Dormant, heavy rain, drop dead. So long buddy!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Pachypodium Densiflorum var Brevicalyx
The name derived from its floriferous characteristic. This one is a Brevicalyx varian which is a bit rare in cultivation.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Pachypodium Decaryi
Resembling an adenium with its spineless stems and caudex and large, glossy leaves, P. decaryi is somewhat unusual among pachypodiums. It also stands out for having the largest flowers in the genus, up to 4" in diameter, with asymmetrical petals, each resembling a broad knife-blade, 
to an inch wide, with one straight margin, the other curved. This highly ornamental plant is mostly sought after by rare & exotic plant collector. It's in CITES appendix 1 which is mean maximum protection
Pachypodium Brevicaule x Densiflorum var Brevicalyx
This pachypodium is a cross between brevicaule and densiflorum var brevicalyx. Not too flattened like brevicaule but seems grow much faster than both its parent. Cann't wait to see it bloom :p
Pachypodium Rosulatum
Finally my pachypodium rosulatum bloomed for the first time this morning. Quite astonishing flower, bright yellow with a little bit twisted petal. I have grown it for about 2 years and the pain paid off. It is a slow grower but worth waiting. This is my first time seeing a pachypodium flower, previously I only see it in the magazine or the internet. It's true that this exotic creature is remarkable.
Pachypodium Protection Status
Internationally Pachypodium are protected under the CITES treaty. According to it, members of this genus cannot be collected from endemic, native locations within the landscape. They are not easily, readily imported and exported between nations either. The protection afforded by the CITES treaty responses to two issues:
The esteem the genus has within Collector's and Nursery Trade. As highly esteemed plants, succulent enthusiast desire to collect more and more species and cultivars. In the case of Pachypodium, seed, seedlings, and even mature, nursery-grown specimen plants are fortunately available readily in Nursery Trade.
Destruction of the genus's endemic habitats, e.g. through agriculture.
Extinction of identified species seems yet unlikely, as the collection of seed and the cultivation of the plant safeguard the genus.
The esteem the genus has within Collector's and Nursery Trade. As highly esteemed plants, succulent enthusiast desire to collect more and more species and cultivars. In the case of Pachypodium, seed, seedlings, and even mature, nursery-grown specimen plants are fortunately available readily in Nursery Trade.
Destruction of the genus's endemic habitats, e.g. through agriculture.
Extinction of identified species seems yet unlikely, as the collection of seed and the cultivation of the plant safeguard the genus.
List of Pachypodium Species
This is the list of Pachypodium Species. They're all marvelous plants. Love to grow it altough quite a slow grower.
Pachypodium ambongense
Pachypodium baronii
Pachypodium bicolor
Pachypodium bispinosum
Pachypodium brevicaule
Pachypodium cactipes
Pachypodium decaryi
Pachypodium densiflorum
Pachypodium eburneum
Pachypodium geayi
Pachypodium gracilius
Pachypodium horombense
Pachypodium inopinatum
Pachypodium lamerei
Pachypodium lealii
Pachypodium makayense
Pachypodium meridionale
Pachypodium menabeum
Pachypodium namaquanum
Pachypodium rosulatum
Pachypodium rutenbergianum
Pachypodium saundersii
Pachypodium sofiense
Pachypodium succulentum
Pachypodium windsorii
Pachypodium ambongense
Pachypodium baronii
Pachypodium bicolor
Pachypodium bispinosum
Pachypodium brevicaule
Pachypodium cactipes
Pachypodium decaryi
Pachypodium densiflorum
Pachypodium eburneum
Pachypodium geayi
Pachypodium gracilius
Pachypodium horombense
Pachypodium inopinatum
Pachypodium lamerei
Pachypodium lealii
Pachypodium makayense
Pachypodium meridionale
Pachypodium menabeum
Pachypodium namaquanum
Pachypodium rosulatum
Pachypodium rutenbergianum
Pachypodium saundersii
Pachypodium sofiense
Pachypodium succulentum
Pachypodium windsorii
Pachypodium Saundersii
Pachypodium saundersii, the Kudu Lily, is a succulent plant belonging to the Apocynaceae family. It is found naturally in Southern Africa, on the Lebombo Mountains and other areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Swaziland.
Evolution of Pachypodium
There are no fossil records of Pachypodium, a fact that does exclude analysis to determine common ancestry and current relationships between taxa. Yet certain conclusions can be drawn from the geology of the landscape itself to the past natural history of Pachypodium. Geological history demonstrates that Pachypodium and other genera like Aloe, Euphorbia, Cissus, Sesamothamnus, Kalanchoe, and Adansonia existed before the separation of Madagascar from continental Southern Africa. Pachypodium and these other genera, for instance, are represented on both Madagascar and the mainland, suggesting that their populations were once continuous within the landscape before the Gondwanaland contental separation about 65 million years ago in the Cretaceous period.
