Mammillaria bocasana

Mammillaria bocasana cultivars can be found in many forms. Some of them are so bizarre that it takes some persuasion to believe that they are bocasana at all.


This picture shows a double headed normal M. bocasana. It produces yellowish-white flowers and long thin pink fruits.










This picture shows M. bocasana v. splendens cristata. The plant resembles M. plumosa.








M. bocasana 'Fred' is a monstrose form of the species. There are several stories circulating of how Fred got its name:

1. It is attributed to Frank Harwood., which having had visitors asking what it is he replied ' I do not know, let us call it Frank'. This was in the early Seventies or late sixties.

2. From Ron Studior, a now out-of-business nursery in Texas, in the sixties.

3. Chuck Hanson's Arid Lands Greenhouses in Tucson, Arizona in the eighties.



Since then several other monstrose forms have appeared that are not 'Frank'. The one on the left is a typical example. It produces montrose and cristate forms on the same plant and grafted cuttings can take their own shape.

Cactus Chimera

The name Chimera comes from Greek mythology refering to a fire-breathing she-monster in having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail.

A Cactus Chimera result when two grafted cacti get distinct characteristics of two species on the same plant. In this case a Gymnocalycium mihanovicii cv. 'hiboton' was grafted on Myrtillocactus geometrizans.

Somehow the DNA of the Myrtillocactus passed to the Gymnocalycium and the result is a mix of two species in one. The species showing both of the two species characteristics.

Note: Chimeras are not hybrids. Hybrids occur with the fusion of two gametes from each individual.

Chimeras are very rare and highly valued. Nobody knows how they occur. It could be the result of a viral infection.

Lobivia silvestrii

Lobivia silvestrii variegata is one of the most commercially available cacti. The Chinese are selling them in their thousands. These variegates have to be grafted because they lack chlorophyll.

Christate variegates of this species have been making it to collections. There are several forms of Lobivia silvestrii because they have been hybridised extensively with other Lobivia species and with Echinopsis. Hybrid species are selected mostly for their pretty flowers which range from yellow to red and there are some with bicolored flowers.

Other variegates have been selected for body colour or thickness. Thus, one can find orange coloured L. silvestrii. I find that the yellow variants turn dark orange at the top when held in very strong sunlight producing flower shoots that not all of them open.

Lobivia silvestrii was named Chamacereus silvestrii when it was first discovered. It was eventually placed in the Genus Lobivia and subsequently the Genus Echinopsis, because the Genus Lobivia has now been amalgamated with Echinopsis. A trend not everyone agrees with. The common name is peanut cactus.


The debris on some of my pictures are caused because I am always accidentally toppling the cacti in my greenhouse due to lack of space.







The monstrose plant on the left is also the same species. It is a mutation that has occurred in a private cactus collection in Malta. I have seen similar mutation forms (yet distinct enough), from Spain eBay sellers. The monstrose form is not very easy to keep and needs to be re-grafted after a few years.

Aztekium hintonii monstrosa

This is a proliferous form of Aztekium hintonii. The Genus Aztekium consists of only two species A. ritteri and A. hintonii.

A hintonii was discovered only in 1991 together with another new species Geohintonia mexicana by George S. Hinton. Both species of Aztekium and Geohintonia grow on vertical gypsum hills in the State of Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Astrophytum crests and monstose

Astrophytum ornatum on its own roots. A very large cristate form.














A. myriostigma monstrose. This is actually a hybrid and is known as 'lotusland'.












The picture on the left shows another type of myriostigma which offsets at the top as well as from the side. This is called proliferous type and strictly speaking is not a monstrose but an aberration non the less.















This is a monstrose form of A. myriostigma. Each individual part is small unlike its original species.

Notocactus scopa

As far as I know these are all monstrose forms of Notocactus scopa. The first picture (top) is known as variety inermis and the second is a cristate form of inermis.

The one below it is a cristate form of the classical form of N. scopa and the last picture shows another variety with long spines.

My name is Amante Darmanin, this Blog is about cactus and succulents and anything that is of interest in the cactus world.

I have about 2000 cacti and other succulents and am currently building a cristate, monstrose and variegate cactus collection.

I also have a collection of cactus club badges that I am collecting from around the world.

So if you have any of these and would like to exchange with me or ask me about them, please do not hesitate to email me. I will try to post pictures every week.