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This Month's Program

“opuntias,black sheep of the cactus family”

Charles Spotts@ St Paul's Episcopal Church

6:30 PM

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BAKERSFIELD CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY

Volume 18 June 2015 Number 6

The Cactus PatchOpuntia basilaris var. treleasei

Monthly Meeting

Tuesday, June 9th

at6:30 PM

Dinner @ 5:30

MeetMeet thethe SpeakerSpeakerDinnerDinner @@ 5:305:30 PMPM

SizzlerSizzler900 REAL RD

The Cactus PatchVolume 18 Number 6

June 2015The Cactus Patch is the official publication of the Bakersfield

Cactus & Succulent Society of Bakersfield, California

Membership in the Bakersfield Cactus & Succulent Society costs$20 per year for an individual and $25 a year for a family.

Visit Us On the Web!www.BakersfieldCactus.org

~2~

Meeting on June 9th

Charles is a retired Professor ofMicrobiology and Cell Biology fromCalifornia State University, Northridge.He and his wife, Joann, have collectedsucculents since 1978, starting with a few patio plants from a yard sale andgradually becoming avid collectors andexhibitors of a wide variety of succulent plants, mostly cacti. They now live in Paso Robles, having moved there from Chatsworth after his retirement in 1993.Charles maintains extensive collections

of Opuntioideae and Gymnocalyciums and, with Joann, a growing collection of Lithops and other mesembs. Charles has traveled throughout Peru, Argentina, Baja California, Mainland Mexico, theVirgin Islands, and our own Mojave, Chihuahuan, and Sonoran deserts in search of cacti in habitat. He has been an active member of a number of Cactus and Succulent clubs; he served two terms aspresident of the Los Angeles Cactus and Succulent Society and was Co-Chairman and Treasurer ofthe Intercity Cactus and SucculentShow for 13 years. His plants havewon numerous awards at the Cactusand Succulent Society of AmericaShow and the Intercity Cactus andSucculent Show, two of the largestsucculent shows in the world. He isan accredited CSSA judge.

This month, Charles will begiving a presentation on one of his favorite topics, the cactus subfamily Opuntioideae (i.e. opuntioids). He will take us on a geographic tour of a variety of opuntioids looking at the morphology and habitats of the incredibly farreaching range of distribution of this group, with an with emphasis on the South American species. He will also discuss the changes in our understanding of the opuntioids as a result of recent DNA investigations.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

President: Frank Drake 661-399-0831 pancho0831@yahoo.comMembership: Maynard Moe 661-861-0238 lmmoe44@gmail.comNewsletter: Polly Hargreaves 661-393-4920 pollypearl@hotmail.comWebsite: Stephen Cooley 661-588-0224 thecactuspatch@bak.rr.com

Plant of the MonthOpuntia littoralis

Once again we fall back on Lyman Benson for the plant of the month.Opening randomly to page 136 we find O. littoralis a wide spread speciesacross southern CA and the off shore islands. Its name littoralis refers tothe fact that this cactus is found growing only a few feet above sealevel from Santa Barbara Co. south

to San Diego Co. and on the channel islands. It is a seaside cactus. It is also much more. Benson lists five varieties, littoralis, Vaseyi, austrocalifornica, Piercei and Martiniana. The other varieties occupy other regions of the southwestern deserts. While var. littoralis lives mostly within 30 miles of the ocean the other varieties live inland across the southern counties and into southern NV, and UT as well a northern AZ. In these regions it generally is associated with chaparral or pinyon-juniper woodland up to as high as 7250 ft. in the San Jacinto mountains.

The plant itself is low growing, generally forming clumps up to 2ft. (60cm.) high and 3-6 ft. (1-2 m.) across. Joints (pads) are more orless oval (obovate) and 3-9 in. (8-23 cm.) long by 3-6 in. (8-15 cm.)across. Areoles cover the entire pad in most cases and spines may bedistributed over the entire pad or only the upper half. One variety(austrocalifornica) is nearly spineless. Areoles may have 1-11 spinesfrom 1-2 in. (25-50 mm.) long and from grey to yellow to pink or red incolor. Pads may be green to blue-green in color.

Flowers are mostly yellow or yellow with red centers. Onevariety (austrocalifornica) is entirely red.

Wherever it grows this plant prefers a gravelly well drainingsoil. It may be propagated by seeds or cuttings. It has been eliminatedover much of it historical range due to human activities and now is oftenfound in small populations clustered in areas protected from humaninterference. It is somewhat cold tolerant and should grow inBakersfield outdoors year round.

