Astrophytum

CACTUS TIPS from a master grower

ELTON ROBERTS

ts nice when plants so beautiful come with no extra cultivation challenges, and really no special treatment is required to keep most astrophytums happy. A regular well-drained soil mix, drenching waterings during the spring and summer followed by enough time for the pot to dry out completely, and a dry winter are

all thats required. The plants can take temperatures down to 25 F if kept dry. Good light and a little fertilizer in your acidified water will promote frequent flowering throughout the summer (astrophytums are, in the main, repeat bloomers). And check the flowers for a sweet scent, which often is quite strong the first day, but may fade thereafter. Not all species have scented flowers, but its nice to discover ones that do. In recent years all manner of named crosses have come along, but most look more or less like Super Kabuto with variations in the amount and pattern of flocking. It is probably superfluous to give each individual plant a name, as they certainly dont breed true or propagate vegetatively readily. But crossing astrophytums is easy
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and fun, and aside from fancy flocking, you tend to get a relatively high percentage of variegated plants among the progeny. Even monstrose seedlings are not uncommon. Hybridization is simply a matter of transferring pollen from one flower to another using a Qtip or paintbrush, and with Astrophytum the seeds are particularly easy to harvest. As the plump round fruit ripens, its thin skin becomes reddish, soft, and begins to tear. Normally at this stage you can lift the fruit from the plant and squeeze the shiny brown seeds into a coin envelope for storage. The seeds are large enough to need a bit of soil or coarse sand to hold them down when sowing, and they will germinate readily within a week of being kept very moist. In two years most will be flowering size. Be careful! The flocking (those nice white spots on the plant body) rubs off, and although some plants will grow new felt in time, it never looks as good as the original. Repotting is only necessary when the plant becomes obviously too big for its current digs, and some plants can live for years in the same size pot. Once the body or spines stretch over the rim, you can pot up. But dont go for too big a pot. Astrophytums tend to do best in a pot just an inch larger than the bodys diameter. It is also easy to accidentally remove flocking while repotting, so be careful how you handle the plants. Plants with flocking can take more intense sunlight, since the white spots filter and reflect the sun. Nude or sparsely flocked plants may want some shade, and without it the plants will tend to turn yellow, flush red, or even burn. Go overboard on the shade, though, and the plants will etiolate (elongate) unnaturally. These plants want acidic water to grow well. Alkaline water can even make them shrinkyou might notice your plants ribs get sharper as the space between them gets deeper, and in time the ribs will become curved as they collapse in on themselves. Acidic water is a must. In my conditions, which tend to be rather dry, astrophytums have shown no adverse affects with temperatures down to the low 20s. But if you live where the humidity is 50% or more most of the time, it would be best to keep the plants above 35 F.
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Astrophytum myriostigma
Onzuka is just one of many forms of the variable and sumptuous Astrophytum myriostigma. Another popular form, which has only three ribs, goes around as tricostatum. It isnt stable (it tends not to keep its three ribs for long), but if you buy tricostatum seed, just enjoy the plants and watch them change as they age. Each plant is subtly differentbe it in flocking or shape of the ribs. On some the point of the rib has a hook. Others tend toward strongylogonum (fat and rounded). Others are banded. Another name youll see on labels is quadricostatum, referring to any four-ribbed plant. Unfortunately, nearly all these Ive grown have jumped to five or more ribs before reaching much more than about 10 cm tall. Even one that has stayed four-ribbed the longest (currently about 17 cm tall, TOP RIGHT) is finally beginning to make the jump up. Many Onzukas are four ribbed and stay that way for some time; perhaps a stable quadricostatum can be found in their lineage. One 13-year-old Onzuka I have is all of 12 cm tall and 13 cm in diameter, but after all this time it is finally splitting ribsquadricostatum no more! There are a number of so-called subspecies and varieties of Astrophytum myriostigma, but I have grown these plants long enough to see a wide variation in forms that tend not to breed true. In time any can become columnar, for instance, as with subspecies columnare. Some plants in any Astrophytum myriostigma tulense seed batch fail to produce flocking, so you can also consider varieties glabrum and nudum as just forms. Some plants have less flocking than others (subspecies potosinum?), and plants with more flocking might be called tulense. Subspecies strongylogonum is supposed to have fatter ribs and the list goes on. In fact, A. myriostigma is variable in rib count, degree of flocking, height, and flower size and color. And these plants can change dramatically just by taking on water and nutrients, or as they age. Some years ago I ordered A. myriostigma tulense seed, and from those came two unflocked plants, which I have labeled forma nudum. Seed from these will produce about 80% Astrophytum tulense forma nudum nude and 20% normal plants. Perhaps their bare sides are related to their size. Both are a few centimeters larger than flocked plants from the seed batchtheyre now 12 cm in diameter and 8 cm tall. The tall plant at left is perhaps typical for the tulense form, which is said to be taller and have more ribs. It has changed rib count a few times, and it looked pretty terrible when I got it. But I figured at the time that, if nothing else, I could use it as a seed plant. Since then it has grown a nice looking top and is now 32 cm tall.

