Contents of the Spring 2010 Northants News

Lake District and the BCSS                                 Trevor Wray      

Going to the Lake District in Cumbria, (for our international readers this is a wet mountainous area in the top left of England), for a Spring break, I idly tried a web search for a cactus link. There might be a huge cactus nursery, the definitive reference collection of Tavaresia, you never know. I searched initially for ‘cactus lake district’. The following was not quite what I had in mind. And note the spelling. The Yanks might have a lot of cacti but they can’t spell for tofee.

3721 Cactus Ridge Dr, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86406 - Zillow 

4 May 2009 ... This does not guarantee enrollment for school district. ... See all questions and answers for 3721 Cactus Ridge Dr, Lake Havasu City, AZ ...

For some reason I then searched the same using BCSS instead of cactus. Naturally I got a lot of cactus society branches but nothing helpful. However I did find that if you thought the BCSS was unique, you better think again, I started a search for BCSS without ‘cactus’. Here is what I found…

BUILTH II SALE 2005 pages 1-20.qxd. All sheep must be identified with their individual BCSS identification in accordance .... Nr Kendal, Cumbria. Tel: 01539 552247. GREGORY, A J & M J ...

At the recent joint meeting between the British Cervical Spine Society and The British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS), it was agreed by both Societies that they should merge into a single Society. The BCSS therefore no longer exists, … If you're new to the British Cervical Spine Society (BCSS): There are information leaflets available from this site.

But the Cactus BCSS still exists!

Best Consignment Shop Software $159 Professional Consignment, Resale and Thrift Store Owners Love BCSS. ... Reliability - The new BCSS 5.1 version rests solidly upon Microsoft's newest FoxPro ...

Brian Car Sounds Security – Homepage. BCSS is a UK based company that has been supplying and fitting in-car ... Check out our gallery for pics on the latest cars that have been BCSS 'd with ...

BCSS Photo Gallery 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50. RSS Feed: BCSS Photo Gallery (New images). Powered by 4images 1.7.6. Copyright © 2002-2009 4homepages.de.
www.bcss.org.uk/photo/ - 29k

Having met four BCSS sites that were not as we imagine them, I was surprised to find a site in the (Cactus) BCSS domain. I was especially surprised because my search had specifically excluded pages with the word cactus. When I opened this the photo gallery showed four South African bulbs and yes, a Turbinicarpus. Surely that is a cactus?

Online home of the Bath Computer Science Society | BCSS Online. Come along and listen to interesting talks for leading figures within the IT industry hosted by the BCSS. Bring your own food along or, if you're a BCSS ...

British Columbia Schizophrenia Society. The British Columbia Schizophrenia Society provides a reason to hope and the means to cope to families which include persons with a serious mental illness. www.bcss.org/

Don’t get confused here, www.bcss.org is not the same as www.bcss.org.uk. By a long way.

Bath Computer Science Society - BCSS Welcome to BCSS, this year we plan on organising a wide variety of events, including social events ranging from useful book sales to quiz nights and ... www.bathstudent.com/organisation/6566/ - 21k

bebo.com - Profile from bcss-chicks <bcss-chicks> do u like bcss yyyy do u get the bus who is your form techer do u like him/er ... bcss fxxin rules! add mwah as a memba will u?? thanx xxxx ere's ma lyv xx ...

It would seem that on the internet there are sites which are useful and interesting, sites which are not, sites which are rude or crude, and sites which are illegal. I am not sure which category this fitted but I didn’t like the spelling. So I didn’t go there.

Birmingham Carers Support Services (BCSS) | NHS Equip. NHS validated support group information: Birmingham Carers Support Services (BCSS), BCSS provides advocacy, befriending, information and Carers Consultation ... www.equip.nhs.uk/

Ayr Branch BCSS - April meeting 2007 AYR BRANCH BCSS - Meeting and show reports. Home; 2003; 2004; 2005; 2006; 2007; 2008; 2009. a a a a Home Page Reports Home. a a a Jan Feb Mar Apr ...

