Dyckia reitzii
Seed pods, today.

Well, something to think about. This is the real Dyckia reitzii and this plant here is not just any but part of the plant that was used by Father Raulino Reitz to describe the species. So nothing could be more reitzii than this one. Raulino Reitz  was a father and a Catholic vicar in small town close to where this plant lived in nature.
I recently visited the place a fantastic beautiful one in between Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and one of the coldest places in Brazil. Yes, it may be very could here in the South. Today we are close to spring ad we had a mild frost here around. Joinville, where I am is  a litoranean Northeastern Santa Catarina city and one of the least cold in the South but right now I have my heater running.
This plant is a cold lover old. It can survive -15 Celsius with only leaf damages. It is happy when the temperature is around +10 Celsius. Blooms when the temperature oscillates in between +5 and 23 Celsius.
Now look at the flower stalks I show. Not all the flowers were polinized and formed seed pods and even so those seed pods were made by hand polinization.
what happened I just can only wonder. When the winter is too mild here in Joinville the plant does not even blooms. It does seem the plant needs cold to feel happy and produce nice seed pods.
I am about to visit three of the most important natural occurrences of Dyckia retzii now in some days. This will help me to have a good look on the seed pod formation in nature and understand a bit more this fabulous marvel. What a complex behavior!

 

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