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Astrophytum Onzuka
I have a number of strange plants, including one tricostatum (threeribbed) astrophytum that are of Onzuka parentage, but few have the fine road map flocking of the plants shown here. One of my A. Onzuka plants (LEFT, MIDDLE) started growing a pup last fall. I figured it wouldnt get very large, but its put on some size this year, and I think that it will have to come off sooner or later. It is now almost 3 inches in diameter, with six ribs (having started with five), on a four-ribbed parent plant just under 4 inches wide itself. The offset is growing some strange lumps on the lower parts, and the parent just recently started throwing three more ribs, but not through the splitting of ribs, as some astrophytums do, but by growing new ones between the others. It is now starting to grow an offset at about the same height on the other sideis it trying to achieve balance, or is this just a coincidence? The offsets are superb, with short spines at each areole (makes you wonder just what this plants parents really are) and some tufts of long hair of several lengths and colors, which seem to be lost in time. Under the longer, colored hair is a darker mat whose hairs remain erect as the longer hairs lay over. Some years ago I was offered Onzuka seed that a friend got in trade from a Japanese collector. From those I got five truly fine plants. Just as with Super Kabuto, only a fraction of seeds produce the desired flocking patternjust 10 out of 100 in my last sowing. And inbreeding has produced some unstable progeny. Some will get to about the size of your little finger joint and then die. Those that look most like A. myriostigma fare best. Rib count is all over the map. Some seedlings will be round and lack ribs, and these are hard to keep growing. Others are three-, four-, and five-ribbed, and some dont seem to know what theyre doing. A few begin to throw offsets when no bigger than a pencil eraser. Pretty cool.

Astrophytum Lotusland
Astrophytum Lotusland appears to be a monstrose form of A. myriostigma, whose rib configuration and flocking are apparent in parts of the plant body. Several forms of growth appear simultaneously, with dense white growth next to heads that are greener, and with flocking so dense that the bodies look like snowballs. I have never seen this plant grown on its own roots, but as a graft (for some reasonand unfortunatelyusually on a tall stock) it grows quite fast, and occasionally new heads pop off in clumps. I have recently potted up one that was throwing roots, and I see no reason why it shouldnt take. I expect slower growth, but also a better-looking plant. These plants can get quite big, to 30 cm in some cases, but they often die rather suddenly, and in fact they appear to be rather short-lived. For years I never saw Lotusland bloom and assumed it couldnt, but with the introduction of acidic water to my collection the plants have bloomed several timesall yellow save for the occasional red spot, deformed and small, and with a strangely shaped stigma. Like any other astrophytum these plants can take temperatures below freezing for a short time, but the limiting factor with grafts is often hardiness of the stock plant, so be careful if the stock itself is tender.

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Astrophytum Snowstorm
I got this plant from a friend who said he crossed A. coahuilense with A. asterias and had several plants come out with great flocking. He calls it Snowstorm. I have seen similar plants called Snowflake. Like A. Onzuka, the flocking is really short. The asterias influence is evident in the ribs, while coahuilense contributes to its height. Not all seedlings will produce the same effect, but with Astrophytum hybrids, almost all the plants will be interesting. The point is, make your own crosses and see what you get and then name them anything you want!

