While I am not a big fan of Dyckia hybrids in general, and usually prefer the pure species, this famous hybrid by Bill Baker is one of very few exceptions. It’s a phantastic clone, said to be a cross between Dyckia dawsonii, fosteriana and platyphylla. I purchased this plant from Bird Rock Tropicals in 2006 and it is said to be the original “Brittle Star”. My friend Chanin in Bangkok got the original clone from Bill Baker himself and there is no obvious difference.
Note that there are many “Brittle Star F2” around! These are not the same of the original and you might wish to have a look at Uncle Derek’s recent article to understand why!
For me this has been a slowly growing plant. Many ups and downs. It started to split some 2 or 3 years ago and this is how far it has got. No flowers yet, but I am sure that if it does flower one day, I will try to pollinate it and get seeds. Those will be many “F2’s” then and with good chances for something outstanding among them….
The photo below shows the very same plant how it looked like 5 years ago, in March 2007…
Have you ever wondered what “F2” in combination with Dyckia might mean? Then you should read this article by Derek Butcher from Australia!
Today my Dyckia dawsonii has flowered for the very first time! While this species can produce flower stalks easily 1 1/2 meters tall or even more, with a dozen or more flowers, mine just produces three flowers on a rather short spike. Doesn’t matter, it will flower again. Of course I try to get the flowers pollinated but other growers have rarely succeeded. So probably it won’t work unless I am very, very lucky. Never mind. Waiting for pups now… 😉
The genus Encholirium is related to Dyckia and often these share the same habitat. Therefore, Encholiriums are perfect companion plants to be grown alongside with Dyckias. Encholirium biflorum (Mez) Forzza is a poorly known species from the region around Diamantina, Minas Gerais. The plants shown here were grown from seeds and have not flowered yet, so confirmation of the name is still pending. I haven’t found any pictures of living plants on the web. If you have or know of any, please let me know. There are pictures of herbarium specimens conserved at the Herbarium Berolinense showing plants that look consistent to mine.
This is a very small plant. To give you an idea: The diameter of the inner pot on the top photo is only 11 cm! And this species isn’t expected to grow much bigger. Thus a great addition for those interested in small terrestrial bromeliads. Interestingly, there is a certain resemblance to a Dyckia species known from the same region, namely Dyckia macedoi.
Follow this link to see Encholirium biflorum (Mez) Forzza at the Herbarium Berolinense.
This species is certainly one of the most rarely seen in cultivation. But also one of the most beautiful! It grows slowly but steadily. Not a problem at all. Over the years it can form large clumps, but in that respect mine still has a long way to go and to be honest, I like the solitary look the most. The diameter of the inner pot is 14 cm, to give an idea how small this plant is!
Actually it is not clear whether or not this plant is related to Dyckia pulquinensis at all. But it’s beautiful, isn’t it?
This clone has been around in Germany for years and is grown by several people. It has flowered for others already but not for me yet. What makes this plant so remarkable is its very distinct look. In fact, to me it doesn’t even look like a Dyckia at first sight. The flowers, however, confirm that it is. Also, the stiffness of the leaves is unique and the spines are indeed vicious. Handle with care!
If you want one, I currently have a single spare offset to share.
Dyckia dawsonii was described by Lyman B. Smith based on material collected in 1956 by Elmer Yale Dawson during the Machris Brazilian expedition to the southern Serra Dourada. The type is conserved under the field number Dawson 15236. If you look up Dyckia dawsonii e.g. on Tropicos.org you will be pleased to even find geographical coordinates of the collection site there. That’s great, isn’t it?
Well, that’s only half of the story. Several people are said to have tried to find this plant in habitat but without success. I don’t know if they used the mentioned coordinates as a starting point or whether they searched 20 km east of Formoso, southern Serra Dourada. But up to now, Dyckia dawsonii hasn’t been found again since its discovery in 1956! It would be great to ask Dawson himself about the type locality, but he passed away already in 1966. What to do? There are, fortunately, some more resources for information on the type collection available on the web. In particular, a photo of two leaves of the type specimen kept at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Unter type register search enter 00089051 as barcode and you will get a high resolution photo of two well prepared leaves of the type plus a tag referring to the original collection in 1956. Interestingly, while the species name is hand written, the location site is machine written, so probably the name was added later (after the description by L.B. Smith?). But what’s most stunning is the fact that the coordinates, which may naively be interpreted as those of the collection site, are part of the preprinted label! This means that the coordinates cannot specifically refer to the collection site of Dyckia dawsonii but probably define the target area of the expedition! Apart from the fact that the coordinates are given only with a resolution of 5′ or approximately 10 km. Which makes me wonder how reliable the locality “on rocks in an outcrop along a cerrado canyon 20 km. east of Formoso” is…
Nevertheless: we should not be tempted to look down on these early explorers like Dawson! Instead we should appreciate the work they did almost 60 years ago, under very different and much more difficult conditions than today. They had neither GPS nor digital cameras. Roads were probably in much worse condition than today, the same must have been the case with respect to maps! We can nowadays look up localities on Google Maps within seconds, but how accurate was the map material that was available to Dawson and his colleagues? These factors should be taken into consideration before making any premature judgement on the quality of their work!
How to start? After all, this is going to be my first plant post. How about showing a picture of Dyckia dawsonii?
This is obviously one of the most beautiful Dyckias. Still very rare in cultivation, the demand for such a spectacular plant is high. No surprize there are many “fakes” around, which are claimed to be Dyckia dawsonii but in fact are probably hybrids and not the real thing. The plant above is considered to be real Dyckia dawsonii. I got mine from Chanin Thorut in Bangkok who got his from late Bill Baker, the famous Dyckia grower from California. Bill Baker in turn is believed to have received his plants from the Huntington Botanical Garden. It should be mentioned that at the Swiss Succulent Collection in Zürich a very similar clone is grown, which happens to be the type clone of that species and was also received from the Huntington Botanical Garden many years ago. So there are two links back to the Huntington Botanical Garden as a probably source for the plants which are in cultivation.
Mine is now getting to flower. I’ll keep you updated.
Dyckia Berlin 