Clones, names and why they matter

Listings show two cuttings, same length, same thickness, where one costs far more than the other. The difference, sellers say, is a name: a claim about which exact plant it was cut from.

Growers describe a clone as one original plant plus every piece ever cut off it. Cut a column in half: two pieces of one plant, not two plants, as growers put it. Variety — what Variety (var.) means, strain and clone all get used for this idea. A cultivar is one somebody bred on purpose.

Clones matter here because these cacti cannot pollinate themselves. A flower needs pollen — what Pollen means from a genetically different plant. Two cuttings of one clone are the same plant, so they can never set seed together. And seed does not copy a clone anyway — every seedling — what Seedling means is reportedly a new individual with its own look. That is why the hobby trades in cuttings, not seed packets.

Quick test. If you think two of your plants are the same clone, growers say to try crossing them. Fruit means they are not the same clone.

PC — what PC ("predominant cultivar") means, the ordinary San Pedro sold in garden centers across North America, reportedly traces back to one seedling. Growers say a whole continent's supply is branches of that one plant.

There is no registry and no committee. Names come from wherever the plant did.

Growers write crosses as mother × father, the mother being the plant that carried the fruit. OP — what OP (open pollinated) means means open pollinated, growers say: mother known, pollen father unknown, because insects got there first. NOID — what NOID means means no ID: a plant with no known name, not an insult.

The etiquette is short. Only name what you grew from seed. Never rename a clone already circulating. If you think a name is wrong, do not pass it on, but write down what you were told.

Grow two pieces of one clone in different places and, growers say, the photos can look like different species. Same genetics both times.

Grafting shifts things further than you would expect. A very small monstrose piece on strong rootstock — what Rootstock (stock) means reportedly pushes pups bigger than itself; the same piece on its own roots pushes pups smaller.

Time shifts it too. Growers say monstrose clones swing between normal and strange growth over their lives, and plenty look ordinary for a year or two before they get weird. A plain young plant has not lost anything.

The other direction is worse, because there is nothing to see.

So the same clone name from two sellers guarantees the same label, not the same plant, growers note.

Some names are rare because the plant pups — what Pup means slowly. The classic case, growers say, is the long form of monstrose bridgesii — what Bridgesii means: very few areoles — what Areole means, and an areole is the only place a new branch can start, so there is almost nothing to cut.

At the same size, what differs between two cuttings is the name, sellers say: a claim about which plant they came from.

A name says which plant a cutting came from, growers note; it says nothing about how well that cutting was grown.

Labeling matters too. On a plastic tag, pencil beats marker, growers say: graphite does not fade or wash off in the sun. On a cutting, growers write the name on the part that ends up buried, where it survives for years.