Astrophytum asterias
Although both the genus and species name refer to stars, Astrophytum asterias is more often called the Sea Urchin or Sand Dollar Cactus. And while it doesnt have a living sea urchins spines, it does rather resemble the empty shell of a dead one. While these flattish to hemispheric plants can theoretically have between five and ten ribs, the vast majority have eight, even at a young age. A 15 cm wide plant would be considered huge, although I had one reach 16 cm across and about 21 cm tall (the ones shown here are a lot smaller than that). The flowers can be 6 cm across and range in color from yellow to reddish. Theres a (wine-) red flowered cultivar that comes about as true from seed as Super Kabuto does. Many people find A. asterias hard to grow, but in fact the plants are quite hardy. I have had plants live through two weeks of below-freezing temperatures following six weeks of being totally dry. But there are a few things to look out for. First, the plants do not like alkaline water, so acidify your water. Second, they want a fast draining soil (high fraction of pumice or perlite) that is allowed to dry thoroughly between waterings. And third, since most plants have only sparse flocking, they can easily become sunburned, so allow them to have direct sun only in the morning, providing some protection from afternoon rays. That said, these can be short-lived plants, so if you lose one now and then, dont fret. They produce their large shiny seeds readily, so you can always start more if you keep your flowers happily pollinated.

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Astrophytum Super Kabuto

Super Kabuto is the best known and most widely available of the astrophytum cultivars, and it comes with almost as many patterns as people have fingerprintseach with its own unique flocking. Some are almost white with felt, with only a little green of the body showing through. Others have cream-colored spots, and still others tend toward light tan. Keep them under cover so the flocking stays white (or as white as it naturally grows). And if white is important to you, try a little hydrogen peroxide to whiten darker flocking. (I like the variation, so I leave mine as they are.) Acidified water will help keep the flocking from turning dark with calcium build up, and a layer of top dressing will keep the flocking near soil level from staining. Prices stay high on these plants, mainly because such beauty isnt easy to come by. And the seedlings dont all come true; most, in fact, will look like plain-old Astrophytum asterias. From a batch of seed produced from Super Kabuto parents you may get only 1525% with dense flocking, and of these only half will be drop-dead gorgeous. And since offsets are rare, supply is perpetually low. I have had only one Super Kabuto, of hundreds of seed sown, produce a starfish form (ABOVE, RIGHT). Even though it does not have the best flocking, this is a sought-after shape that rarely turns up in a seed batch. And its big, too10 cm across, while its sister seedlings are all 57 cm in diameter. If you try growing Super Kabuto from seed and you dont come up with many to suit your fancy, just keep trying. In time you will have something to make you happy.

Astrophytum coahuilense
You cannot readily tell the difference between Astrophytum coahuilense and A. myriostigma, but they grow well-separated in habitat and do not appear able to interbreed. There are other subtle differences as well: The flowers on A. coahuilense have orange to red centers, while A. myriostigma flowers are entirely yellow. And their seed pods open differently. A. coahuilense fruits open at the bottom, with the top of the pod laying over to reveal the seed. With A. myriostigma the pods split up the side. Interestingly, while A. myriostigma can have quite a variable rib count, often increasing (by rib division) its ribs in age, this appears to be a rare occurrence in A. coahuilense, which seems to stick to five. My largest plant is 26 cm tall and 15 cm in diameter. Although a tad slow, the plants arent touchy. They can take temperatures to the mid-20s and seem to like as much light as you can give them, which keeps them compact.

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Astrophytum ornatum
Astrophytum ornatum has a number of recognized forms, and Backeberg, not surprisingly, lists them all. Examples: glabrescens = dark green body with sparse or absent flocking; mirbelii = golden yellow spines and stronger flocking development. Backeberg also mentions nude and spiral forms. In modern treatments, such as The New Cactus Lexicon, A. ornatum is said to have spines less than 3 cm long. So what to call my plant with 7 cm spines? Typical ornatum has short spines and some flocking on a medium green body (MIDDLE RIGHT). Then we have something like glabrescens (TOP LEFT), with a dark green body, sparse flocking, and short spines (a right pretty plant!). Next nudum (BOTTOM LEFT): no flocking, but here also with long spines! Is the next one trying to spiral? Its has spines to 5 cm long and has a dot of flocking here and there. Aside from the impressive variation in this species, it can also grow to a reported 3 meters tall, and I have seen cultivated plants at 2 meters. Question: do plants in habitat split ribs as they age, or does this occur only in cultivated material? In my experience, despite the assertions of most modern books, the rib count in older A. ornatum plants is frequently more than eight. And a final note: Every so often some of my astrophytums throw odd-colored flowers. At first I thought that it was just aging of the flower, but more recently I have seen flowers open off color. Astrophytum ornatum normally has bright to light yellow flowers, but on rare occasions, especially in old plants, pinkish flowers emerge. The one shown at bottom right is on a 48 cm tall plant which, until this year, has only ever produced yellow flowers.

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