The diversity of Pachypodium in Madagascar, as noted, is the result of accelerated evolution that occurs in xeric climates and dry landscapes. Three factors contribute to the acceleration:
In dry climates, the diversity of geology and topology is thought to have a greater effect upon plants than in areas with high rainfall.
The broken geological formations of locally xeric landscapes tend to break up populations into smaller groups so that each group can initially interbreed but with time new genotypes, taxa, or species develop.
Taxa develop specialized xeromorphoric structures at some architectural level for which the alliance "succulents" are a good example; and where dew and fog dripping spines are another example at the level of an organ.
Therefore, the exceptional micro-endemism (native or confined to a certain habitat) occur in Madagascar as a result of isolation of flora in very different climates, landscapes, or environments at an exceptionally small scale. Pachypodium have proven to be no different. The scale is so small that it is thought that, in some instances, the resolution of speciation of this flora is limited to just a single outcrop of granite, for instance. Efforts at maintaining possible habitats must be weighed with the potential for the economic development of the Malagasy people. Conservation may become a high priority, dependent upon an accurate catalogue of species and equally an understanding of the potential habitats of Pachypodiums yet to be discovered in Madagascar.
The diversity of Pachypodium in Madagascar, as noted, is the result of accelerated evolution that occurs in xeric climates and dry landscapes. Three factors contribute to the acceleration:
In dry climates, the diversity of geology and topology is thought to have a greater effect upon plants than in areas with high rainfall.
The broken geological formations of locally xeric landscapes tend to break up populations into smaller groups so that each group can initially interbreed but with time new genotypes, taxa, or species develop.
Taxa develop specialized xeromorphoric structures at some architectural level for which the alliance "succulents" are a good example; and where dew and fog dripping spines are another example at the level of an organ.
Therefore, the exceptional micro-endemism (native or confined to a certain habitat) occur in Madagascar as a result of isolation of flora in very different climates, landscapes, or environments at an exceptionally small scale. Pachypodium have proven to be no different. The scale is so small that it is thought that, in some instances, the resolution of speciation of this flora is limited to just a single outcrop of granite, for instance. Efforts at maintaining possible habitats must be weighed with the potential for the economic development of the Malagasy people. Conservation may become a high priority, dependent upon an accurate catalogue of species and equally an understanding of the potential habitats of Pachypodiums yet to be discovered in Madagascar.
Pachypodium Habitats
Pachypodium habitats consist of isolated, specialized, micro-environmental niches, generally xeric, rocky, frost-free areas within parts of western Madagascar and southern Africa. Pachypodium species are often indifferent to the regional ecological, biotic zone of vegetation, a fact which explains some of Pachypodium morphology and architecture. The large scale vegetation zones are in some cases irrelevant to the micro-environments of Pachypodium, in the sense that the xeric niches may be embedded in larger mesic biomes.
Most Pachypodium are rupiculous species occur on rocky outcrops, steep hills, and on inselbergs or kopjes, land or rocky masses which have resisted erosion and stand isolated in level or gently sloping terrain, sometimes above a forest canopy. Rocky outcrops, steep hills, and inselbergs create microclimate conditions that may be different from the general climate of a region.
The habitats of Pachypodium are thought as arid ecological, even when they occur in prehumid zonobiomes because the taxon's topographic position and microprimate conditions differ significantly from the context of the greater ecological conditions within the landscape. The prehumid zonobiomes are humid zones of regional biotic community characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and prevailing climate, such as forests or montanes. On these ecological islands the flora significantly differs from the greater surrounding zones of vegetation, where a smaller immediate area under the influence of a micro-environmental condition is defined. In larger areas of vegetation, the isolation of these plants in these "arid islands" become very conspicuous during prolonged periods without rain.
Most Pachypodium are rupiculous species occur on rocky outcrops, steep hills, and on inselbergs or kopjes, land or rocky masses which have resisted erosion and stand isolated in level or gently sloping terrain, sometimes above a forest canopy. Rocky outcrops, steep hills, and inselbergs create microclimate conditions that may be different from the general climate of a region.
The habitats of Pachypodium are thought as arid ecological, even when they occur in prehumid zonobiomes because the taxon's topographic position and microprimate conditions differ significantly from the context of the greater ecological conditions within the landscape. The prehumid zonobiomes are humid zones of regional biotic community characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and prevailing climate, such as forests or montanes. On these ecological islands the flora significantly differs from the greater surrounding zones of vegetation, where a smaller immediate area under the influence of a micro-environmental condition is defined. In larger areas of vegetation, the isolation of these plants in these "arid islands" become very conspicuous during prolonged periods without rain.
Genus Pachypodium Characteristic
All Pachypodium are succulent plants that exhibit, to varying degrees, the morphological characteristics of pachycaule trunks and spinescence. These are the most general features of the genus and can be considered distinguishing characteristics.
The pachycaule trunk is a morphologically enlarged trunk that stores water so as to survive seasonal drought or intemitent periods of root desiccation in exposed, dry, and rocky conditions. Whereas there is great variation in the habit of the plant body, all Pachypodium exhibit pachycaul growth. Variation in habit can range from dwarf flattened plants to bottle shaped shrubs to dendroid-shaped trees.
