All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.

Pediocactus peeblesianus f. menzelii 
(Syn: Navajoa peeblesiana)

Pediocactus peeblesianus forma menzelii 
RP 116 South-West of Grand Canyon, Hualapai Hiltop Area, Coconino County, Arizona, USA
 

Pediocactus peeblesianus forma menzelii 
RP117 South-West of Grand Canyon, Coconino County, USA.

4 years old seedlings

.

Advertising

Scientific name:  Pediocactus peeblesianus Croizat fa. menzelii (Hochstätter) M. Hajek. comb. nov. 2000

Basionym: Navajoa peeblesiana f. menzelii Hochstätter
Published in: Cactaceae-Review 2 (2): 10-11. 1999.

Origin:  USA (northern Arizona), 1500-1650 m elevation.

Habitat: Grows in well drained gravelly soils of alkaline desert scrub and desert grasslands; 1200-1650 m; The plant retracts in the soil during dry weather. Although the area this cactus is coming from is very dry, it has a rainy season in winter and one in late summer, as is typical in Arizona.

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix I

Common Name: Cataract Creek Cactus, Menzel´s Cactus

Synonyms:  

• Navajoa peeblesiana Croizat var. menzelii (Hochstätter) Hochstätter
• Pediocactus peeblesianus (Croizat) L.D. Benson
  Published in: Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles). 34: 58. 1962.
• Navajoa peeblesiana Croizat
  Published in: Cact. Succ. J. (Los Angeles) 15: 89, fig. 42. 1943.
• Utahia peeblesianas (Croizat) Kladiwa
• Echinocactus peeblesianus
• Toumeya peeblesiana

Description: Pediocactus peeblesianus var. menzelii is a small, generally solitary (or with a very few branches) cactus.
Stem: Stems grey-green, obovoid, or depressed-globose up to 2,5(6) cm tall and averaging 1.5(5) cm in diameter.
Areoles: Areoles circular, woolly.
Spines: Usually radial and central (rarely all radial) soft corky or spongy, harder at tips, white to pale grey and sometimes 0-1 intermediate spines per areole
Radial spines: Usually 4 (o more) that form a twisted cross, 3-7 long.
Intermediate spines: Curved upward, 8-21 long,
Central spines: Usually 1 per areole, there are no central spines in young specimens, a stouter spongy and flexible central spine will appears in older plants this spine is straight to strongly curved 5-18 × 1 mm.
Flowers: Yellow to yellow green up to 2.5 cm in diameter, often larger than and hiding the smaller plant body below. Scales and outer tepals minutely toothed or denticulate or entire and undulate; outer tepals with brown-purple midstripes, oblanceolate 1-1.4 × 1.5-2.5 cm;, 5-13 × 2-4.5 mm; inner tepals cream, yellow, or yellowish green, lanceolate, 6-12(-15) mm. They are not self-fertile.
Flowering season: Spring.
Fruit: Dry, , turbinate, 6-11 × 5-8 mm turning tan at maturity, dehiscing by both a dorsal slit and by a ring around the circumscissile apex.
Seeds: Dark brown to black, 3 × 2 mm, papillate and rugose.
 

Cultivation: Rot prone and difficult to grow on it's own roots in cultivation need a soil soil with little organic or no material. This species is better and easier if grafted. It needs regular water in late winter, early spring (the short main growing season), and also in Autumn.

Propagation: Seeds, grafting.
Temperature for optimum germination: night minimum approx 17 day maximum to near 40 C at any time of year with proper temperatures and daylength (ca.13-14 hours); it is possible to extend day-length with artificial lights. Anyway the seeds germinate slowly with difficulty and a low rate of success (But germiation is comparatively  easy if compared with other Pediocactus and Sclerocactus species  and often new seedling cluster spontaneously around the plant every year), scarification and stratification help, alternate freeze and thaw both wet and dry, but don’t keep wet, alternate wet and dry with changing temperature.
Germination can take several years so keep pot and try again next year. Seedlings do not do well either, and some die each year,  for this reason plants are commonly grafted on hardy stocks like Opuntia compressa in this case they are easy to grow and no special skill is required.

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of Pediocactus peeblesianus:

• P. peeblesianus var. fickeisenii
• P. peeblesianus var. fickeisenii forma cristata
• P. peeblesianus forma Menzelii

All the information and photos in cactus art files are now available also in the new the Enciclopedia of Cacti. We hope you find this new site informative and useful.