Getting Hooked
September 21, 2002 | 12:00am
(Editor’s note: Kevin G. Belmonte’s column title is a French word referring to those addicted to cacti and succulents. As his brother, Philippine STAR editor-in-chief Isaac G. Belmonte, describes him, Kevin is "a former SGV partner and Dotcom CEO who has been a succulent lover the minute he hit puberty, or thereafter. He now maintains succulent houses in both Makati and Quezon City – and best of all, he has his wife’s blessings.")
It was quite a few years ago… I was maybe 11 years old, my brother Miguel was going on 10. As I recall, we had just watched one of our favorite whodunit shows on TV (amazing what kids back then used to watch). One of the principal suspects (who eventually turned out to be the murderer) was being interrogated by the detective in a greenhouse full of strange and intricate-looking plants. For that moment, I remember paying more attention to the plants than to the characters. I’d seen cactus and other succulent plants before as singles, but never together in a large collection, contrasting their intricate forms, colors, and geometric patterns.
I’ve been hooked on cacti and other succulents (C&S) ever since.
The next non-school day, Miguel and I coerced our mom to take us to the original Farmers Garden in Cubao. There we were able to buy our first few cacti and succulents. We agreed that I would be in charge of the cacti and Miguel would oversee the other succulents, although we each had an interest in the other’s wards. One of the first cacti we owned was a Mammillaria species, and one of the first succulents we had was Haworthia limifolia. Along the way, we even started to make desert dish gardens combining both cacti and other succulents.
Miguel eventually lost interest in this hobby after about a year, focusing instead on model tanks and soldiers. To this day, he has remained a keen student of the past world wars. I, on the other hand, have continued my passion for C&S through the years.
I really got serious when I was living in the US in the ’80s and early ’90s. There, the range and depth of C&S available is beyond compare. Catalogs abounded listing hundreds of different species and variants across several genera. Unlike the early days in Manila when you literally wanted to get your hands on the entire limited selection you saw in Farmers Garden, in the US I quickly realized that one had to have an area of specialization (i.e., collecting a particular family or form of plants) or else one would get hopelessly lost given the wide array to choose from.
In the early ’90s, I decided to specialize in collecting Haworthias and allies, succulents endemic to South Africa. By the time I was back in Manila, I decided to expand my collecting interests to include specific genera of cacti from Mexico, the Southwestern US and South America. I am still expanding my interests in C&S today to include other species, variants and forms which appeal to me and which give me some relief from the everyday stresses in life. As far as the plant kingdom is concerned, cacti and succulents are Mother Nature at her creative best!
All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti. They are linked botanically because they share a mechanism for storing water in their cells which allows them to survive even with very little water supply. They achieve this moisture retention by developing succulence or thickness of flesh, either through their bodies, leaves, stems or roots.
The key characteristic that differentiates cacti from other succulents is that cacti have what is called an areole, which is a small tuft of hair from which spines grow. Of course, not all cacti have spines, as some of the excellent pictures taken by Johann Espiritu will attest to. But all cacti have areoles. And not all other succulents are spineless too. Confused? Well, instead of explaining with more confusing words, it’s more effective to illustrate with pictures. I’ve selected a number of representatives from different genera so you can get a better feel for the amazing variety, complexity, and sheer beauty of these plants. If the reader wants to play a little guessing game on identifying which succulent is a cactus and which one is not among the plants illustrated, stop reading for now and make your guess on each. Then read on to find out if you’re right or if Mother Nature fooled you.
With one exception, all cacti are endemic only to the New World or the Americas. When one thinks of cacti, one traditionally thinks about spined plants. The more "traditional" cacti, then, are represented here by:
• Gymnocalycium carminanthum, a South American cactus shown flowering impressively in September.
• Mammillaria polythele from Mexico, where most of this genus is from.
• Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus v. dickisoniae, a rare miniature from Mexico with cream-white flowers.
