TL 868 aff Stylothelae

Hi chris,

Sorry to put this up but every time I try and post a picture this keeps coming up. Is it something to do with the forum.

Mark M.

Just a test using an existing photo.

It seems to be OK, though not a photo of my TL868. I think I have one, but wanted to check on the issue quickly. It is actually a photo of one of my M. thomsonii PN498 plants, which like M. brachytrichion Lau 1337 is quite variable in terms of whether there are any hooked spined or not. I don't seem to have a photo of TL868, which I am pretty sure flowered this year. I will have to take one if it blooms again this year.

What I have been trying to do is post a photograph of my plants of TL 868 which are in flower at the momment, without success.

While members of the Stylothele, they do have a soft pink flower.
My plants have come from Chris, but I think I must of got the location wrong. I have Tuxpan, Michoacan written down but members of the Stylothelae do not extend that far down into Mexico.

Does anyone else ( Wolter ? ) have any further information ?

Yes, it did come from me, and I have just checked that the location stated in Thomas's field list is Tuxpan, Michoacan.

Craig says that M. multihamata comes from Guanajuato, whereas Hunt says that it was described with no locality given. The original Boedeker description says the plant was imported by DeLaet, but no location was given, so where Craig got the information (or was it Britton and Rose) is unclear.

But in an earlier thread, Linzen is stated to have said in an email to Hugo that TL868 is identical to UG1370, which Holger Rudzinski said was from Cerro de la Vibora, Michoacan. This is quite close to Tuxpan, and may very well be the same site.

So Tuxpan is quite possible, and if so would represent the most southerly form of the Stylothelae group, if indeed that is where it sits.

Guanajuato extends quite far south to its border with Micoacan, and Tuxpan is only 70 miles as the crow flies (112 kms) from the city of Guanajuato, near where I know there are Stylothelae members (M. rettigiana for one!).

This is the photo from Mark.

Thomas Linzen discussed his TL 868 (= UG 1370) in the German KuaS (2008, p. 131-134). He thinks that TL 868 is related to M. fittkaui, M. manana, M. variabilis, M. zeilmanniana and M. limonensis. According to Thomas, TL 868 extends the Stylothelae range further southward.

Wolter.