Cactusi.com formerly known as Cactus Romania – the ultimate Romanian C&S knowledge on the Internet. An amazing and extensive Photo Gallery worth browsing for hours, Articles, Plant Profiles, Plant Sales (online auctions) and an extremely useful Forum (at times very vivid – in all possible meanings of the word) are the highlights of this website. You can meet here some of the major Romanian C&S connoisseurs like Dag Panco de Grid (aka Lupul), Cristian Neciu (aka Cristi), Basarab Popa (aka BB), George Iosif (aka Gilly511), George Nitu (aka George), Fabian Vanghele (aka Mescalero), Alexandru Tar (aka Siuka), Melchior Levai (aka Melchior) – to name just a few. With an amazing new skin since late April 09 and with multi-lingual sites soon to be activated:
ROM / ENG, etc... http://www.cactusi.com/
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CactiGuide – "Perhaps it was the Golden Guide on cacti that I used to flip through as a kid or the old piece of grey-brown, hole-studded Cholla wood that sat on my grandmother's shelf among her African vilets. Whatever it was I have had a fascination with cacti for as long as I can remember." Years later Daiv Freeman has created this web-based photographic tool specially designed for helping others in identifying cacti. Articles, Plant Profiles (Cactus / Succulent of the Month) and a great and friendly Forum for open minded hobbyists - you can find all this here.
ENG www.cactiguide.com
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Aztekium - the Romanian Cacti Grower's Society website. An excellent site - although still under construction - and I really mean it... excellent considering past events. You can find here extensive information about the Society, its Constitution, history, recent activities and founding members, information about the Magazine edited by the Society. Also you can find well written tips and advices for beginners or better let's say greenhorns and potential new members of the Society, extended articles of some practical interest or simply helping one to look a bit outside the pot... An excellent Encyclopaedie - actually more of a botanical dictionary is also available, and hopefully it will be maintained and extended accordingly over the next few months. Last but not of least importance - few collections are presented. It was a good surprise for me and I hope that more has to come. Hopefully it will become in short time a multilingual meeting point for C&S enthusiasts. And a new addition - a Forum.
ROM http://aztekium.ro/
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The Hidden Treasures of the Desert - an amazing Stapeliad photo gallery and more... If you're not already in love with this amazing plant family... you'll fall in love for sure after visiting Martin Heigan's website. This amazing mixture of photographic art and true love for nature drives me crazy:
ENG http://anti-matter-3d.com/Stapeliads/Stapeliad_index.html
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The Swiss Globetrotters - the world does not belong to sprinters but to marathon runners, that's the first thing you have to acknowledge when entering this website. For over 10 years now Julia and Martin have joined their forces to build this wonderful site dedicated to the Mexican Agavaceae and Crassulaceae. After years of browsing Mexico with their "PocoLoco" truck they know what they are writing about - reading their many Travelogs is a must. Beside heaps of habitat photos (which are always a bonus) this website contains not only extreme accurate taxonomic information, but also a collection of first descriptions and relevant botanical literature. While writing my plant profiles of Agaves, Echeverias and Sedums this site has offered me incredible rich information and - I have to say this - has set my standards regarding the bibliography used. Thank you Julia and Martin.
ENG / GER http://www.globetrotters.ch/globhome_en.asp
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Sedum Photos - Wayne Fagerlund's website is a collection of photos, mostly of Sedums, but also other Crassulaceae - almost 1,200 covering in excess of 600 species. It is a place where true photographic art meets love for the plants.
ENG http://www.sedumphotos.net/main.php
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Au Cactus Francophone - despite of my very poor French it is always a pleasure to browse this treasure of C&S information. For over 10 years now Cactuspro (as it is mostly known to cactophiles) is probably the most extensive database available on the Internet thanks to Yann Cochard - almost 3,000 plant profiles, almost 3,000 photos - not to speak of the many articles and other related subjects, cultivation advices, a very popular French forum (even an Eglish one), a digital library, and many, many other points of interest. You can meet here most of the European top-growers. An index in 14 other languages is also very helpful in guiding you through. Of course, some of the pages can be automatically translated into English - which is invaluable for me even if sometimes the return is quite funny.
FRA http://www.cactuspro.com/
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Australian Succulents - have you ever heard of Dischidia nummularia? Or maybe Tecticornia verrucosa? Let's see... Parakeelya creethae? Sarcocornia blackiana? Portulaca cyclophylla? Calandrinia creethae? Well, let's put it this way... visit Attila Kapitany's website or even better read his book about the Australian Succulent Plants and you will discover a completely new world.