• Discocactus horstii, a very rare Brazilian cactus shown here with its sweetly scented night-blooms in September. The scent of the flowers conjures images of Dama de noche. Unfortunately, the flowers die after one night.
And for the "less traditional" (i.e., spineless) cacti, we have:
• An old specimen of Lophophora williamsii, the peyote plant known as a source of mescalin, a hallucinogenic drug (don’t get any ideas now).
• Ariocarpus retusus v. furfuraceus "Seiji Form," a very rare Mexican cactus which doesn’t look anything like your typical cactus.
• Leuchtenbergia principis, which has papery spines protruding from each areole and which looks a lot like a pineapple top.
• And finally Astrophytum asterias v. nudum, the sand dollar cactus.
Other succulents are found all over the world, with the greatest numbers to be found in Africa. I’ve selected the following examples to represent the immense diversity among other succulents:
• Haworthia arachnoidea v. scabrispina, a form which is one of my favorites. And you thought this was a cactus, didn’t you?
• Euphorbia obesa, the "baseball or basketball cactus," depending on which side of the Pacific you are from. This isn’t a cactus, but sure looks like one.
• Trichocaulon cactiforme, a stapeliad with a form similar to some cacti, hence its name.
• Pseudolithos dodsoniana, a rare African succulent shown here flowering in September. The flower has a carrion-like smell which attracts numerous pollinator flies.
• Astroloba bicarinata, a South African which seems to have been architecturally constructed.
• Conophytum tantillum ssp. helenae, one of the living stones from this miniature group of plants.
• Gasteria glauca, a beautiful bluish-tinged relative of Haworthias which was discovered only a few years ago.
• And finally, Lithops julii "reticulata," another of the South African living stones with its intricate and unique patterns atop the leaves.
I’ll be the first to tell you I am no expert on the subject of C&S. But what I do have is a deep passion for these plants, and quite a number of years of both exhilarating as well as painful experiences observing, cultivating, nurturing, and even killing them. So I do have a wealth of do’s and don’ts in mind.
Another element that might be useful to readers is that 99 percent of the books I have seen on the topic of C&S and growing these successfully have been written by Western growers who base their recommendations on their temperate, Northern Hemisphere climates (or temperate, Southern Hemisphere climates in the case of Australian growers). I have not seen much literature in terms of growing these plants in tropical, high-humidity climates like we have over here, which does present a different set of problems to the collector or succulent fancier. Maybe I can add some insight and value in this regard.
In the process of describing some useful cultural regimens, I will also present more detailed discussions on some of the C&S genera that interest me most. And finally, mine is but one experience. I will have some guest writers from time to time who will share their relevant experiences as well, thus enriching the learning pot for one and all of us succulentophiles.
It was quite a few years ago… I was maybe 11 years old, my brother Miguel was going on 10. As I recall, we had just watched one of our favorite whodunit shows on TV (amazing what kids back then used to watch). One of the principal suspects (who eventually turned out to be the murderer) was being interrogated by the detective in a greenhouse full of strange and intricate-looking plants. For that moment, I remember paying more attention to the plants than to the characters. I’d seen cactus and other succulent plants before as singles, but never together in a large collection, contrasting their intricate forms, colors, and geometric patterns.
I’ve been hooked on cacti and other succulents (C&S) ever since.
The next non-school day, Miguel and I coerced our mom to take us to the original Farmers Garden in Cubao. There we were able to buy our first few cacti and succulents. We agreed that I would be in charge of the cacti and Miguel would oversee the other succulents, although we each had an interest in the other’s wards. One of the first cacti we owned was a Mammillaria species, and one of the first succulents we had was Haworthia limifolia. Along the way, we even started to make desert dish gardens combining both cacti and other succulents.
Miguel eventually lost interest in this hobby after about a year, focusing instead on model tanks and soldiers. To this day, he has remained a keen student of the past world wars. I, on the other hand, have continued my passion for C&S through the years.
