Thanks to Laura Caddy for suggesting I check out the cacti in the greenhouse - it was not on my agenda at all. They were thrilling. I got a little hint from this Opuntia 'Pony', with most of the flowers facing outside the greenhouse (but the label was inside). Edited, see below, not Opuntia fragilis. Echinopsis huascha? Echinopsis bruchii and Echinocereus triglochidiatus Opuntia 'Colorado Red' Opuntia polyacantha 'Citrus Punch' Opuntia polyacantha var. polyacantha Edited, see below, not Rebutia minuscula, which seems to be red. Opuntia fragilis?? This has shorter thorns (spines) than the O. polyacantha. Edited again, see Margot's posting below, showing her Opuntia fragilis with thorns (spines) similar in length to O. polyacantha. I think we don't know what this one is, and maybe nothing here is O. fragilis. Escobaria vivipara
I'm sorry. I have no idea and my agenda is too long when I'm there. I haven't seen half of what Douglas mentioned in his blog yet. I think I photographed everything in bloom. Maybe there's a Lewisia there. Everything is raised up to waist level - no big trees. You'll have to go see for yourself. I look forward to your photos. :)
These are not tropical species. This is an unheated open cactus house. It provides cover from the rain and frost. There are cactus species found in higher elevations and zones that are exposed to freezing temperatures. They do make a dazzling flower display.
A friend I forwarded this to pointed out that the second one is not Opuntia fragilis. Looking these pictures over now I would say it would be the Rebutia with the Opuntia fragilis being the one so labelled. In other words the pictures got switched.
Here's my Opuntia fragilis this afternoon - I know for sure it is O. fragilis because it grows wild in this neighbourhood where there are no other cacti. To me it looks more similar to the one labelled Opuntia polyacantha var. polyacantha. Rebutia minuscula seems to have many more and narrower petals although the pads and spines aren't quite the same. Is it possible that neither Opuntia polyacantha var. polyacantha nor Rebutia minuscula as pictured in #1 are actually Opuntia fragilis?
Thank you, Ron! I should have paid more attention to the body of the plant in this case. I have posted the bright red one before as Echinopsis huascha. I definitely did not see that label. The pictures weren't switched - I seem to have picked tags that belong to neighbouring plants. In the case of the not-a-Rebutia, the label was lying on the plant.
Ron, are you recommending that to check on the bit about the length of the spines? It looks like O. fragilis longest spines per areole are 8-24 mm; for O. polyacantha, longest spines are 20-60 mm. Then there is whether the stem segments are easily detached. I'm not testing that. For the rest, by next week, I'd still be looking up words I don't know.
The intent with flora style layouts like this is that the characters in the key be used to arrive at a candidate and then the full description of that species be used to confirm it is the right one. So the more of the pertinent features mentioned in the key are checked the greater the likelihood of moving on to the relevant description, arriving at a successful identification.
