Cintia knizei
 

Cintia knizei is a very rare small alpine cactus native to the high Andes of Bolivia.
 

Morphology (Identifying Characteristics): Habit:   It is a solitary dwarf, flat to globose cactus (in the wild), that become cylindrical when it is grafted.
Stem:  Globose up to 5 cm in diameter; covered with large rounded podaria. The colour can vary from olive-green to purple to brown, depending on the time in the growing season and the amount of sun and water, woolly apex. The base becomes corky with age.
Areoles : The areoles are sunken between the podaria, and are woolly.
Spines: 5-6 short spines only occur on juvenile areoles; adult plants and pericarpel are spineless.
Roots: Deep, tuberous, carrot-like, up to 10 cm long.
Flower: Diurnal, yellow  3-4 cm in diameter on the stem tip, they resemble those of a Copiapoa.
Fruit: Elonged, dry with a thin pericarp, that remain for a long time incorporated within the stem.
Seeds: Black 1,2 mm long 0,7 mm large, the surface is convex and smooth.
Phenology: Blossoming:  in spring.
 

Cultivation: On a graft the plants are easier to grow, but the body splits if over-watered (especially in spring).
 

5-6 short spines only occur on juvenile areoles.

Photo by Yannick Gregorn (Slovenia)
 

A young specimen ( Height less than 2 cm)

Taxonomy: This plant was discovered by the well known Czech collector of cacti Karel Kniže in 1969, but not formally described until 1996, by Jan Řiha.
Since the plant was different to all the known species, Dr. Jan Řiha and Karel Kniže established a new genus and named it Cintia, after the province where the plant was discovered.
The genus Cintia comprises only one species validly described (Kniže mentions three, but only one has been described). This species was first distributed by Kniže as Cintia napina n.n., but when it was finally published it was named Cintia knizei.
The other name Knize used was Cintia subterranea while a third was refereed to as Cintia species nova. They all look the same. They also produce the same type of flowers and even flower at the same time.
The small yellow flowers develop extremely fast. It is close related with Neowerdermannia.

Basionym: Cintia knizei

Synonyms:

• Copiapoa knizei (Riha) Halda 1998
• Rebutia cintia (Riha) Hjertson 2003
  Published in: Cactaceae Systematics Initiatives, 15: 10 (april 2003).
• Cintia lecoriensis n.n.
• Cintia napina n.n.
• Cintia subterranea n.n.

Distribution: High Bolivian Andes at 2800-4000 of elevation.
The first plants where found at Cinti near Otavi, Potosi department in Bolivia.

Habitat: Alpine, with great temperature variation.

Etymology:
The genus name name "Cintia" is named after the town of  "Cinti" near Otavi, Potosi in Bolivia, land of origin of this plant.
The species name "knizei" is named after the plants discoverer "Karel Knize" who discovered this plant.
 

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2.
 

Basal tubercles become corky with age.