KARACHI, Aug 12: Around five hundred common and rare cacti are on display at the first exhibition of these little-known but admired members of the horticultural world which surprise visitors, who have not seen such varieties in shape, colour and form at any previous flower show.

“It is delightful to see numerous species of cacti and succulents,” said Naimatullah Khan, the City Nazim, who inaugurated the show on Sunday afternoon at Gulshan-i-Jinnah (Baradari). He offered a park to the Horticultural Society to develop cacti.

180 specimen were placed in the competition in 30 categories by 14 competitors who had grown a large number of plants for this colourful event.

In the display centre were hundreds of cacti from 28 groups and species from the succulent group. Many belonged to the common variety found in nurseries, but rare species such as ariocarpus, obregonia, discocans and astrophytum, rarely found in the wild, were also exhibited.

Mr Siddiqui was awarded the Dr Mujeeb Challenge Trophy and was declared the champion of the show.— Dr A. A. Quraishy