Jack G. Reynolds~4~

The Succulent Garden at Cal StateGlottiphyllum

neiliiGlottiphyllum means

'tongue-leaf,” and Glottiphyllum neiliicertainly lives up to thatname. In cultivation it can have very large, rubbery leaves and clumps can get as large as two feet across. However, in the little

Karoo of South Africa where it is native, its leaves are more compact and clumps often have bare branches with the leaves at the tips. You must be very disciplined with your watering to get one looking 'natural' (they just grow so wonderfully fast and fat when given extra water).

Glottiphyllum neilii in the Cal State succulent garden hassurvived temperatures down to the mid 20's and is unfazed by thefull summer sun. Watering can be problematic as it sometimesdisintegrates if giventoo much. It is bestnot to water it muchatall. The soft leavesbreak easily and oftenhave scars and otherdamage by season'send. Fortunately,these will be replacedby new leaves in thewinter or spring.

This plant iseasily started from seed and grows fast, often flowering within a year. Stem cuttings can be rooted but can take several months.

Stephen Cooley~5~

President's CornerJust a few short comments about the clubs activities. May

12th we had the annual picnic at the garden at Cal State. We had agood turnout and a great potluck. Maynard did a good job ofdirecting the setup and takedown. Thanks to every one thatcontributed to the potluck and helped setting up and taking downthe picnic.

Stephen Cooley has done a great job directing the cleaningup of the cactus garden. It seemed that everyone enjoyed viewingand talking about the garden. Thanks, Stephen, for yourcontinuing efforts with the garden.

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May 12th, 2015

Sidney Kelley has gone to the effort to set up several yardtours during the past couple of months. Arranging these yard toursrequires Sidney to contact and coordinate with the property ownersallowing our members to tour their yards. Unfortunately, theresponse from our club members has been very poor, with only afew members coming to the yard tours. I think the time has cometo reevaluate the yard tours. I am sure that Sidney will be givingsome thought about continuing the tours or not.

Well hope to see you at the June 9th meeting at St. Pauls.Frank Drake

~7~

A Farewell to Alice MaryA Letter From Bruce

On the 25th of April, Polly, John and I woke up to rain in Fresno! As we proceeded north the rain became a real

downpour about Madera. Fortunately, by the time we reached Ceres, where Alice was born, the rain had stopped. Our clan met at my Greatgrandfather's house and by eleven everyone was there. We proceeded to dig a hole and when we were told to make it deepand wide Daniel started us on the old Sunday School song "Deep and Wide". (He also played a bit of harmonica.) When the hole wasbig enough, I was given mother's ashes and we took turnssprinkling them in it. We then planted a black walnut tree in the

hole and sang "Will theCircle be Unbroken". Weadded rose petals andmother's cousin, Janet laida bouquet of bloomingstatice. We then proceeded nextdoor to another cousin,Patricia Cousin's, house.There we were greeted bya sunbow in the sky! We

dined in the grape arbor with Chinese take out. This was in memory of the times the family had gathered at my Grandfather's in Stockton to harvest walnuts (the annual gathering of the nuts). After working we would gather for lunch which was often Chinesebecause that was the fast food available. After lunch Patricia led uson a tour of Great-grandfather's house. (Her grandfather even though she is slightly younger than I am.) The children then got to feed lambs with bottles, visit with Llora the llama etc. It was a fitting farewell to Alice Mary. We did not go to the Fresno Potluck on 7th May, but did go to the Bakersfield one on the 12th. The weather and the food weregood.

~8~

The end of the Cruise: On 6th November we had breakfast in the dining room for thefirst (and only) time. The waiter looked at my blazer and beardand greeted me as "professor". We then docked and we were offthe boat by 11. We checked our luggage and got discount ticketsfor the Florida Aquarium which was right across the street. Lunchthere was rather disappointing, but the exhibits were great. Inaddition to the fish (both salt and fresh water) there was a specialexhibit on Madagascar with land animals (including ring-tailedlemurs), and there was a Madagascar reef full of fish.

We then took the trolley and a bus to the airport and had dinnerat Burger King. Customs was nightmarishly thorough, but then theairline offered to check our luggage for free. Our night-time flightover the gulf with all the glowing oil platforms was exciting. Wehad three seats for the two of us and were able to streach out andget a little sleep. We landed in LA at 9:24 pm. and were met byAnne and Lora. The drive home was an anticlimax.

Bruce Hargreaves[Bruce's opinions are his own and are not necessarily that of the BCSS]

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Barbara HallCSSA Show Chairibcjhall@aol.com818-368-6914

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June 9th BCSS meetingCharles Spotts

“opuntias, black sheep of the cactus family”

June 14th-19th: Cactus and Succulent Society of America,Biennial Convention

Pitzer College, Claremont, CA

June 30th Board meeting

July 14th BCSS meeting

August 11th BCSS meeting

Visit us on the Web!www.BakersfieldCactus.org

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/BakersfieldCactus

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