Ayr Branch BCSS

March 2010 Meeting &

Plant of the Month Competition

Introduction to Mesembs - Brian McDonough

This was an excellent talk about a genus that has lovely showy, daisy like flowers, most of which come from South Africa

They come in lots of forms and have a variety of names. However until 1930 they were all just called Mesembryanthemums.

They have very small seeds, about 1/4 cm in size. They do not suffer much with pests, just the odd mealy bug or red spider. Depending on where they come from and whether they have summer or winter rain,they flower at different times of the year.

In the second half of the talk we were shown some actual plants Some of these were dormant and some in the growing period.

It was a very good talk which showed us how to grow this genus well.

Plant of the Month Pictures - Any Mesemb (excl Lithops & Conopytum)

High resolution versions of the photos are also available if desired.

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