Gymnocalycium Saglione

Had the day off work today............some bright spark in management forgot to order boxes for packing oranges in for America

So the camera got a work out once again

Another beauty!
I love Gymnocalycium!
you have some great plants in your collection.
heres a question for you; if you wet the spines do they turn bright red?
G. saglione is supposed to do this.
I have a very similar plant which i thought was a saglione but it turns out its a very close relative, pflanzii, which doesn't turn red when the spines are wet. interesting.

Can't tell you Lewis have not taken any notice when I water it. Must water in the next week or so and will try to remember to have a look.

Yep I water my cactus in winter......................every 4/6 weeks I don't follow the ways of the Overseas people and let them go without water for months. Geez it does rain in winter in habitat you know

Saying that I have forgotten about the little experiment I was going to do with misting.............damn another year then can't do it now as the daylight is way against me.

cool..
i water in winter too... well when i remember lol.
i mist spray everything to keep the red spider mite down as well. this also really helps the cacti get through.
i am of the opinion that most cacti in australia are underwatered. whilst many cacti can survive 3 months of dryness whilst dormant it is not at all natural. like you say it does rain and even during the harshest drought there is still dew in the morning.

Very nice Betty, heres mine


single...



.....and double.

Cool..............you wanna swap double for a single haha

Thats a nice plant PD. I never really got on the gymno train, but i'm slowing getting there I do have quite a few come to think of it

i don't think your first plant is a saglione PD.

Definetly cool Betty, i really like Gymnos
PD, that double header is great!

hey PD water both yours. i want to see if the spines go red.

Completely off topic, but my Eriosyce Clavata spines go dark black when theyre wet, normally grey.

Lewis, Why do you think that plant is not a saglione? and what do you think it is ?

I'm very new to Gymnos and actually know nothing about them.... please share.

well, it could be any number of things, it could be a Gymnocalycium saglionis (which is what the species is actually called, 'saglione' seems to be everywhere in the literature and everyone refers to their plants 'saglione' and it will remain like that).
http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/GYMNOCALYCIUM/Gymnocalycium_saglionis/Gymnocalycium_saglionis/Gymnocalycium_saglionis.htm
^^^see how the spines of the real deal are supposed to turn red when wet. although this feature may not be confined to this species only, its the only one i am aware of.
The spines are much longer, straighter and lack the characteristic curve on the first plant than on the other double headed specimen. i'm no expert on them, but something tells me it isn't a real saglione. there are many plants masquerading under 'Gymnocalycium saglione' in cultivation. eg. some specimens of G.pflanzii are very near identical to saglione visually but the spines do not turn red when watered and the flowers are slightly different. There are about 70 species of Gymnocalyciums and even more synonyms than there are species and some are extremely similar and they are also a highly varied genus. you could quite a chore identifying it:
http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Gymnocalycium.html

well water them and find out!

if you want a 100% accurate then wait 20 years and see how big it gets. Gymnocalycium saglione is the biggest in the family, they don't call it the 'Giant Chin cactus' for nothing:
http://www.cactiguide.com/graphics/g_saglionis_c_600.jpg
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/50367/
it can easily grow bigger than a basketball, some specimens reach trully epic proportions, 90cms tall according to cactus-art.

I want one!

Yeh im a bit suss on the single head too lewis, then again i know how variable cacti can be in all number of things from spination, rib count, shape and size especially when seed grown. So im really not sure, it was sold to me as saglione but there is just that question mark above it imo, it could quiet easily be a hybrid of some sort but i guess i will never know for sure.

Ill hit them with a bit of water tomoro and see, i just cant recall if they do show the red you are talkin of.

Wow they sure do go red with water

THERE YOU GO!!
very nice.

I guess i wasnt looking at it the right light. Yeh, sorta red, i know now why i didnt noticed anything hehe.

Very impressive red spines!!

I went out and gave mine a soak today and it didn't go red, so I am still not sure what it is. Gymnocalycium something...

You have a pflanzii!!!

I was going to say castellanosii have a pic of one in book of mine by Innes and Glass that looks like it.

Pflansii spines aren't right.

Could be - will have to get a photo taken and post.

i am referring to calycium's plant, the spines on pflanzii are more of less identical to saglione but do not go red when watered. i know it is not a very scientific differentiation between the species but hey it seems to work!

Betty i got another small G.pflansii today. It is almost physically identical to your G.saglione, except the spines are a bit shorter, more hooked in towards the body and do not turn red when watered.