Sukkulenten - Kakteengewächse Standardsorte

Season Overview

Description

You may be surprised to learn that the cactus family, scientifically known as Cactaceae, belongs to the carnation family. After all, a carnation is a delicate flower. Depending on the source of information, the cactus family includes around 100 to 130 genera with up to 1800 species. As you know, these are not delicate structures, but plants with spines that are perfect for decorating windowsills. Their beautiful flowers, but also their frugality, make them popular roommates. As a rule, indoor cacti are captive-bred, because with a few exceptions, all Cactaceae are listed in the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and are strictly protected. The locals use some species as vegetables and fruit and make jam from them. Certain cacti are also used for pharmaceutical purposes. Dead columnar cacti provide high-quality timber. Opuntia cacti are also used to breed cochineal scale insects, which provide the red dye for the production of lipsticks and foodstuffs. Almost all cacti are true Americans. Only Rhipsalis baccifera grows not only in tropical America, but also in Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Réunion and Sri Lanka. Otherwise, most cacti can be found from southern Canada to Chile and Argentina, with a focus on Mexico and the Tropic of Capricorn near Bolivia. The individual species prefer different habitats. They grow in tropical rainforests, semi-deserts, steppes and dry deserts as well as in high mountains and valleys. As a rule, the water in the habitats is only available seasonally. Most cacti are perennial shrubs. Trees or species with hidden perennial organs are rarer. These so-called geophytes can bridge unfavorable climatic conditions particularly well. Almost all species are stem succulents with strongly swollen shoot axes. The cacti usually have a bulbous, sometimes flattened, round, conical, elongated or oval thick-fleshed appearance. The roots usually have a fibrous consistency. Sometimes succulent turnips or tubers are present. Succulent means that the plant parts are able to store moisture in order to survive dry periods. The cactus either consists of one element or is branched from the base or higher up. The main shoot with the branches usually grows upright. However, there are also hanging and creeping varieties. Depending on the species, the plants have warts or ribs. There are usually more or less long thorns. Some species are covered with felt, wool or bristles. Most cacti have no leaves. The leaves are often transformed into spines. Although cacti do not actually have areoles in the original botanical sense, they are still referred to as such in this context. This is a dormant bud. Inside this bud-like structure is divisible tissue that transforms into a lateral shoot or flower. A strongly compressed short shoot protects the areole with its leaves transformed into thorns. There are only a few species among the cactus plants that form deciduous leaves. These include the plants of the genus Pereskia. These are shrubby to tree-like, thorny, often climbing and deciduous plants with discreetly fleshy shoots. As much as you fear the thorns, you probably love the beautiful, colorful flowers. These spring from the areoles, often individually and more rarely in small clusters. Sometimes they also grow from the furrows between the axils and areoles or from the axils. These are lateral shoot branching points or the depressions, often filled with hair felt, between the tubercles of the wart cacti. The flower size varies from species to species. There are flowers just a few millimetres in size as well as 30-centimetre specimens. In some small cacti, the flowers are larger than the plant body. A flower has 5 to over 50 individual bracts. The color depends on the type of cactus. There are white, pink, purple, orange, yellow, red, unicolored and multicolored flowers, among others. The adaptation to the respective pollinators determines whether the flower opens during the day or at night. Possible pollinators include bees, butterflies and moths as well as hummingbirds and bats. Many cacti produce berry-like, fleshy fruits with a striking color. These contain the seeds. These are usually light germinators. Birds, insects, rodents, bats and even goats eat the fruits and spread them with their droppings. The goose-egg-sized prickly pear, the fruit of the giant opuntia cactus, is considered a delicacy. You can make an aromatic jam from it.

Growing tips

Location: Cacti prefer sunny to full sun locations. Direct sunlight is ideal for their growth.

Details

Light requirement

Sunny

Water requirement

Dry

Soil

Light (sandy)

Nutrient requirement

Low

Light germinator

Germination temperature

20 - 25 °C (Degrees Celsius)

Seeding distance

50 cm

Row spacing

50 cm

Seeding depth

0.2 cm