And there at number 11 on the Google search engine for BCSS (but minus ‘cactus’) is the Ayr Branch of the BCSS. Now I am most curious: How do we have a BCSS Branch website without the word ‘cactus’ being mentioned? Have the good folk of Ayr forsworn cacti and only grow the other succulents? They can write to me as the Northants News Ed to refute this web abnormally. I am most interested. Or, if it is true and they only grow the other succulents, I will be straight up there to visit their collections, and scrounge the odd leaf, cutting, morsel…

So we have it… there is more to the BCSS than the simple initials BCSS. As a reader of the smudgy ink printed version of NN you are safe. However on the internet version anything could happen. But, by the strange (but strictly logical) way of web searches, anyone who searches for BCSS, in any one of its first twelve personas, will come to this site. (And they will also come here if they search for any of the non cactus sites I have mentioned) Maybe they will follow some links here, though all the links to the non-cactus BCSSs have been disabled. If they do they will find the wonderful world of succulent plants. And that includes cacti. Strange plants, beautiful plants, easy to grow plants. These are tolerant plants you could grow and still enjoy holidays. (Mine easily survived my Lake District sojourn.) Quite long holidays, beautiful plants, pretty flowers. This is the BCSS.

And if you do not want to visit this page as a website, remember to search for BCSS minus cactus. (bcss -cactus) Because if you search for a simple BCSS, this page on the internet will have a lots and lots of hits.

To make sure of this I will append; Sheep, British Cervical Spine Society, Best Consignment Shop Software, Brian Car Sounds Security, Bath Computer Science Society, British Columbia Schizophrenia Society, Birmingham Carers Support Services, bebo.com and of course a final BCSS. The Cactus BCSS.

Trev

 

 

From the Cactus Forum, a blackboard image reads,

“You are only young once but you can stay immature indefinitely.”

Where? Steven Hammer’s Spheroid Institute.

‘Spose I shoulda guessed.

 

 

Augea capensis                                                           Trevor Wray 

As we travelled along South Africa’s scenic route 52 in rain often so heavy we could barely see the roadside, (yes, it is the Wrays on holiday), south of Ladysmith I saw a ‘new’ plant. A shrub 2’ high and 3’ across of the general mesemb persuasion. It was different because it was a sickly yellow but common at that location. Choosing a moment when the rain was only drizzle and there were some plants at the roadside I stopped to investigate.

Strange... Mesemb succulent foliage (imagine a fat Delosperma) but with unopened flowers (the weather was horrible) with a Sedum look and fruits like a cylindrical gooseberry, which look similar to the leaves. As I said, strange...

At a branch meeting Colin Walker immediately identified the plant as Augea capensis. Bingo! It’s great to have a respected expert in the branch. And being monotypic (a genus with only one species), no problem with the species. If it’s Augea it’s capensis!

I read that it is a member of the Zygophyllaceae family and widespread in arid areas of the Western Cape and Namibia. It can tolerate high levels of salt and looking back at my habitat pictures this would be a playa (dry lake) in the US. It is also an indicator plant of overgrazing. The internet tells me it is also a favourite food of southern African whistling rats, Parotomys. I bet you didn’t know that. I mean that rats can whistle.

Augea capensis was named in honour of Johannes Auge who was an employee of the Botanical Garden at Leiden. In 1747 he moved to South Africa and worked in the garden of the Dutch East India Company in Cape Town. He travelled the country and collected plants with Carl Thunberg, (of Thunbergia and many thunbergii names) a Swedish naturalist and student of Linnaeas. It was Thunberg who named Augea capensis in honour of Johannes Auge.

Just down the road from my pictures of Augea I saw Euphorbia multiceps in another lull in the heavy rain. Now that was a really interesting plant. And I would like to go back, without the mud, to see both the Augea and the Euphorbia.

Trev

Top and left: Augea capensis in habitat in the Little Karoo. Above: David Kirkbright's image shows the flowers on a plant from Namaqualand.

 

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