By Julia Etter & Martin Kristen
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 – 7:00 pm Pacific Time

NOTE: This month’s presentation will be held online. Zoom login information below. Our in-person events are suspended until further notice.

This month, Julia Etter and Martin Kristen offer us a glimpse of some lesser-known Mexican genera in the Crassulaceae, including Cremnophila, Graptopetalum, Lenophyllum, Pachyphytum, Reidmorania and Thompsonella. These are often overlooked because they can be small, hard to get to, restricted in range, or not as showy as Echeveria laui. Nevertheless, there are some extremely attractive species to be found. Pachyphytum cuicatecanum grows in a protected and difficult to access area in Oaxaca. Thompsonella garcia-mendozae can be found near the Presa de Infiernillo in Michoacan, and Graptopetalum superbum in Jalisco. In Sinaloa, we will see Reidmorania occidentalis, a former Echeveria for which a new genus was described in 2017 by the late Myron Kimnach. We will see pictures of almost all the species and discuss their characteristics.

The presenters hope their photos will encourage you to try to cultivate some of these less common Mexican gems. Most are perfectly suitable for a partly-shaded terrace or a sunny windowsill. Some are great companion plants for agaves (most of them grow together with agaves in habitat) and can be reproduced easily from fallen leaves.

Originally from Switzerland and Austria, Julia and Martin have focused on the Agavaceae and Crassulaceae since 1989, which led to extensive field research starting in 1997. They relocated to Jalisco, Mexico more than 15 years ago, and since 2009 they have been affiliated with the Institute of Biology of the Autonomous Mexican National University (UNAM).  Agave kristenii, Echeveria juliana, and Sedum kristenii are named in their honor. Their photographs and articles have been published widely in books and journals. More info can be found on their websites at globetrotters.ch, agavaceae.com and crassulaceae.com.

Flowers of Thompsonella platyphylla

Meeting Format and Login Instructions:

Please plan to join the meeting by 7pm if you haven’t used zoom before, as it takes a moment to download and install. Everyone else is welcome early as well to chit-chat before we start.

The formal presentation will begin at 7:30pm.

Zoom doesn’t run in your browser. It is a desktop app, and there are also mobile apps you can download in your device’s app store to watch on a phone or tablet.

If it’s your first time using zoom, click the link below and it will automatically take you through a download process. If you already have Zoom installed, you can click and go straight in, or  open zoom and use the meeting ID and password to get in. At some point you may be asked a question about audio. “Join with computer audio” is the right choice. Don’t worry, you can keep your microphone muted until you are ready to speak.

Join Zoom Meeting
 » Click here to open the meeting in zoom

Meeting ID: 867 0376 8132
Password: sfscs

If the Zoom meeting fills up or you cant get it to work, we will simulcast on Facebook live on our page at: http://fb.me/sfsucculent

Upcoming Events

• November 17: Panayoti Kelaidis (Senior Curator, Denver Botanic Garden) – “Looking for succulents in all the wrong places“
• December 15: Solstice Party featuring mini-presentations
• January 19: Bob Webb (Arid Lands, Sansevieria Society, Tucson) on Sansevieria