Many or most of the cactus species are apomicticm. Flowers do not always occur at the same time or the plants are spread far apart. Sclerocactus and pediocactus I grow are completely closed in with no pollinators and they still make seeds. With pollination the plants produce way more seed but its just their way of keeping the species alive. So apomixity is apart of cactus life. On Jun 15, 2010 7:08 AM, "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> wrote: The term apomixis and by extension the concept of apomictic species have come up in our discussion of plants of hybrid origin. Since plants which arise from apomixis are said to be genetically identical to the parent from which they derive, they form, in effect, clones. Incidentally, this term apomixis antedates any technology which would allow one to prove what the term purports to assert: that the entities in question are in fact genetically identical. Until very recently there was no reason to regard any claim of apomixis as anything but a hypothetical assertion. Even now, has a comparison of the entire genomes of two entities been done? From a taxonomic point of view, I assert that the so-called "microspecies" formed by apomictic populations are misclassified; they have been classified at rank species, but they should be classified at rank Individuum. They really are no different than the clones of garden daffodils or tulips. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/