I do have several plants of M perezdelrosae. They never show a lot of flowers and the different plants never flower at the same time so I have never been able to do some pollination. At this moment I have one plant in flower. When do your plants of this species flower?

Wiebe

Hi Wiebe,

My perezdelarosaes always flower in early spring, never in the fall. In my opinion they need a lot of sunshine, this also minimizes etiolation. My plants flower quite well, a ring of flowers every spring.
When growing older, these plants form offsets, just like the strongly related M. bombycina. My two oldest plants were sown in 1989 and they have 20 or more offsets.
In nature, the plants stay small, 5 cm high at most. There they also get a lot of sunshine, growing in ridges on well-exposed rocks. I visited two locations, but did not observe offsetting plants. In contrast, M. bombycina forms large mats in nature, just like in cultivation.
Subspecies andersoniana stays even smaller in nature, only 1 - 2 cm diameter. I do not know how large they get in cultivation.

Regards,

Wolter.

Hi Wiebe,
My plants also flower in spring, often a ring as well. I have several ssp. andersoniana and they are clearly smaller than the species, even in our northern light, though they are still young plants, I think. As such they haven't yet flowerd, but if they flower next year and at a different time of the year from the species, I'll let you know. I doubt it though.

Hello Wolter, Chris,

Thanks for your replies. My plants are in a very sunny positition but I can try another spot. Because of the Stapeliads in my collection, I have a very high minimum wintertemperature (12 - 14C). That may infuence flowering in a negative way?

Wiebe