Little Florida Semaphore Cactus from Offset Sterile Fruit

These little guys are Consolea corallicola – the Florida semaphore cactus – sporting some new tiny pads growing out of sterile fruit that have flowered and dropped to the ground, thus having vegetatively propagated to become new plants. I picked each up with long pliers and rooted them by sticking the detached ends in potted mix; others I laid on their side to root from areoles. Planting vertically may yield more eventual plants to root into larger pots, as these guys sometimes have three or even four forming at the moment. The dried, spent red flowers shrivel and sometimes remain on the fruit for a few weeks; others come off easily. These endangered, endemic natives are sexually sterile, like many island endemic plants with odd-numbered ploidy, so rooted offsets from droppage or hurricanes is the only way for them to survive as a species. I’ve put them in 4″ pots and should have nice little 1gal potted candelabras by next year. They are almost extinct due to habitat loss, sea level rise and invasive Cactoblastis cactorum moths. Thanks to botanic gardens and growers, they will at least remain in cultivation if the Keys end up underwater someday.

Note: two of these rooted offsets in the video are of a Haitian semaphore cactus – Consolea falcata, which is also nearly extinct in its microendemic habitat. Again, conservators and horticulturalists will sustain it for the future.