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This South American beauty has a green body
and nice white flowers with purple throat. |
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 Description: Solitary or slowly clustering,
Stem: 10-15 (25)cm in diameter, 10cm tall pale green that
can tinge of orangish purple in full sun. The
epidermis has a velvety appearance. The apex is slightly depressed and
woolly.
Ribs: 10 to 12 thick, divided into polygonal rounded
(not chinned) tubercles,
separated by arched furrows.
Roots: Fibrous
Areoles: Large oval 10x14mm, yellowish then blackish dismantling
with time.
Spines: Strong, bent, initially blackish with a brown base then becoming
grey-pinkish with black point. Radial spines 7-9 (5) up to 25mm long and
one or two central spines of the same length.
Flowers:
Infundibuliform near the apex, diameter and height 45-50mm.
Pericarpell dull green very short. External
tepals spatulate, slightly bent outward , white with brownish green
midrib. Inner tepals intern narrower, spatulate and slightly
denticulate, white with carmine_pink purplish throat. Style carmine with
carmine pink 10-12 lobes. Pollen yellow.
Fruit: Subspheric of approximately 2cm of diameter, becoming red
carmine with maturity. Pulp intense cherry-red.
Seeds: Microsemineum type, section pirisemineum, very small (0.6
X 0.4mm),
testa reddish shining and smooth.
Cultivation: Gymnocalycium are very gratifying plants, their culture
is easy and their flowering is abundant if we give them a well drained
relatively rich substrate (if possible not limestone)
Water regularly in summer (but do not overwater ) keep rather
dry in winter, need frequent repottings and a
very luminous exposure but avoid direct exposure to the sun rays. This
species is particularly easy and accommodating, seldom suffer of
cryptogamic diseases. Feed with a high potassium
fertilizer in summer.
Hardy as low as -5° C (or less)
if kept dry.
Propagation: Direct sow after
last frost or offsets. The grafting is useless
(excluded the cultivars deprived of chlorophyll), it does not bring
anything concrete
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
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Scientific name: Gymnocalycium pflanzii (Vaupel)
Werdermann 1935
Origin: South-east of Bolivia, North-West of Paraguay and
North of Argentina (Provinces of Salta and Jujuy)
Etymology: Named in the honour of K Pflanz.
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Synonyms:
- Gymnocalycium marquezii,
- Gymnocalycium milaresii,
- Gymnocalycium izozogsii,
- Gymnocalycium chuquisacanum,
- Gymnocalycium comaparense,
- Gymnocalycium riograndense,
- Gymnocalycium pflanzii var.
lagunillasense,
- Gymnocalycium lagunillasense,
- Echinocactus pflanzii,
- Gymnocalycium zegarrae
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Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and
cultivars of Gymnoclycium pflanzii:
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Cultivation
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