Astrophytum myriostigma 'Lotusland'
Astrophytum myriostigma 'Lotusland is a selected clone of the bishop's cap cactus, Astrophytum myriostigma, prized for its dense, chalky-white body and its distinctive monstrose, tuberculate form. The cultivar is reported to have originated in Japan, and it is perpetuated as a named vegetative line, most often sold grafted. It is sometimes also grown under the name 'Polycephala'.
Description
'Lotusland' keeps the bishop's cap's spineless body and heavy white flecking but departs sharply from the tidy geometric form of the type. Instead of a smooth, sharply ribbed column, the body breaks up into a bumpy, monstrose surface: the ribs dissolve into rows of distinct, rounded tubercles, so that a mature plant reads as a lumpy, pine-cone-like cluster. The skin is heavily coated in fine white flecking (the tiny woolly scales, or trichomes, that give myriostigma its powdery look), so that the whole body appears an almost solid, snowy white rather than the grey-green of an average seedling. Plants in this line tend to offset freely from all over the body, building up many-headed clumps — a habit reflected in the alternative name 'Polycephala' — though the exact degree of clustering and tuberculate distortion varies from plant to plant. Flowers, when they appear, are the usual soft yellow of the species, sometimes with a warmer throat.
Cultivation
Grow 'Lotusland' essentially as you would the parent species — see Astrophytum myriostigma for the full picture. It wants bright light, a very open, fast-draining mineral mix, and a careful hand with the watering can: soak thoroughly, then let the pot dry out completely before the next drink, and keep it dry and cool through winter (see Watering).
A couple of notes specific to this clone. The dense white coating develops best in strong light, so give it as much brightness as you can while still shading it from the harshest afternoon sun in the hottest months — a scorched, browned body is hard to reverse. The bumpy, tuberculate growth can trap moisture and hide dead patches in its folds, so err on the dry side and keep good airflow around the plant. Slow, dense monstrose growth of this kind can be prone to rot on its own roots, which is one reason growers often keep these plants on a graft (see below).
Propagation
Being a clone, 'Lotusland' does not come true from seed — seedlings will simply be ordinary, variable myriostigma. It is instead perpetuated vegetatively. Because the plant offsets so freely, its numerous pups can be removed and rooted on their own, and it is also commonly propagated by grafting offsets or cuttings onto a vigorous rootstock, which speeds growth and sidesteps the rot problems that slow, dense monstrose growth can suffer on its own roots. If you want more bishop's caps generally, raise the plain species from seed instead (see Propagation — seed).
See also
- Astrophytum myriostigma — the parent species
- Astrophytum — the genus overview
- Grafting · Soil and potting mix · Watering · Propagation — seed