ENG http://australiansucculents.com/index.php?page=Australian-Succulents
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PlantZAfrica.com - an amazing website developed and maintained by the South African National Biodiversity Institute with pretty much everything you need to know about the South African Vascular Flora - succulent plants included. From habitat pictures to excellent Plant Profiles written by heavy names like Adam Harrower, Werner Voigt, Ernst van Jaarsveld, Liesl van der Walt, Christien Malan, Alice Notten, B. B. Tarr, Ian Oliver, Pascale Chesselet and many, many other botanists. High quality information, sometimes exceeding that of high profile books.
ENG http://www.plantzafrica.com/
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Echinocereus Online - Unbelievable, since 1996 on the Internet!!! The first electronic magazine about the genus Echinocereus has been an unique achievement for Martina & Andreas Ohr and again - the world belongs to the marathon runners, not to the sprinters... Extremely technical information (sometimes really dry) but it contains everything you need to know about this genus, from detailed taxonomy and original descriptions to habitat pictures and information. Not only visiting this website, but studying it is a must.
ENG / GER http://www.echinocereus.de/
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Desert-tropicals.com - Phillipe Faucon's website (launched in 2001) is not exactly the best source for C&S, but it definitely is - so to say - the Bible of the beginner (or at least it was for me), due to the very friendly approach and quite extensive number of taxons covered. I had my time of browsing and learning by reading almost everything here... thank you Phillipe!!!
ENG / SPA http://www.desert-tropicals.com/
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Adromischus Displayed - Derek Tribble's website is probably the ultimate resource for Adromischus freaks - it contains species information with habitat pictures and maps for all recognized taxons, valuable cultivation advices and much more. Excellent notes on species taxonomy and cultivation, very useful for Adromischus freaks. Habitat pictures are a bonus.
ENG http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/adrodisp/home.htm
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Ferocactus.net - a Frenchman bearing the rather anglo-saxon name of David Scott has built one of the most interesting websites dedicated to the genus Ferocactus. Basic information but very nice photos covering all taxons.
FRA http://theferocactus.free.fr/index.htm
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Nobbi's Ferokakteen - of course it would be hard to believe there is no German website dedicated to the genus Ferocatus. Norbert Pfänder is the initiator of a valuable counterpart for the above mentioned French website. A plus for the detailed information and website layout.
GER http://www.ferokaktus.de/index.html
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Ariocarpus - Living Rocks of Mexico - a legendary website dedicated to the most exclusive genus of Ariocarpus. History, Species Descriptions, Habitat, List of Field Numbers, References and delightful On Line Texts of heavy weight authors, Ethnobotany and much more - all this thanks to the Editors Geoff Bailey and John Miller.
ENG http://www.living-rocks.com/
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Kakteenfotos - started in 2000, Manfred Stöber's website is extremely interesting for it's wonderful habitat pictures of rare Mexican cacti: Ariocarpus, Astrophytum, Aztekium, Epithelantha, Geohintonia, Lophophora, Mammillaria, Turbinicarpus, and more, from several localities - it's a pure sensation!
GER http://www.kakteenfotos.de/
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The Genus Astrophytum (Astrobase) - Heinz Hoock's website - one of the very few four star rated at Cactus-Mall - is definitely the ultimate Internet resource for this popular but poorly undestood Genus. It contains high level Monographs, History, Articles, Species Desriptions, Catalogs, Photographs and Habitat Information. An amazing website covering everything about Astrophytum.
GER / ENG http://www.astrobase.de/index.html
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The Asclepiad Exhibition - Chris Moore's website is an excellent photographic coverage of the Asclepiadaceae. Good for indentification or simply a delight to browse due to his really artistic pictures, all plants were at one time or another part of this collection, which is really impressive. The very simple but attractive design is a plus.
ENG http://www.asclepiad-exhibition.org/
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Piante Grasse e Succulente - since 2001 Elio D'Arcangeli's website is one of the most interesting Italian places for cactophiles. Seven years later it became very useful for the beginner because of the over 1,000 plant profiles (mostly cacti) and photographs, some of them in habitat, and due to the general cultivation advices.
ITA http://digilander.libero.it/cacti/index.htm
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Spiniflores - the call of the wild... Juan Pablo Acosta & Florencia Señoret have all what it takes, they are true pioneers of the wild Chilean deserts. Wonderful habitat pictures, there is also a link to a photoalbum contaning in excess of 2,000 pictures of Chilean cacti.
SPA / ENG http://www.eriosyce.info/index.html
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Sukkulente Euphorbien - Frank Vincentz's website is definitely the most comprehensive resource dedicated to the succulent Euphorbias and related genera. Key Data, Keys of Similarity, Checklist of the Suculent Euphorbias, Cultivation Advices and of course over 2,600 Photos covering more than 500 species, and few Articles are available here for the Euphorbia enthusiasts.
