 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Victor Turecek |
the San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Victor Turecek |
the San Gabriel Valley Cactus and Succulent Society. |
|
|
Victor Turecek (L), and friend admiring a Denmoza Rhodacantha in San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina. |
By Bill Gerlach Victor Turecek, a member of the SGVCSS for over thirty years, is a retired schoolteacher from the Los Angeles School District where he was a bi-lingual teacher of math, geography, history and reading comprehension. He was born and raised in Argentina, schooled in Argentina and the United States. Besides English he speaks four other languages, being fluent in Spanish and Czech. Although Argentina is a land of many species of cacti, it was not until he came to the United States in 1958 and saw some near Lucerne Valley, CA that he became interested in cactus. He has made many trips to Mexico with Peter Sharp, Kitty Sabo, Woody Minnich, Joe Clements and others.In 1969-70 he visited succulent habitats in Ceylon, Pakistan, Turkey and the Aegean Islands with Ellen Rainier. |
| He has made many trips back to Argentina to see his sisters Cristina and Dana. On some of those occasions he made cactus exploratory trips with his sisters and Roberto Kiesling (Gymnocalycium kieslingii , Rebutia kieslingii), Omar Ferrari (Gymnocalycium ferrarii), (Cleistocactus ferrarii), Barkev Gonjian (Rebutia gonjianii, Pterocactus gonjanii) and Silvio Meglioli (Pterocactus megliolii, Pyrrocactus megliolii). | |
| It
was on one of those trips, in 1985, that they made a recollection of a
new species of Parodia similar to Parodia submammulosa but differing in
quite a few ways.
Roberto Kiesling described this new species in the Jan-Feb 1995 issue of the CSSA Journal and named it Parodia turecekiana. At the end of the description he says “Dedicated to my friend, Victor Turecek, resident of Los Angeles, USA, a collector specializing in the growing of Argentinian cacti”. |
Parodia turecekiana Photo courtesy of Roberto Kiesling |
|
|
 |
|