Pilosocereus aff. flexibilispinus Flowers and Fruit
The huge spiny cannons from Sitio Grande, Bahia in Brazil finally produced flowers on more than one stem, and close enough together in time that I was able to gather and freeze the pollen from one plant and tap it on another flower, yielding my first fruit. Tonight I did another and might have a seed factory going shortly. I germinated these in August 2018 and have enjoyed their rapid growth to dizzying heights. Someone collected seed of this species in 2009 and listed it as CS140 but it was misidentified by that collector as another in the genus. Luckily, a famous cactus botanist/explorer pointed it out as wrong and another in Brazil knew exactly what it is from its location data and the 2009 collector photos taken on site. He gave me this taxon to use. Since a bunch of us in the trade have grown this one from seed, I spread the word and hopefully fixed it across the board.
jvfreeman
James V. Freeman is an established visual artist (oil painting) with a deep interest in natural history, plants and farming. He has had numerous solo shows, a solo museum show, an upcoming museum show and his work has been featured in many publications to date. He currently has a studio in Williston, Fl at the family farm and homestead, "Cactus Island", and as a farmer, specializes in growing columnar cacti of the Caribbean and Gulf countries as well as the aquatic Madegascar Lace Plant. James and his mom Sharon manage and develop the permaculture homestead.
