Copiapoa lauii

Copiapoa lauii blooming in Hamilton, Ontario, September 30th.

Copiapoa lauii appears to be an extremely uncommon species in collections worldwide. Plants of this species never seem to be available from nurseries anywhere, even seeds are not easily obtained. In Ontario, as far as I know, no one has ever had it in their collection. That is not until the OCSS distributed seedlings of the species to participating members of the group seed start project last year. I'm not sure why the species is so uncommon in collections because it seems quite easy to grow and propagate. The plant in the picture is my 17 month old seedling from the OCSS group seed start project last year. It was blooming today, September 30th, for the first time.