Ariocarpus agavoides
(Syn: Neogomesia agavoides)

Ariocarpus agavoides (SB 370 Tula, Tamahulipas mexico)
 It looks very little like a cactus and more like a Haworthia (or a small Agave, hence the name)
 

The flowers cover the plant.

Habit: Small rosette shaped succulent with stiff, rough, dark green tubercles.
Stem: Greenish-brown sub-globose, flattened on top, 2-6cm high, rising barely above ground level, 4-8cm in diameter.The rest of the plant (swollen rootstock) stay underground.
Tubercles: Divergent, often flaccid and not erect, not crowded or basally compressed, acute at the apices, flattened adaxially, not fissured, not incurved, 3-7cm long, 5-10mm broad, more than 4 times as long as wide;
Areoles: 5-12mm from the tips of the tubercles, rounded, 2-5 mm in diam.;
Spines: None or rarely 2, 2-4mm long, whitish.
Flowers: 3.5-4.2cm in diam., 2-5cm long; outer perianth segments magenta with greenish-white margins, inner perianth parts deep magenta, pistil 2-3mm above the stamens; style white. 1-2cm long; stigmas 5-8, 1-2.5mm long;
Fruit: pinkish-red to reddish purple, globose to elongate, 10-20mm long, 5-12mm in diam.
 

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Ariocarpus agavoides:.
 

• Ariocarpus agavoides
• Ariocarpus agavoides var. sanluisensis
• Ariocarpus agavoides forma mostruosa
• Ariocarpus agavoides "spiny form"

Heterotypic synonyms:
Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus ssp. agavoides

Origin: Mexico, The type locality is sited around the town of Tula, Tamaulipas. Two new colonies have been found recently in San Luis Potosi, disjunct from the original site.

Habitat: Grows on rocky limestone hills, and alluvial plains at about 1200 m, rainy season is summer. The wild populations have been threatened and nearly extinct by many factors including over-collecting, agriculture, building work, livestock, and erosion.

A Hypocotyl-graft  ( a sophisticated  grafting technique that guarantee a fast growth, long-livedness and an easy cultivation, in addition hypocotyl-grafted plants develop an attractive swollen caudex-like rootstock)
 

Cultivation: Grows in alluvial plain that becomes muddy in summer, so likes quite a lot of water then... but very prone to rot other times of the year, Moderate water in spring an autumn, no water in winter. Full sun, half shade.