FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

3. Have you seen a cristate Adromischus?

Not as such, but I have seen various abnormalities.

This cristate inflorescence from one of my own plants has never been repeated. The untypical terminal flower did open, but started on one side and worked across to the other, so that it never looked very spectacular.

A. hemisphaericus from Piketberg.

A "crested flower stalk" on A. cooperi was illustrated in CSJA (1955) vol. 27 p. 29 by the editor.

A. bicolor in a 2" (5 cm.) pot, from 30 km E. Steytlerville.

This lusty A. hemisphaericus in a 3½" (9 cm) pot, grown by Tom Russell, shows a monstrose growth in its third year. Normal growth has been pruned to give the abnormality more space. This sample was from the top of Pakhuis Pass on sandstone rocks.

This A. cooperi produced tiny monstrose leaves on elongated growth many years ago. Plant and photo: Bryan Makin.

Similar aberrant growth on A. cooperi was illustrated by Uitewaal in NCSJ (1950) vol. 5 p. 30.

Variegation can occur in Adromischus, but may not be a permanent feature of a plant. Yellow leaves may be caused by temporary nutrient problems, but note the striped leaf at the back of this A. cooperi from Japan. Plant & photo: Harry Mak.

Here variegation is more extensive and has occurred from the growing point of the stem giving yellow-streaked leaves. Harry Mak says that the variegation can be encouraged by removing any all-green leaves. Unusually with this plant, new variegated plants can be propagated via leaves. Normally, this is not possible with most variegated plants.

A. schuldtianus from Japan. Plant & photo Harry Mak.