Cacti and Succulents Handbook, Expanded 2nd Edition

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Techniques with a Directory of 300+ Common Species and Varieties

Gideon F Smith

• Publisher: CompanionHouse Books
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781637410806
• Topic: Scienze biologiche
• Subtopic: Orticoltura

Learn everything there is to know about cacti and succulent care in this newly updated, easy-to-use volume! Jam-packed with insight on more than 300 types of succulents and cacti, each plant profile contains gorgeous photography, botanical and common names, must-know advice, and more. Also included are simple instructions on choosing the right plants and helping them thrive, plus tips on how to propagate succulents and cacti, repotting, grooming, and pest control. This updated edition features all new photography, updates to scientific names of original plants based on current standards, 70 new cacti species, and 100 new succulent species.

CULTIVATING CACTI AND SUCCULENTS

Cacti and succulents invoke a response in anyone who lays eyes on them. They are simply too dramatic and diverse for them not to be noticed. They might be stared at in bewilderment, or dismissed as bizarre, but they can never be ignored, for they are fascinating and, to many plant collectors, highly attractive and desirable.

Their magnificent architectural and sculptural shapes will enhance most garden settings. Columnar and treelike types look like sentries standing silent guard outside a house or beside a swimming pool.

Cacti and succulent flowers are exceptionally decorative, even though some tend to be short-lived. Flowering is not just another routine of nature; it is a real event.

Yucca brevifolia, the Joshua Tree, (center) in the Mojave Desert, Nevada.

Agave utahensis var. eborispina.

What are Cacti and Succulents?

In cultivation, cacti and succulents generally have globular, columnar, leaflike, or wiry, rosulate, or treelike bodies that are fat and swollen. They are variously adorned with spots, fissures, and ridges and, of course, often rather rapier-like teeth and spines.

In their natural habitats, numerous species alter their appearance with the seasons: from seemingly lifeless at the height of the arid season to exploding with vigorous growth when the rains finally arrive, after which they usually flower, sending forth spectacular large-scale, almost overgrown, clustered or single blooms.

Even when very young, as developing buds, cactus and succulent flowers hold the promise of striking beauty. They take their time to reach maturity then, all of a sudden, they burst into vivid color, often fading within a few days. This is, of course, part of their charisma and contributes to turning each flowering into a real happening.

During the rainy season, cacti and succulents absorb moisture that must last them until the next, often unpredictable, showers arrive. The ridges and grooves of their fluted stems and leaves expand as they absorb life-giving water.

This precious cargo is then slowly and carefully used to sustain the plants through the next dry season (sometimes through multiple dry seasons), until they can once again replenish their water-storage organs.

Thus the cycle continues and the plants keep on surviving in an endlessly arid environment.

Cactus and succulent species differ vastly in shape and size. Some, such as the well-known saguaro or “cowboy cactus” (Carnegiea gigantea), or the giant yuccas (Yucca filifera and Yucca aloifolia) and tree aloes (Aloidendron barberae and Aloidendron dichotomum), can reach a height of over 65 ft. (20 m), while others are no taller than a few stacked coins.

Some cacti and succulent plant bodies remain underground, exposing only their flowers to pollinators; others take the form of bougainvillea-like scramblers, shrubby trees, climbers with angled stems, spiny, rounded barrels, or are spindly and thin-stemmed with massive, tuber-like underground storage organs—the list is almost endless and offers an embarrassingly rich variety from which to choose plants to cultivate.

This diversity is echoed in the habitats that they occupy. These range from high-rainfall tropical rainforests, to some of the hottest and most arid deserts on earth, and from sea level, where they are exposed to desiccating salt spray, to high mountains where they may be seasonally covered by snow.

As horticultural objects to admire, collect, and grow, cacti and succulents find favor among modern city dwellers, regardless of whether they have large, sprawling, landscaped gardens or postage stamp–sized balconies or rooftop gardens with space for a few choice plants only. This popularity can be attributed to a number of factors:

• Most cacti and succulent species tolerate extreme horticultural abuse. Indeed, most species are not precious, princess-like plants requiring undue pampering. Plants will easily stay firm and green, even if somewhat deprived of water and nutrients. Container-grown plants do not require regular repotting, and grow quite happily, even when their roots are pot-bound.

• Most species are not fussy about climate and growing conditions and, with some attention to a few basic rules, will survive as easily indoors as outside. There will always be a selection of species that will thrive in your local conditions, so you don’t need to manipulate the micro-climate to have a group of plants to boast about. They require little attention to look their best, which is handy if you don’t have much time available for gardening.

• Furthermore, although most species are fairly slow-growing, they will give years of pleasure. This contrasts sharply with garden annuals that often require labor-intensive horticultural care.

• The juice-filled bodies of most cacti and succulents are exceedingly resistant to attacks by pests. If they are subject to insect infestations, these can generally be treated with great ease.

BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION

Botanical, indeed biological, classification is most commonly done according to a so-called hierarchical system. This means that each higher rank (such as an order or a family) includes a number of subordinate groups that share certain characteristics. A family, for example, consists of one or more genera, each of which has more in common with one another than with genera of other families. With genera it’s the same, but they comprise one or more related species, of course.

For collectors of succulent plants, the genus and species ranks tend to be the most important categories, as collectors often become interested in species with a similar appearance and then, once the collecting bug has bitten, expand their collections with similar-looking entities. And, of course, species included in a single genus often exhibit numerous essentially similar characteristics. However, there should be discontinuities among the characteristics of species as, without them, classification would be impossible. In addition, a reproductive barrier is sometimes encountered between different species. In the plant kingdom, however, this reproductive barrier is usually absent as hybrids between even distantly related species can sometimes be fully fertile. In contrast, interspecific hybrids in the animal kingdom are usually completely infertile.

See How to Use The Directory on page 36 for more explanation of how scientific names are used and displayed in the directory.

SCIENTIFIC VERSUS COMMON NAMES

Strictly speaking, all plants have a single, unique Latin or Latinized scientific name. This is the ideal situation, but it does not always apply, as some plants are known by different names, often depending on which authority is asked to supply a name for a plant.

At the species rank, a scientific name consists of a combination of a genus name and a specific epithet, which together constitute the species name (e.g., Yucca filifera).

Not all species have common names. Although these are often very interesting and descriptive, they tend to be poorly known and are not that widely used. Furthermore, a single species can have many common names, which can create confusion, especially if the names are only of limited regional use.

DEFINING CACTI

The broadly defined group of about 10,000 water-storing species that is distributed worldwide and is generally referred to ...