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Gymnocalycium spegazzinii .
It is considered by many the most
beautiful and charming species
in the whole large genus Gymnocalycium.
Description: Solitary
Stem: Noticeably flatten brownish-grey to amost black up to 18 cm
(or more) in diameter, 10 cm tall in cultivation (in nature it is
partially underground). Apex depressed an wolly. Will not
offset.
Ribs: 10-33 evenly subdivided in confluent tubercle, not chinned.
Transversal grooves rudimentary or absent.
Areoles:
Elongate 8-10 x 4-6 mm yellowish o greyish.
Central spine: Absent.
Radial spines: 5-7(-9) strong, flattened 25-55 mm long, typically
recurved, and
add-pressed against the body and most attractive, the
young spines are yellowish or blackish and become brownish-grey as they
ages.
Flowers: Infundibuliform on the plant apex 70 mm long, 50 mm in
diameter. Outer tepals spatulated whitish or pinkish with a glaucous
green midrib. Inner tepals smaller, lanceolated white with a pink midrib
and basally crimson coloured. Filament crimson, anthers pale-yellow,
style white to pink, stigma with 10-16 white lobes.
Blooming season:
Flowers are produced in late spring and remain open for up to twelve
days.
Fruit: Elonged up to 35 mm long, green covered with bluish pruine.
Seed: Of the microsemineum type +/- 0.9mm.
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Family:
Cactaceae (Cactus
Family)
Scientific name:
Gymnocalycium spegazzinii
Britton & Rose
Pubblished in: The Cactaceae; descriptions and
illustrations of plants of the cactus family 3: 155, 1922
Etymology: Named after Carlos Luis Spegazzini, Italian
mycologist and botanist established in Argentina.
Origin: North Argentina on hight altitude (from south-west
of Salta to North-east of Catamarca, north-west of Tucuman and Cordoba)
and in Bolivia
Habitat: Grows among scrubs of
Trichocereus terschekii and sometimes of Cleistocactus sp. predominantly
on plain ‘meadows’ rather than slopes, though without a trace of grass.
In rather rich and water-absorbing soils.
Conservation status: Listed in
CITES appendix 2.
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Synonyms:
- Gymnocalycium armatum
- Gymnocalycium loricatum
- Gymnocalycium horizonthalonium
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Cultivation: Keep this plant almost dry in winter at a minimum
temperature of 0°C, prefer a
low pH
compost otherwise
growth will stop altogether. The plant tolerate
extremely bright situations but enjoy some shade during
the hottest part of the day in summer.
Propagation: Seeds (seldom produces offsets)
Seed
Collecting: Permit
fruit to
ripen, fruit must be significantly
overripe before harvesting seed; clean and dry seeds
Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of
Gymnocalycium spegazzinii.
(This
Taxon shows a great degree of variation in
stem and spines colouration, and also in size depending on the site of
origin.)
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