Special Bloom Day Inter-City CSS Show Blooms August 2016

 Above, I forget.  Adenium?  Something related to Oleander.

As a change of pace for Bloom Day, flowers seen at the Inter-City Cactus and Succulent Show, Los Angeles Arboretum.  Many out-of-the-ordinary plants, with long unfamiliar and hard to spell names.
Neoporteria nidus ssp. senilis
Astrophytum--perhaps A. myriostigma?
 Silky translucence...
 Another Astrophytum...
 Didn't get the name of this one
 Echeveria lutea.  The plant was very small (and tired!) compared to the towering flower stems. 
 Pure, pure yellow.  The lighting in the hall has apparently been upgraded to LED from fluorescent since last year and was much better for photographs. 
 Flowers of not nearly so pure a yellow on a medusa-type Euphorbia. 
 Gasteria.  The genus is named for the stomach-like shape of the flowers--"gaster" is Latin for "stomach". 
 I think these flower buds are Hoodia--something in Stapeliae, anyway.
 Hoodia gordoni flowers are sort of like old radar antennas in a pepto-bismol kind of pink.  
 Getting the names of these plants correctly has been an effort!  This one is Mestoklema tuberosa, one of the Aizoaceae (ice plants).
 It is prized more for its interesting bulbous root systems than for its orange flowers:
 Monadenium ritchiei from rocky slopes, East Africa
 Ceraria namaquensis, from the borderlands of Namibia with South Africa.  
 Flowers:
Peduncles 13-17 mm long, angular, unbranched. Pedicels involucrated by some minute ovate bracts, about 4 mm long, solitary or few. Calyx 2-phyllous, three times shorter than the 5 rose-colored, obovate, near 2 mm long petals. Stamens 5; filaments linear. Anthers oblong, emarginate at both ends. Ovary ovate. Style short.  Got that? 
 Conophytum pellucidum:  This plant is 3" wide (76 mm).
Uncaria roeoselania, from Madagascar.  Unlike many of the plants in this post, U. roeoselania needs plentiful amounts of water. 

 And to finish with the show's floral pièce de résistance:  Pachycormus discolor, in bloom, on the trophy table.  Pachycormus discolor is native to Baja California.
 An out-of-the-ordinary bloom day, with most extraordinary plants.  I hope you enjoyed it.  More blooms via May Dreams Garden Blog.  More of the 2016 Inter-City show in future posts. 

Comments

  1. Wow, with such detailed close-up photos I felt like I was right there with you!

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    1. New exhibition hall light was so much better!!!

      You would have had to turn on your oven to 500F and sit right next to it to simulate the 100F temperature, though. Woof it was hot.

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  2. What a great idea to feature blooms from the Intercity Show!

    I love the fact that the lighting was upgraded. That gives me hope for similar venues. I've just about given up trying to take photos in places with fluorescent or (even worse!) mixed lighting. Not even a custom white balance helps.

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    1. The LED lights made...uh...a night and day difference.

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  3. I'd hoped to get there this year but, with the heat on full blast, I knew there was no way I'd entice my husband into the trip. I'm happy to see that you shared your visit and your excellent photos.

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    1. The a/c was at work in the exhibition hall, with excellent results. Outside it was miserable. Still worth the trip, so many amazing plants. More photos to come.

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  4. Oh the Pachycormus ! Oh ! And I wonder if I can ever find Echeveria lutea. I really need to get out to some of the few cactus/succulent shows we have up here.Thanks for sharing these cool plants Hoov !

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    1. The E. lutea plant is also pretty, long narrow leaves of dark green with oiled-bronzey accents...I've seen it for sale but was not sure I wanted to subject it to my usual neglectful treatment.

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  5. Names be damned...these are some seriously cool plants.

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    1. The natural world becomes more amazing, not less, when examined. :)

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