Xerophilia could not have been around without the

kind support of all who sent us articles, photos,

drawings, or helped us with translations and advice
for the four regular issues and the two special issues
released in 2014: Ada Damiani, Italy; Alessandro
Natodi, Italy; Alexandru Tar, Romania; Aldo
Delladdio, Italy; Antonio Ibarra Pecina, Mexico;
Attila & Michele Kapitany, Australia; Basarab Popa,
Romania; Benjamn Catarino Morales, Mexico;
Camilla Cattabriga, Italy; Carlos Gerardo Velazco
Macas, Mexico; Charles Puche, Spain; Claudia
Lpez Martnez, Mexico; Cristian Perez Badillo,
Mexico; Cyrill Hunkeler, Switzerland; Daniel Guillot
Ortiz, Spain; Davide Donati, Italy; David Rubbo,
Italy; Derrick J. Rowe, New Zealand; Emilio Laguna
Lumbreras, Spain; Erik Holm, Denmark; Federico
Centenari, Italy; Francisco Moreno, Mexico; Gabriel
Milln Garduo, Mxico; Hkan Snnermo, Sweden;
Inmaculada Ferrando, Spain; Jn Baran, Slovakia;
Jacqueline del Roco Cadena Martinez, Mexico;
Jennifer Pannell, New Zealand; John Exarhou,
Greece; John J. Lavranos, Portugal; Jovana Jaime
Hernndez, Mexico; Judd Kirkel Welwitch, South
Africa; Karla Gonzlez Pia, Mexico; Leccinum Jess
Garca-Morales, Mexico; Leo Rodrguez, Mexico;
Linda Cecilia Muoz, Mexico; Malcolm A. Grant,
New Zealand; Mikls Ficzere, Hungary; Milan
Zachar, Slovakia; Oliver Gluch, Germany; P. Pablo
Ferrer-Gallego, Spain; Paolo Panarotto, Italy; Pavel
Golubovskiy, Ukraine; Piet van der Meer, Spain;
Ricardo Daniel Raya Sanchez, Mexico; Roberto
Garay Segura, Mexico; Sandy Karina Neri Cardona,
Mexico; Silvan Freudiger, Switzerland; Stefan
Nitzschke, Germany; Thomas Linzen, Germany;
Vctor Abraham Vargas-Vzquez, Mexico, Vlad
Zimer, New Zealand.

Xerophilia 2015

Xerophilia - the passion for cacti and other succulents

Founders: Eduart Zimer, Dag Panco &
Valentin Posea
Editorial Team: Eduart Zimer, Dag Panco,
Andrea Cattabriga & Pedro Njera
Quezada, Miguel ngel Gonzlez-Botello,
Valentin Posea & Ionu Mihai Floca
Xerophilia is produced in Romania, edited
in New Zealand, field researched in Mexico,
designed in Italy and written by authors
from all over the world!

Xerophilia 2015

JANUARY
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Then we progressed by locating another adjacent but hidden subpopulation, displaying signs of being healthy and in good
condition, in order to replant in that place the recovered specimens. The rescued specimens were planted in an area of
1000 m2, where already Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus and Pelecyphora aselliformis were well settled. They were planted in
soils with cyanobacterial crusts having the same biological characteristics like in their original location. Pedro Njera
Quezada et al - Rescue translocation of in situ" Cactaceae: the Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus case. Xerophilia 9 June
2014.

Xerophilia 2015

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I found H. kajewskii high in the canopy of mangrove/littoral strand forests accompanied by two other almost equally
unusual Hydnophytum taxa and many examples of Myrmecodia tuberosa "salomonensis". I photographed more specimens
of H. kajewskii at elevations around 1000 m (3281 ft.) on the Crown Prince Range overlooking Arawa. These were mostly
perched under a much lower rainforest canopy; therefore, they were sometimes within arms reach and there was even a
windfall specimen that provided excellent photographic opportunities. One particularly large and presumably ancient
plant grew on a small tree on a steep mountainside extremely exposed to the elements. Derrick J. Rowe - Epiphytic
myrmecophytes of southern Asia and the southwest Pacific. Xerophilia Special 3 January 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

MARCH
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The phenology of this new taxon occurs irregularly during the winter months, from December to February, as it happens
with the rest of the close related subspecies of the Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus complex, while the fruiting occurs in
March and April; the flowers of T. schmiedickeanus subsp. sanchezi-mejoradae remain open for more than 3 days, an
ecological strategy for assuring the cross pollination during the short flower season, also probably because the slow flower
production and low population density of this taxon. Leccinum Jess Garca-Morales, Miguel ngel Gonzlez-Botello et
Vctor Abraham Vargas-Vzquez - Turbinicarpus schmiedickeanus (Bedeker) Buxb. & Backeb. subsp. sanchezimejoradae , a new subspecies from Tamaulipas, Mxico . Xerophilia Special 4 March 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

