Subject:      world's tallest home grown cactus
From:         Alex Bunkenburg
Date:         Thu, 10 Sep 1998 02:03:13 -0700  
Message-Id:   <35F794BA.A6A2CF3D@dcs.gla.ac.uk>
Mailing List: cacti_etc@hpl-opus.hpl.hp.com
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  Hi cactus and succulent friends!

  I found this on the BBC news website. Have you heard about it?
  I suspect it's a Euphorbia, since that size cacti are not poisonous
  (except T. pachanoi maybe). 13.5 meter doesn't sound that much.
  What size do saguaros achieve?

  LOve
      ALex

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  From: Jean-Christophe Nebel <jc@dcs.gla.ac.uk>
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  To: Alex Bunkenburg <bunkenba-www@dcs.gla.ac.uk>
  Subject: world's tallest         cactus
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  I am sure you knew it before, but if you do not:

              Wednesday, September 9, 1998 Published at 14:00 GMT 15:00 UK 


              World: South Asia

              Indian cactus displays towering
              ambitions 

              Prickly problem: The cactus is surrounded by barbed wire 

              When an Indian couple bought a small cactus for their garden 20 years
              ago they little suspected it would land them in the Guinness Book of
              Records. 


                               The spikey giant which dwarfs their
                               home became the world's tallest
                               cactus this year after growing to
                               almost 13.5 metres. 

                               Dr A K Kashi, an agricultural
                               scientist, and his wife Joythi bought
                               the plant at a railway station in
                               1978. 


                          It first entered the Guinness Book of Records
                          in 1993 when it became the tallest home grown
                          cactus. 

                          But this did not curb the couple's enthusiasm -
                          nor that of the cactus. 


                               Mrs Kashi says the trick was a little
                               water and manure and some severe
                               pruning. 

                               The cactus attracts hundreds of
                               visitors to their garden in Karnataka,
                               Mysore. 

                               But they have had to cover it in
                               barbed wire because its stem and
                               spines are poisonous. 

                               The plant itself needs protection
                               from excess rains, ants and other
                               insects. 

                               It bears flowers from July to
                               October but each blooms for only one night. 

              The prickly monster still seems to be growing and Mrs Kashi says it
              could survive for a century.

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