there are typically two forms of Lophophora Williamsii showing themselves to be quite distinct from each other. They are called, L. Williamsii “southern type” (with its centre at Entronque Huizache), and L. Williamsii “northern type” (centered around Saltillo, Coahuila).
The “southern type” centered around Huizache does not have a single root, but instead, individual sprouts or buds will develop their own tuberous roots, becoming quite independent of the mother plant. This is in sharp contrast to the growth strategy of the other forms.
In comparison to the so-called northern type, the L. Williamsii from Huizache is always heterogamous. Moreover, they differ in the structure of the flower, whose style is longer and the white stigma is much smaller than the northern form resembling that of L.Diffusa.
The northern form (from Saltillo, Coahuila), is extremely resistant to unfavourable conditions of drought, cold, water, pests and fungi, compared to the other varieties and is always autogamous (self pollinating). The flowers are robust with broad rounded petals of a very pale pink to white color, and bear a prominent pink midstripe, growing to between 1 and 2.2cm in diameter. The tube is short, the style is short and white, and the stigma is fleshy and pink-tinted. The stamens are white, reaching beyond the stigma, and the anthers are yellow to orange. Typically the plants flower from March through September, but as I have learned if the proper conditions are met the plant will flower all year long. Peyote flowers, in contrast to those of other cactus genera, have naked ovaries, or the absence of scales on the ovary wall – a character shared with the flowers of many other cacti. In Lophophora, all floral parts are borne on the perianth tube above the ovule-containing cavity.
One curious and under-reported observation is that these cacti have thigmotactic anthers. This means that as its anthers are touched they curl over, depositing their pollen. This movement can be seen by gently poking the anthers of an open Lophophora flower. Thus one of the slowest growing plants in the world makes one of the fastest plant movements.
Pollen of Lophophora is highly variable. Pollen of the Dicotyledonae tend to have three apertures. Peyote pollen varies greatly in aperture number, the northern population having 0 to 18 and the southern population 0 to 6. The grains are spherical, polyporate, with reticular exine bearing small spicules, and 40 to 53 micrometers in diameter. The carrying numbers of colpae or apertures produce about twelve different geometric shapes. Such a variety from a single species or even population is rare in flowering plants.
The pink cylindrical fruits develop and remain hidden in the apical wool for about a year (in my personal experience, given proper conditions fruits will appear in three to four months from flowering); then elongate rapidly at maturity to protrude above the woolly centre of the plant. The fruits of Lophophora are similar to those of Obregonia in that usually only the upper half contains seeds, whereas Ariocarpus fruits are completely filled with seeds. These seeds are black and verrocuse (warty), with a large, flattened, whitish hilum, about 1 mm. in diameter.
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