- First described
- 2012
- Type
- multi clone locality loss event
Origin
Wild-collected from Sam Rayburn Reservoir, eastern Texas (Jasper Co). Mike Wang held an entire wild population as a teenager but composted most of the plants when he ran out of space, keeping only two clones (post #15, 2021). The wild population status as of 2021 is unknown but presumed lost.
History
- Pre-2012 (Mike's teens): population composted; two clones retained.
- 2012-08-12 (post #1): first forum documentation.
- 2012-12-07 (cody, post #6): "fall pictures remind me of a golden delicious apple with the pink blush and red spots."
- 2013-09 (wireman, post #7): "they look like hungry baseball bats."
- 2021-08-03 (post #15): Mike publishes the composting retrospective and acknowledges this as one of his biggest cultivation regrets.
- 2022-07-26 (post #20): "the absolute biggest PITA to grow" — top-10 most difficult clone in Mike's collection. Hypothesis: division-triggered rot susceptibility.
- 2024-12-13 (post #26): late-season yellowing remains intense year over year.
Standout traits
- Extremely bulbous, baseball-bat-shaped head.
- Lemon-yellow color in full sun.
- Late-season yellowing intensifies rather than fading.
- Outstanding pollen / pod parent for breeding (Mike, 2021).
- Modest height (~half a meter peak).
Cultivation notes
Critical caution: do not divide if you can avoid it. Mike's long-term experience is that division triggers a fatal rot in this clone — divisions die over time even with perfect watering and careful handling, while undisturbed mother plants remain rot-free for years.
For preservation: maintain at least one undivided backup tray; only divide for irreplaceable pollen-out-cross opportunities or emergency-distribution events.
Conservation context
This clone is one of two survivors of an entire wild population Mike collected as a teenager. The wild source (Sam Rayburn Reservoir) may already be gone. The clone's cultivation difficulty compounds the conservation risk: even widespread distribution is unlikely to produce many long-term survivors.
Photos
44 Mike-Wang photos spanning 2012-08 → 2024-12.
Standout traits
- Extremely bulbous head — 'looks like hungry baseball bats' (wireman, post #7, 2013); 'fall pictures remind me of a golden delicious apple with the pink blush and red spots' (cody, post #6, 2012)
- Lemon-yellow trap color in full sun
- Glow effect — light passes through the bulbous head
- Late-fall yellowing intensifies — Mike's December 2024 update: 'this clone colors up year after year' even in late season
- Caps out at ~half a meter (Mike, post #5, 2012)
- Outstanding for breeding — 'absolutely amazing for breeding' (Mike, post #15, 2021)
Cultivation
Top-10 most difficult clone in Mike's collection to keep alive (Mike, post #20, 2022). Loses divisions to rot consistently every year despite perfect watering and careful neglect. Mike's hypothesis: the act of dividing triggers susceptibility — a long-undivided backup tray has had zero rot issues for years.
Practical advice from this: do NOT divide if you don't have to. When divisions are necessary for distribution, accept the high attrition rate.
Phenotype takes a year+ to settle in a new pot. Sprouse (post #22, 2022) reported good year-one performance after a fall acquisition, but Mike's long-term experience says the rot risk shows up later.
This is a critical conservation accession because:
- The wild Sam Rayburn population may already be lost.
- Only two clones survived Mike's teenage composting decision.
- The clones are so cultivation-difficult that distribution failures are common.
Photos (42)
Naming
"Lemon yellow" — the trap color in full sun. Pinned to the Jasper Co, TX wild locality (Sam Rayburn Reservoir).