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ariole

Conophyllum/Mitrophyllum???

ariole
18 years ago

Conophyllum/Mitrophyllum I have both labels and cannot recall which is used by the modern mind. I'm going with Mitrophyllum today.

I almost missed this flower. I crawled up to the Mesemb self to retrieve a different treasure and noticed this little bit of sunshine.

{{gwi:486521}}

{{gwi:486522}}

Hope you enjoy.

Al

Comments (10)

  • Ohio_Green_Thumb
    18 years ago

    Neat plant. It would look funny if you put little shoes on the tips of the leaves!
    Amy

  • ariole
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Great idea Amy. Do you have a miniature cobbler's bench?
    Ah! I bet I've not used the word 'cobbler' in many years.

    Al

  • shrubs_n_bulbs
    18 years ago

    It might be worth mentioning the scale, Al. I'm guessing you'd need some pretty tiny shoes! There are still officially a handful of Mitrophyllum species, possibly more published very recently. This looks a lot like a bilobe Conophytum to me, but then I don't have any Mitrophyllums :) The flowers look like bilobe flowers too. It would help to see the base of the plant and the "stem" structure, which could be quite distinctive on a Mitrophyllum. Also, do you know if it displays two different leaf forms at different times of the year? Do you have a species name for it?

  • ariole
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Yikes! How did I miss the name? Mitrophyllum obtusipetalum

    I'll watch the leaves throughout the next few months and see if I cannot produce a current digital shot of the body tomorrow. I might already have one from today's shoot.

    All comments greatly appreciated.

    Al

  • Ohio_Green_Thumb
    18 years ago

    Are the old dried-up leaves removable or do you leave them on for effect? It's an attractive plant and I rather like the way the old leaves remain on the base of each one and accumulate over time.

    I can't seem to remove the old leaves from my Pleiospilos nellii for fear of damaging the succulent leaves, but they gradually become unnoticeable as each new pair grows. I guess removing them is a matter of taste and I just leave mine alone.

    Amy

  • shrubs_n_bulbs
    18 years ago

    Mitrophyllum obtusipetalum is an obsolete name but I don't know what current name it corresponds to. There is (was) a Conophytum obtusipetalum but it is a kind of C. wettsteinii and is completely different from your plant, so just a coincidence I think. I think Mitrophyllum, as currently defined, are all highly dimorphic with a big fat pair of leaves followed by a longer thinner pair, often on quite tall, sometimes even caudiciform, stems. Your plant looks more like a bilobe Conophytum. I believe that no Conophytum are dimorphic.

    Amy, I tend to remove as much of the old leaves as possible, simply because they are a hiding place for pests and a resting place for water. Here's a very old C. bilobum that I received and then tidied up. The different angles exaggerate the effect but the tidied-up plant does look quite spindly on those stalks. But it was worth it, there was a mealy in there, possibly dead, and water still remaining from two days earlier. The second picture was taken a couple of days later and the breaking dormancy is quite dramatic.

    {{gwi:486523}}{{gwi:486524}}

  • ariole
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    A more complete view of the plant, captured this morning. An increasingly lower sun in the sky produces troublesome shadows. Indoor shots with a back light might be a solution to that problem. (That's another topic.)

    Al

    {{gwi:486525}}

  • jamesfe
    18 years ago

    you just have to love those amazing mesembs

  • Ohio_Green_Thumb
    18 years ago

    Those are dramatic before and after shots Ian. Thanks for answering my question. I am gaining interest in these plants and am trying to learn all I can before venturing into them too far! I've got quite a few coming to me in the mail soon and I'm preparing.
    Amy

  • ariole
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    And our guru placed those pics side by side. I'm printing out all these instructions and the like. Some day I hope they make a lot of sense to me. I certainly like the results.

    Al

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