I have a couple of questions; firstly an i.d. I think it may probably be P. horombense if not a form of rosulatum? Secondly Picture 3 are two cuttings I took when the plant got some rot in it's trunk which I pruned out (it survived as the photos of flowers are a year after damage). Will these still develop nice swollen bases? I also have a P succulentum (my avatar is a picture of it's flower) and was wondering if I took cuttings off this will they develop the same as grown from seed? My biggest problem is that most of my Pachypodium are one of and other than maybe trying to cross a few different varieties I have little chance of getting seed.
1. Identification. From photo #3, I do believe this is more likely P. horombense. Comparing it to my P. rosulatum, (identified and sold to me by a reliable specialty nursery, Highland Succulents), there appears to be some distinct differences. Most notable are that (1) the spines on P. horombense are much thicker and more densely packed on the stem than P. rosulatum. Then (2) the foliage is slightly different in morphology. My P. rosulatum has foliage that is a bit broader, more rounded tips, and has very distinct veining. The flower, appears to be more P. horombense like. P. rosulatum flowers tend to open wide, whereas, P. horombense tend to have the more tubular morphology like yours. All that said, I do think that your particular plant may have been crossed with P. rosulatum at some point. 2. As far as how your cuttings will grow, I do not know. I do know that Adenium cuttings (a family member) do not form fat caudexes. Most often, growers will take the cuttings and graft them onto another caudex. I will try to find out more information and get back with you. Mark
More on the I.D. This is my P. rosulatum. I think you should be able to pick out some obvious differences between your plant and mine. I did do some further research on the subject of Pachypodium growth morphology and propagation. I have not been able to find anything other than the fact that they are best propagated by seed, and depending upon the species, sometimes root cuttings. Obviously, you have been successful with your branch/stem cuttings. So, although I am not certain, it would seem, given the lack of evidence, that cuttings would not likely produce fat caudexes, similar to Adenium. Although this sounds like a weak statement, it seems to reason that given the fact that fat caudexes are most desired by growers, if cuttings produced fat caudexes, then "fat plant" growers would all be aware of it and perhaps propagating their own. Mark
Thanks for that. The confusion began when I recently picked up P. rosulatum with an identical flower on a commercially printed tag. No real surprise there, I've learned not to follow plant tags too closely and I work in Nurseries (which is probably why and the worst is trying to explain to the customer that this 50cm plant will actually reach 2m or that isn't exactly the colour of the flower or etc etc etc). I'll have to wait for my tagged plant to flower now but the foliage is pointing toward P. rosulatum gracilis var drakei (pic 1) From my knowledge most caudiciforms are best grown from seed however there is the odd exception (my little Monadenium invenustum pic 2 is one of those). I did read somewhere that some Pachypodium can be grown from cuttings but it never went on to say what the final result would be. I'm guessing the likes of my P. rutenbergianum meriondale and P. sofience which are slimmer, tall growing varieties might actually do okay. One last question (for now) is another i.d. I've forgotten the name and haven't been able to find a tag but believe this to be P. brevicaule from memory. As you can see from pic 3 it's got really fat, stubby spines, no flower yet sorry. I've tried to chase down a few of the books you'd mentioned in a previous thread but only having 1 bookstore in town makes it hard to get specific orders in. I'll have to try the internet I think.
Check out this link: http://www.highlandsucculents.com/species/brevicalyx.htm P. brevicaule, to the best of my knowledge grows very low to the ground and has very dense, fine spines. Those fat, nasty spines and the growth pattern of this plant appears to be most similar to a P. densiflorum, perhaps a "v. brevicalyx". A flower would be most telling, of course. Mark
I think that's it. I'll wait for flowers to be sure but it's looking pretty spot on. I have started a list of my plants (mainly because I tend to loose tags) and am slowly putting photos to info. I am not sure what I'll do with all the info when I'm done. (possibly a book on plants for sub-tropics???) Last count I had 400+ species with over 700 varieties of plants from my potted cacti and succulents to gingers, Australian natives, bamboos and so on. All on a 1/4 acre block. (It's jungle out there:})
I could tell from your photos that you had quite a few in your collection. Right now, we have snow on the ground and all my plants are indoors taking up space by every available window. My wife just loves this time of year...NOT. I have about 50, or so, plants scattered around the house that, in her mind, should have never come indoors and taken up residence in HER house. ; ) Every time my wife starts in on a rant when I purchase a new plant, I am quick to show her a collection like yours and say, "Well, it could be worse." Of course, I only wish I had the room and warm temperatures like you. Mark
Yeah my better half has stopped saying anything and just gives me the good old smile and 'That's nice'. Although she has often surprised with the odd little addition to my collection. She's learned to share me with my garden :}
