VMS -- Botany (f40v) Cactus Flower?

[Dana Scott <dfscott@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, now we may have a real problem here. When first looking at the
flower in f40v I thought, wow, that is a big flower for such a small
plant. It is going to be really difficult to identify this flower which
probably can found somewhere in Africa. Then I came across Echinopsis.
Now the flower looks great but there is something really wrong here. You
see, Echinopsis is a cactus and this flower belongs connected to a
cactus plant, but it isn't. In fact, when we look at the botanical
drawings in f40v we see that there are two plants. The one on the left
looks like a younger sample of the one on the right. I really do not
want to admit it, but there are signs of experimentation and possible
grafting here. The picture just does not look quite right; a cactus
flower on a bunch of what looks like radishes. Hmm. Well, it is
certainly possible that I have not looked hard enough and maybe the
flower isn't Enchinopsis, but it sure looks close. And the 'radishes'
don't exactly look like radishes I suppose, but there is still something
else that I find a bit curious, though not unusual in the VMS. Notice
that the number of leaf clusters to 'radishes'  (from left plant to
right plant) has almost doubled from 3:5 to 6:9 (I actually wonder why
it isn't 6:10?). This plant seems a bit top heavy and unnatural. I will
keep searching to try and find a better match.

Echinopsis multiplex:
http://www.dipbot.unict.it/orto/0994-1.html
http://www.kaktusy.nets.pl/echinopsis/echinopsis_multiplex_forma_cristata.jpg

Echinopsis subdenuda:
http://www.kaktusy.nets.pl/echinopsis/echinopsis_subdenudata.jpg

Echinopsis exotica: (great flower detail)
http://www.ramblincameras.com/Exoticct8.jpg

Echinopsis-Hybrids:
http://ag-echinopsis-hybriden.de/

Hanalei
http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Schick/HanaLei01.jpg

Regards,
Dana Scott