On Tuesday November 15th, 2022, Banbury Stamp Society welcomed Les Pearcy who presented part of his collection of ‘Cacti and Succulents on Stamps’. This was a thematic collection based on Les’s passion for these plants, combined with his interest in stamp collecting. So, while most stamp displays are a lesson in history and geography, this one was a lesson in botany and geography. A few key things: succulents can maintain their own water supply to see them through drought; all cacti are succulents but there are some succulents that are not cacti. Cacti are native to the Americas, particularly Mexico, Texas and Arizona while the rest are mostly native to Africa and Madagascar.
The display started with stamps showing examples of different families of the plants and then moved on to uses for the plants ranging from medicinal such as Aloe, alcohol (tequila from the Agave cactus) and edible varieties such as the prickly pear. Cacti are very popular as house plants and we saw advertising leaflets as well as advertising envelopes from US and Dutch mail order companies. Cacti also appear on postmarks, both in pictures and from places such as Yucca, Arizona, Cactus, Arizona and Cactus Texas. We even had postcards made of Yucca wood and posted from Yucca. Les also brought along a small selection of plants to further illustrate the talk.
The next meeting will be ‘Yugoslavia 1945 to the end of the Federation’ on Tuesday 29th November 2022 at 7:30pm at the Hanwell Fields Community Centre. The Banbury Stamp Society is on-line at ‘www.banburystampsociety.co.uk’, or contact John Davies on 01295 255831.