Astrophytum CV Fukuryu
I don't put a species in the title on purpose because I believe these are not pure Myriostigma but rather interbreeding between Myriostigma, Ornatum and possibly Asterias. Spination and size point towards Ornatum, overall shape is Myriostigma and some characteristics could be seen as Asterias like. This is pure speculation and I have no evidence whatsoever to back this up but my personal observations and experience.
Whatever they are, or are not, Fukuryu most definitely are amazing plants with some funky genetic lines, seedlings produced from crossing with other Fukuryu are strange to say the least and produce many monstrose, variegated, kohyo and deformed plants. The problem I see is once you cross genetic lines many times the plants become "Unstable" for want of a better term and the offspring are weak mutants that are susceptible to disease, pests and in most cases eventually die. I have had a few completely white plants that survive in a controlled environment (inside) but as soon as they are exposed to the elements e.g sun, wind etc they will die due to stress. Plants such as this are nice to look at and due to them being rare etc but this is certainly not the future of Fukuryu or Astrophytum in general.
I plan on making some crosses this year but this time a little differently;
1. Very mild Fukuryu trait (I.E Looks like Myriostigma) X Complex genetic Fukuryu CV
2. Ornatum var Mirbelii X Complex Fukuryu (Each way)
3. Ornatum var Mirbelii X Simple Fukuryu (Each way)
All of this is food for thought and I can hopefully do these crosses this year. By all means anyone feel free to beat me to the punch and do them first it's not a race rather a destination :)
Here are a few of my Furkuryu
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