The second general characteristic of Pachypodium is spinescence, or having spines. The spines come clustered in either pairs or triplets with these clusters often arranged in rings or whorls around the trunk. Spines emerge with leaves, and like leaves grow for a short period before stopping growth and hardending. Spines do not regenerate so weathering and abrasion can wear away all but the youngest spines from older specimens - leaving smooth trunks and branches.
To some extent, branches are a characteristic of the genus. Some caution is warranted in over-generalizing this characteristic. Pachypodium namaquanum is often branchless. Pachypodium brevicaule has no clear branches, and indeed may have evolved an alternative to branching in the form of nodes from which leaves, spines, and inflorescences emerge. In general Pachypodium have few branches. Since the environmental stresses and factors that contribute to branching can vary widely even in small areas, individual plants of the same species exhibit wide variation in branching morphology.
Unlike many members of the Apocynaceae, including some members of the superficially similar Adenium, Pachypodium species do not exude a milky latex. Rather, the sap is always clear.
The pachycaule trunk is a morphologically enlarged trunk that stores water so as to survive seasonal drought or intemitent periods of root desiccation in exposed, dry, and rocky conditions. Whereas there is great variation in the habit of the plant body, all Pachypodium exhibit pachycaul growth. Variation in habit can range from dwarf flattened plants to bottle shaped shrubs to dendroid-shaped trees.
The second general characteristic of Pachypodium is spinescence, or having spines. The spines come clustered in either pairs or triplets with these clusters often arranged in rings or whorls around the trunk. Spines emerge with leaves, and like leaves grow for a short period before stopping growth and hardending. Spines do not regenerate so weathering and abrasion can wear away all but the youngest spines from older specimens - leaving smooth trunks and branches.
To some extent, branches are a characteristic of the genus. Some caution is warranted in over-generalizing this characteristic. Pachypodium namaquanum is often branchless. Pachypodium brevicaule has no clear branches, and indeed may have evolved an alternative to branching in the form of nodes from which leaves, spines, and inflorescences emerge. In general Pachypodium have few branches. Since the environmental stresses and factors that contribute to branching can vary widely even in small areas, individual plants of the same species exhibit wide variation in branching morphology.
Unlike many members of the Apocynaceae, including some members of the superficially similar Adenium, Pachypodium species do not exude a milky latex. Rather, the sap is always clear.
Pachypodium
Pachypodium is a plant genus that belongs to the dogbane family, Apocynaceae. Pachypodium comes from Greek pachy (thick) and podium (foot), hence meaning thick-footed.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Dionaea Muscipula aka Venus Fly Trap Red Dragon (Akai Ryu)
Captain's Log Book : Akhirnya setelah 6 minggu menunggu, biji2 Dionaea Muscipula alias Venus Fly Trap jenis Red Dragon atau Akai Ryu ini tumbuh juga. Ada enam yang mengalami germinasi dan tercatat tgl 5 Januari 2008 bahkan satu tanaman sudah memiliki 4 daun (atau trap??). Lumayan lah untuk seorang pemula. Sekilas mengenai tanaman ini, Dionaea Muscipula merupakan spesies yang termasuk kedalam tanaman karnivora. Lebih dari 660 spesies dan subspesies tanaman karnivora yang telah dideskripsikan. Genus dengan jumlah spesies terbesar adalah Utricularia (lebih dari 200 spesies). Dionaea Muscipula menggunakan daunnya untuk memerangkap serangga yang hinggap dengan kecepatan tinggi mengatupkan kedua lembar daunnya, kemudian mencerna serangga tersebut untuk mendapatkan nutrisi yang digunakan untuk pertumbuhannya. Karakteristik ini diperolehnya setelah mengalami evolusi ketika hidup di area yang sangat miskin dengan unsur hara sehingga memodifikasi daunnya sebagai sistem jebakan untuk menangkap serangga.
Welcome Aboard : Pachypodium Brevicaule
Akhirnya si cebol dari hutan di selatan Antananarivo hingga Itremo Mountains di Madagaskar ini tiba juga. Sudah lama juga mengincar spesies yang masih masuk dalam keluarga Apocynaceae ini yang punya ciri tumbuh melebar dan mendatar, umbi mirip dengan kaktus dengan batang yang pendek dan lebar, batas percabangannya tidak terlalu jelas. Nama umum yang dikenal oleh orang2 madagaskar untuk tanaman ini adalah Tsimondrimondry (Merina) atau Kimondromondro (Betsileo). Lucu juga ya. Tanaman dengan diameter 5 cm ini terkenal sangat lambat pertumbuhannya walau akhirnya bisa mencapai diameter 10 hingga 40 cm jadi mesti extra sabar merawatnya. Bunganya sangat indah dan berwarna kuning cerah. Salah satu kelebihan dari keluarga Pachypodium ini dari sepupunya yaitu Adenium adalah ya warna bunganya ini.
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