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We were amazed by the show provided by the so abundant flowering and, more, by the so uncommon sight of the flowers
emerging directly from the soil. But another being immediately caught my attention and although the beautiful plant
remained the protagonist, however, the aiming of my cameras lens at the scene was hijacked by a specimen of Megetra
cancellata, a beetle of the Meloidae family, which I saw year last in exactly the same place, but this time feeding from an
Ariocarpus flower. Miguel ngel Gonzlez-Botello - Anthophagy. Xerophilia 11 December 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

MAY
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Despite their fierce spines, Mexican cacti remain under a constant threat. They are in a race that they seem to lose, but
eventually only the main destroyers, us, will make the difference between going extinct or survive. Meanwhile,
governmental, social, collectors and researchers organizations formulate strategies to raise awareness about the
importance of preserving the wealth and diversity of the cactus family in our country, a group of plants immersed in our
culture since pre-Hispanic times. Gabriel Milln Garduo - Despite their spines: Mexican cacti under threat. Xerophilia 8
March 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

JUNE

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In March 2012, I released a new Australian hybrid succulent plant of distinction; bred under a harsh summer sun, it is a plant
truly symbolic of Australia, in green and golden colours, which I have named xDisphyllum Sunburn. A luxuriant green,
relatively compact, groundcover succulent which flowers readily and heavily throughout most of the year, xDisphyllum
Sunburn has beautiful golden, yellow/orange flowers, of more than 50 mm in diameter. Attila Kapitany - A new
Australian intergeneric hybrid: xDisphyllum Sunburn. Xerophilia 8 March 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

JULY

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Agave potatorum is famous and widely used in some neighbouring regions to produce mezcal, a popular alcoholic drink
that burns but also brings joy to the mouth, this is the reason this species is called maguey mezcalero, also locally known
as papalometl, papalom and tobal. Its blue colour, compact form and the shape of the short leaves make it an interesting
Agave species, which grows easily from seed and is hardy and highly ornamental. Francisco Moreno - Agave potatorum
and other xerophytes in Tepanco de Lpez, Puebla, Mexico. Xerophilia 10 October 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

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Some 30 km from the above mentioned habitat of M. zeilmanniana and M. polythele ssp. durispina, is a very large
population of Stenocactus zacatecasensis; the interesting thing about this population is that it is the only one where you
can see sizable specimens, of about 18 cm approx. diameter, their distribution is actually limited, because grazing on this
land has forced this plant to withdraw in small pockets of the hundreds of hectares of plains of the south-western
Guanajuato. Leo Rodrguez Mammillaria polythele, M. zeilmanniana and other cacti from Guanajuato. Xerophilia 11
December 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

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Sierra del Pinacate is a dormant volcano, a special place of high interest and value, being essentially constituted by lava
flows, extremely resistant to erosion, which have not been altered. Therefore, the archaeological record of the site has not
been disturbed and has orogenic features of high interest for its abrupt conformation resulting from frequent volcanic
eruptions, lava accumulated in compact rocks, sand and volcanic ashes, igneous rocks in which weathering has produced
particularly beautiful colorations and patterns, and beautiful craters like El Elegante, Cerro Colorado, MacDougal and
Sykes. Karla Gonzlez Pia The Biosphere Reserve of El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar. Xerophilia 9 June 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

OCTOBER
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When thinking about carnivorous plants, one usually takes as a basic assumption that they come from wet areas, with
large numbers of insects; however, they also managed to establish in arid regions of Mexico and grow along with species
that would appear as the most unlikely associates () which suggests that in the past climates in the highlands were
milder, with a more suitable humidity and temperature range, and with less vegetation to outcompete cacti, succulents
and the Lentibulariaceae and thus covering a much larger area. Pedro Njera Quezada - Carnivorous xeric flora in San
Luis Potosi, Mexico. Xerophilia 10 October 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

NOVEMBER
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Unfortunately and compared with the rocky mountainous ranges where other Turbinicarpus species grow, T.
pseudopectinatus prefers mostly the lower intermountain valleys along the Sierra Madre Oriental with deep dark soils, that
are also very sought of for being cultivated as crops and for cattle grazing. As a result several populations are heavy
impacted by those activities in the region; some also have disappeared in the last 15 years as those inhabited areas became
extended. A good thing about this species is that it grows quickly from seed banks in soil and can recover in several years
into adult plants if the place remains vacant and safe from cattle. Leccinum J. Garca Morales - On the Turbinicarpus of
Tamaulipas, Part 2. Xerophilia 8 March 2014.

Xerophilia 2015

DECEMBER
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Later on we arrived in Barranca where a swim in the Pacific felt wonderfully pleasant after the desert heat. Pativilca, a
small town not far from Barranca, sits on the border to Departamento de ncash. The road to Cajatambo, the little village
in the Andes that I visited the last time I was in Peru, starts here. We didnt have much time so Cajatambo had to wait.
Instead we went north and hiked in the mountains near Pativilca. We were hoping to see some Haageocereus lanugispinus,
which has never been observed since Ritter discovered the species in 1957. Hkan Snnermo - Peru: a land of deserts,
ice, oxygen deprivation and cacti. Xerophilia 9 June 2014.

Xerophilia 2015