I really got serious when I was living in the US in the ’80s and early ’90s. There, the range and depth of C&S available is beyond compare. Catalogs abounded listing hundreds of different species and variants across several genera. Unlike the early days in Manila when you literally wanted to get your hands on the entire limited selection you saw in Farmers Garden, in the US I quickly realized that one had to have an area of specialization (i.e., collecting a particular family or form of plants) or else one would get hopelessly lost given the wide array to choose from.
In the early ’90s, I decided to specialize in collecting Haworthias and allies, succulents endemic to South Africa. By the time I was back in Manila, I decided to expand my collecting interests to include specific genera of cacti from Mexico, the Southwestern US and South America. I am still expanding my interests in C&S today to include other species, variants and forms which appeal to me and which give me some relief from the everyday stresses in life. As far as the plant kingdom is concerned, cacti and succulents are Mother Nature at her creative best!
The key characteristic that differentiates cacti from other succulents is that cacti have what is called an areole, which is a small tuft of hair from which spines grow. Of course, not all cacti have spines, as some of the excellent pictures taken by Johann Espiritu will attest to. But all cacti have areoles. And not all other succulents are spineless too. Confused? Well, instead of explaining with more confusing words, it’s more effective to illustrate with pictures. I’ve selected a number of representatives from different genera so you can get a better feel for the amazing variety, complexity, and sheer beauty of these plants. If the reader wants to play a little guessing game on identifying which succulent is a cactus and which one is not among the plants illustrated, stop reading for now and make your guess on each. Then read on to find out if you’re right or if Mother Nature fooled you.
• Gymnocalycium carminanthum, a South American cactus shown flowering impressively in September.
• Mammillaria polythele from Mexico, where most of this genus is from.
• Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus v. dickisoniae, a rare miniature from Mexico with cream-white flowers.
• Discocactus horstii, a very rare Brazilian cactus shown here with its sweetly scented night-blooms in September. The scent of the flowers conjures images of Dama de noche. Unfortunately, the flowers die after one night.
And for the "less traditional" (i.e., spineless) cacti, we have:
• An old specimen of Lophophora williamsii, the peyote plant known as a source of mescalin, a hallucinogenic drug (don’t get any ideas now).
• Ariocarpus retusus v. furfuraceus "Seiji Form," a very rare Mexican cactus which doesn’t look anything like your typical cactus.
• Leuchtenbergia principis, which has papery spines protruding from each areole and which looks a lot like a pineapple top.
• And finally Astrophytum asterias v. nudum, the sand dollar cactus.
• Haworthia arachnoidea v. scabrispina, a form which is one of my favorites. And you thought this was a cactus, didn’t you?
• Euphorbia obesa, the "baseball or basketball cactus," depending on which side of the Pacific you are from. This isn’t a cactus, but sure looks like one.
• Trichocaulon cactiforme, a stapeliad with a form similar to some cacti, hence its name.
• Pseudolithos dodsoniana, a rare African succulent shown here flowering in September. The flower has a carrion-like smell which attracts numerous pollinator flies.
• Astroloba bicarinata, a South African which seems to have been architecturally constructed.
• Conophytum tantillum ssp. helenae, one of the living stones from this miniature group of plants.
• Gasteria glauca, a beautiful bluish-tinged relative of Haworthias which was discovered only a few years ago.
• And finally, Lithops julii "reticulata," another of the South African living stones with its intricate and unique patterns atop the leaves.
Another element that might be useful to readers is that 99 percent of the books I have seen on the topic of C&S and growing these successfully have been written by Western growers who base their recommendations on their temperate, Northern Hemisphere climates (or temperate, Southern Hemisphere climates in the case of Australian growers). I have not seen much literature in terms of growing these plants in tropical, high-humidity climates like we have over here, which does present a different set of problems to the collector or succulent fancier. Maybe I can add some insight and value in this regard.
In the process of describing some useful cultural regimens, I will also present more detailed discussions on some of the C&S genera that interest me most. And finally, mine is but one experience. I will have some guest writers from time to time who will share their relevant experiences as well, thus enriching the learning pot for one and all of us succulentophiles.
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