GER / ENG http://www.euphorbia.de/index.htm
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Die Gattung Astrophytum - Klaus-Peter Kleszewschi's website, although information poor, is interesting for the numerous and excellent pictures of cultivated plants, hybrids and habitat pictures in numerous locations.
GER / ENG http://www.astrophytum.com/index.html
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Achim Hechtheuer's Mesemb Site - it contains very good pictures, excellent for systematics and identification. The mesembs.de as it is mostly known is a fairly important resource for the intermediate mesembs enthusiast.
ENG http://www.mesembs.de/
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Succulent Plant Site - succulent.co.za contains basic information, cultivation advices, ethnobotanical stuff, useful information regarding succulent plant diseases, a forum, a photo gallery, and more. It is - as they say - a website dedicated to spreading the knowledge of growing succulent plants. Good for beginners. To have access to some features you have to register.
ENG http://www.succulents.co.za/index.html
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Lithops.de - another Achim Hechtheuer website started in 1999 and dedicated this time exclusively to the genus Lithops. The so called English version leads you to the English version of... mesems.de. Less useful for advanced growers, but OK for beginners keen to learn something new. There is a small Gallery showing the variations within the genus and containing also some interesting abnormal growth forms in Lithops plants.
GER http://www.lithops.de/
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SuccSeed - Mats Winberg's website is famous for being a source for many more or less rare cacti seeds, but also for its extensive gallery (it was one of my favourite sources at the time I was an ID freak), cultivation tips and not last (and definitely not least) for the interesting travelogs, including few written by guests - Clazien Bouwman, Johann Pot, Mats Rolfson, Andreas Hofacker, Ralf Hillmann and Hakan Sonnermo. Started in 1996, this website is definitely one of the top 10 classics surviving the years.
ENG / SWE http://www.succseed.com/
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Columnar Cacti - This is a joint-venture of two legendary cactophiles - Tony Mace and Bob Ressler, both columnar cacti enthusiasts. These giants of the cacti are usually less known and therefore this ressource is extremely interesting esprecially for the magnificent pictures very useful for ID-ing. Some of the genera (Browningia and Espostoa) are now quite good covered with relevant botanical literature, including the original description of Britton and Rose. It is definitely a must read for the ceroid enthusiast.
ENG http://www.columnar-cacti.org/index.html
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African Flowering Plants Database - A collaboration between the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Geneve and Tela Botanica. What you see is exactly what you get - an excellent taxonomic database with very short and dry additional information, based on: (1) J.-P. LEBRUN & A. L. STORK (1991-1997). Enumération des plantes à fleurs d'Afrique tropicale. Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève - for plants from Tropical Africa; (2) G. GERMISUIZEN & N.L. MEYER, eds, (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist Pretoria - for plants originating from South Africa and (3) DOBIGNARD, A.(in prep.) Synonymic and bibliographic index of the flora of North Africa - for North African plants.
ENG / FRA http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa/
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International Crassulaceae Network - a multilingual information website dedicated to the Crassulaceae Family new on the Internet (since September 2007) thanks to the Swiss enthusiast Margrit Bishofberger. Still a lot of work to be done but there is heaps of high-level stuff intended to guide the more advanced collectors. As Margrit puts it - a welcome initiative intending to fill the gap - the only Crassulaceae ressource on the Internet. Very interesting articles are available - especially thanks to James Low who seems to be the driving engine when it is about writing. A small forum is semi-active, but ready to take off.
ENG / FRA / GER / ITA / SPA / HOL http://www.crassulaceae.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&id=6&Itemid=1
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I.P.N.I. - The International Plant Name Index - There is little I can say that describes so well the website as it does the opening page:
"The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) is a database of the names and associated basic bibliographical details of seed plants, ferns and fern allies. Its goal is to eliminate the need for repeated reference to primary sources for basic bibliographic information about plant names. The data are freely available and are gradually being standardized and checked. IPNI will be a dynamic resource, depending on direct contributions by all members of the botanical community. IPNI is the product of a collaboration between The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, The Harvard University Herbaria, and the Australian National Herbarium".
ENG http://www.ipni.org/index.html
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Steiermark Branch of the Austrian C&S Society - An excellent website of a local branch of the Austrian C&S Society; don't miss the photos:
GER http://www.kaktussteiermark.com/index.html
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UMADEAVE - A fabulous website about cacti in their natural habitat by Guillaume Foliot:
FRA http://umadeave1.free.fr/UMADEAVE/accueil.html
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