Hi All,
I purchased this unlabelled plant in November last year because it looked interesting, even though it was in a pretty tatty state. This is the photo I took at the time of purchase.
Dyckia ID Dilemma!
Slowly it started to gain in size and many offsets started to appear. By June (midwinter here in Australia) it looked like this.
Finally, here is a photo I took today. The pot measures about 15cm/6in across the rim of the hexagon, so that should give a sense of the size of the plant. It has something of the look of Dyckia brevifolia about it to me, except that the leaves seem a bit too long, upward pointing and narrow; the leaf margin spines don't look quite right either.
It is possible that it might be D. brevifolia crossed with some other Dyckia species (perhaps D. fosteriana or D. encholirioides?). I would really appreciate any ideas and/or photos of any similar Dyckias anyone might have.
I posted all of my broms on this thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/999618/ in June. If anyone here is interested in looking at them I would appreciate any comments you would wish to make on their identities.
By for Now, Kaelkitty.
It is very hard to ID dyckia's so many look alike. It could be anything, Specie or a garden hybrid. I have a lot of dyckia's (58) and can tell you what it is. I have taken some to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens to ID and Harry Luther they can't do it with out seeing it in flower. All the flowers look alike to me, some are orange, yellow or some where in between.
Hi Turtlewalker,
It is nice to meet a fellow Dyckia fan. I had a feeling you would say that ID would be difficult; but, on the other hand there are certainly a lot of Dyckias out there that it CAN'T be because they are too spiny, not the right colour, etc, etc. I guess it won't flower for at least another year or so. I am planning to repot it in the next few weeks, so it will have more room to develop. It is obvious from the first photo that the mature leaves will be a fair bit bigger than the ones it has now.
Dyckia's are quite rare in Australian collections - I doubt if more than a dozen species have ever been imported here - I acquired a plant each of D. brevifolia and D. sulphurea at the end of the 1970s, but they died off in the late 1980s when I became unable to care for my plants for a number of years. I started collecting again around 2000, and this is the first Dyckia I have seen since then so I think there would be fewer garden hybrids to be found here in any case. I am curious to see any photos of hybrids with D. brevifolia parentage so I can compare them to my plant.
Bye for Now, KK.
I don't think their are alot of Dyckia brevifolia hybrids. I do not have any that I know of (See my list below). Most people want some color like red or white and not so much green. You can a green plant with nice big flowers like orchids.
Len
Dyckia elisabethae from Michael's Bromeliads June 6 2009
Dyckia niederleinii from Michael's Bromeliads June 6 2009
Dyckia choristaminea
Dyckia beateae
Dyckia brevifolia
Dyckia dawsonii
Dyckia encholirioides
Dyckia estevesii
Dyckia fosteriana
Dyckia marnier-lapostollei
Dyckia marnier-lapostollei var. estevesii
Dyckia microcalyx
Dyckia remotiflora
Dyckia remotiflora var. montevidensis
Dyckia platyphylla
Dyckia hebdingii
Dyckia enchdirioides
Dyckia ruederleinii (not a good name)
Dyckia ferox
Dyckia jonesiana
Dyckia 'Cherry Coke' platyphylla X 'Carlsbad'
Dyckia 'Naked Lady' encholirioides X brevifolia
Dyckia ‘Blackie’
Dyckia 'Yellow Glow'
Dyckia 'James Gray' fosteriana X platyphylla
Dyckia 'Silver Sheen' 'Silver King' X ?
Dyckia Big Black cv. of unknown parentage
Dyckia unk? Have about 5 or so plants unk
Dyckia seed from Leme 4462
Dyckia Lad Cutak
Dyckia Brittle Star
Dyckia Brittle Star F2 have two got at different times
Dyckia Brittle Star F2 have two got at different times July 18 2009
DYCKIA Red Devil platyphylla x leptostachia
Dyckia Chocolate
Dyckia Dyckia 'La Rioja'
Dyckia Whitt merrin
Dyckia beateae X Dyckia platyphylla F2 (3)
Dyckia 'Ruby Snow’
Plant in photo is Dyckia 'Naked Lady'
I did not see that. Dyckia 'Naked Lady' encholirioides X brevifolia
I guess I do have one
After reading your brom thread, my Tillandseas are mounted on driftwood. If I can find driftwood with a crevice or two, I usually just nudge it in tightly. If not, I usually tie it with a fishing line or something that will hold it in place till the roots attach. I have used several kinds of glue and that works also.
Hi Len,
You have some real beauties in your list! I've been doing some more poking around since I posted here and found a nice page on Dyckia Brazil about D. brevifolia: http://dyckiabrazil.blogspot.com/2009/07/dyckia-brevifolia-show-plant-from.html . I didn't realise the potential range of variety in the plants until I had a good look there. I still think my plant looks more like D. brevifolia than anything else, so I guess the question I am asking is this. Do you know of any other species of short-leaved, green on top, white lines underneath species of Dyckia that I could be confusing D. brevifolia with? The only other short leaved species I can think of is D. sulphurea, and that may be only a subspecies of D. brevifolia anyway.
When I was growing my original two plants in the 1980s, my D. brevifolia was a very short leaved chubby little plant where the leaves were stuck out sideways and the crown of the plant was quite flat - it always reminded me of a Haworthia with spines added to the leaves. I wish I could replace it! I look for Dyckias at every plant sale I go to, but as I said this is the first one I have seen for sale in more than 20 years. I have a few Australian friends in various Bromeliad groups and I have bugged them, but they all seem to be more interested in the "tropical" style plants, like Aechmea and Neoregelia, which don't do that much for me.
Anyway, I am banging on, so I'll say bye for now,
Ciao, KK.
PS: Did you have a chance to have a look at the link to my other Broms in Post #7066069 above? Any comments?
Hi missdaisys,
I hadn't thought of fishing line - if it's fine enough you wouldn't see it, and I would get the more natural affect I am looking for. I'll give it a try.
Thanks a Lot, KK.
I have been looking at Dyckia Brazil far a few months now, he has a very large collection with great looking plants.
Have you been to:
http://fcbs.org and look at the Photo Index?
I have no idea what your plant could be. It is a small plant and it may look different as it get larger if it gets larger.
I just look up Dyckia sulphurea on the BSI web site and it said it is a synonym for Dyckia brevifolia , so it is the same plant.
Yes I did look at your Post. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/999618/
#6 I do not see any spines so from the photo it looks like Dyckia Naked Lady and not a Orthophytum. I have not seen a Orthophytum with out spines. Is the plant leaves Succulent and a lighter green almost yellow?
I also have a blog at:
http://succulentbromeliad.blogspot.com/