January has absolutely flown by!! I can't believe it's already the 26th! Yesterday, it was nearly 60 degrees, and today is supposed to be about the same. This has been such a mild January - makes you wonder what we can expect for February...

I've been compiling my "plants to go" list - the list of plants I plan to get rid of this spring to give me more room in the GH. I've commited some to Yale Sedman, and a lady from PT. I'm trying to be very honest with myself about what I really, REALLY want to keep and what I can live without...

Now, some plants I've been looking over lately. This little Aloinopsis was blooming day before yesterday. It's a very pretty little flower, especially since the plant itself isn't exactly beautiful! I keep it on my south windowsill where it gets lots of sun, otherwise I doubt it would bloom. I've got another Aloinopsis that I keep in the GH where it doesn't get as many hours of sun and it hasn't bloomed for me yet this year.

Another one I was looking over yesterday is Aloe descoingsii. I've gotten two different clones from Arid Lands, the first one about a year or 18 months ago (the one on the right...) The other one, Chuck brought for the "free plant" back in Oct. or Nov. Notice how different they look. The older one is solitary, more open and star-shaped. The newer one is more chunky, more toothy, and already has some offsets...



And speaking of clones being different, I got a new Dischidia a couple of weeks ago. I found it at, of all places, Walmart! Well, in the process of trying to find an ID, I "spoke" (via e-mail) to a professor who has quite a bit of expertise with Dischidias (thanks to Yale for putting me in contact with her...) I sent her a pic of the new Dischidia and of one I got last summer that is an unknown...















The one on the left is the one I got last
summer, the one on the right is the Walmart plant. As it turns out, these are both the same species. This is what Dr. Tatyana Livshultz had to say: "Both of the pictures you sent look like Dischidia nummularia R. Br. "R. Br." stands for Robert Brown, the author of this species name. This is a very widespread and variable species, ranging from southern China to north Australia. You just have two different clones, one is more xeromorphic (more succulent and waxy) than the other. However the vegetative morphology can vary quite a bit with environmental conditions. The flowers and fruits of the two should be identical." Of course, the one on the left is a variegated form, but the leaf difference is what really amazes me. The one on the left has leaves that are bigger but less succulent, flatter. The one on the right has smaller very succulent leaves that feel concave on the bottom. Very interesting that they are the same species, likely just from different areas....