problem producing their own viable seeds in nature or cultivation.

The genetics work on those found that the ones that were self-fertile were so similar as to almost be clones of each other and the self-sterile ones showed much broader genetic diversity within the population.

[Evil Genius]

You can say that the success rate of intergeneric hybrids between Lophophora and other genera like Turbinicarpus, Gymnocalycium, Mammillaria and so on is extremely small. Everyone who attempts it should expect success rates of under 5 %. But it´s possible and has been done. Lophophora x Turbinicarpus Lophorioides was successfully crossed a few times now. Plants i saw looked pretty much like a Lophophora so im not really convinced it wasnt just a simple self-pollination but this fact alone should encourage people to keep on trying.

[trucha]

Agreed. What is more the molecular tools that exist can help determine if plants are selfed or hybrids.

What would be required is a couple of areoles worth of tissue including some epidermis (dried at room temperature).

Please let me know should such a sample ever exists as interest in that particular subject also exists.

[Evil Genius]

Wasnt willing to spend more than 50 bucks on it because thats what the price was. But i will get some in the next months or so and can send you and areole sample.

[Halcyon Daze]

Some lw populations are self-sterile so require additional plants as pollinators (such as within the El Huizache population in Mexico) but others such as are from Texas (whether South or West) are self fertile and have no problem producing their own viable seeds in nature or cultivation.

The genetics work on those found that the ones that were self-fertile were so similar as to almost be clones of each other and the self-sterile ones showed much broader genetic diversity within the population.

 

Are there known to be any signs of inbreeding depression (eg reduced germination rates) in any isolated or self-fertile populations? If so you may need to look at conservation of pollinators. Habitat loss/ fragmentation are always the big factors with population genetics.

Inbreeding depression is easily overcome with a simple breeding program, but long term conservation will require more than ongoing human interjection.

Lophs may be the key to the conservation of vast tracts of wilderness (umbrella species).

Keep up the good work <___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png

[mutant]

hey EG,if it looks like a lopho why should it be a turbiniphora?

btw, I check out the photograph in the "chimera" thread...

[amanito]

I had a lophoturbina ... I think it's still in my uploads of pictures. It got a disease that wiped out 2/3rd of my collecion few years ago.

[Evil Genius]

I wasnt able to investigate the plant in reality and only saw photos so i cant really comment on that. The breeder is a very experienced person so i hope he´s not simply selling a self´d Lophophora as a hybrid. You know, the problem is not to pollinate a lophophora with some turbinicarpus pollen and to get seed from that flower. The problem is that most lopho´s prefer their own pollen and pollinate themselves LONG before the flower totally opens. So you have to do very careful cuts in the flower to bring in the pollen, long before it actually opens.

Here are some discussions about the plant, including pictures. To me, it looks like a very spiny Loph. But maybe it has some other special traits that i overlooked. The fact it has some very distinct spines could be proof that its really a true hybrid. But i also know Lophs that have very large spines so i´m not 100% sold. However, i will get me a big one in a few months and graft it next season.

http://thegardenforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=19206

http://www.sitefile.org/showimage/90/grafted.htm

http://www.sitefile.org/showimage/91/grafted.htm

[mutant]

cool thanks for the links

amanito, please share the photo if you find it....

that's why you have to have a taxonomic eye to tell

in my eyes it seems to be the real thing. I cannot comment for the non-flowering ones, but I am convinced it exists now...

Edited May 18, 2012 by mutant

[amanito]

I can only see the thumbnails in the gallery, not the original pictures. I don't have them anymore, I had an old backup on a previous laptop which recently crashed.

[trucha]

Are there known to be any signs of inbreeding depression (eg reduced germination rates) in any isolated or self-fertile populations? If so you may need to look at conservation of pollinators. Habitat loss/ fragmentation are always the big factors with population genetics.

Inbreeding depression is easily overcome with a simple breeding program, but long term conservation will require more than ongoing human interjection.

Lophs may be the key to the conservation of vast tracts of wilderness (umbrella species).

Keep up the good work

 

There does not seem to be. The self-fertile populations I'm familiar with appear to have thriving seedling output as does those individuals raised in pots and beds where spontaneous seedlings are common if there is suitable microtopography and moisture or in the hands of seed sowing friends where there is better trackability of germination rates.

I don't know that its actually been specifically studied though.

It would be interesting to actually do some comparative studies and see if what you are curious about does exist in this case and if so to what extent.

I tend to think Archaea was right when suggesting the more genetically diverse Mexican populations are probably the ancestral populations (implying the northern and eastern ones to be younger branches - perhaps from the sort or habitat fragmentation mentioned). Certainly during inter-glacial and post-glacial events there could not have been peyote in most places in Texas where it presently exists since those parts were repeatedly under floodwaters - sometimes for long periods of time.

Edited May 19, 2012 by trucha

[woof woof woof]

WHat's the latest on this topic? Anyone been following up?

next mission is to get a few more Turbini's and also Obregronia's....... anything that has a slight chance of hybridising with lopho's.

[hostilis]

I've heard that L. diffusa x O. denegrii is possible.