****** MY FIRST TRIP TO A COUNTRY ******

******** WHERE THE EPIPHYLLUM GROW : ********

 

************* GUATEMALA  *************

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My first contact with the epiphytic cacti biotopes occured in February 1995, during a trip to Guatemala, my first incursion into Central America, which was followed by many more.

This is actually when my interest in epiphytic cacti more particularly started, following a period of personal interest focused on ‘cacti and succulents in general’, and I took advantage of my February holidays to go on a touristic trip to Guatemala. The aim wasn't botanic, but I very quickly noticed that many patios of the hotels where I was staying were decorated with epiphytic cacti pots. Unfortunately, it wasn't the blooming season for these plants so, I randomly started gathering
some cuttings from these gardens, hoping those were plants of some interest. Future bloomings in my collection would perhaps enable me to identify what I had gathered.
Towards the end of my trip, I visited the fabulous archeological Maya site of Tikal and I collected a botanical Epiphyllum cutting in the forest which completely covers the pyramids (photo at the top of the page ; see further for a of Tikal visit).

I waited for more than five years. My cuttings which had tremendously grown bloomed for the first time.Then only I realized that I had collected a splendid Epiphyllum hybrid which I called "Epiphyllum X sp Panajachel" (after the name of the village where I took the cutting), as well as two botanical species : Disocactus nelsonii, and the Epiphyllum coming from Tikal. In my opinion, the latter looked very much like Epiphyllum phyllantus var. hookeri. As I wasn’t too sure, not being a specialist, I gave it the name of Epiphyllum sp. Tikal.

Here is, before entering the Tikal jungle , the photo gallery of the flowers resulting from my Guatemalan trip.

 

                                        

Epiphyllum sp. Tikal ........................................Epiphyllum X unknown from Panajachel

 

                                      

Epiphyllum sp. Tikal (fruit) ............................................................ Disocactus nelsonii

CLICK ON PHOTOGRAPHS TO ENLARGE THEM

HOME PAGE............................................................ ENTER THE TIKAL JUNGLE