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Description:
Body: solitary,
depressed rarely
offsetting, upper visible part flat to hemispherical,
up to about 5-6 cm
wide, up to about 2-3 cm high, dark grey-green - pale blue-green (brownish
when dried in the sun), Lower, not visible part ± short cylindrical,
narrowing at the base, densely covered with the old, dried up
tubercles.
Areole: on the tip of the
tubercle, with white,
felt composed of short
hairs, later becoming yellowish-brownish and ultimately becoming
bare. This felt is densest and longest lasting on the upper half of the
areole.
Root: thickened but not
turnip-like, which
branches greatly, however not forming an extensive
root system
Spines: 4-6 from the lower half of the areole,
bristle-like, piercing, not
paper-like; the lowest 2-3 mostly the shortest,
about 4-7 mm long; the
upper about 5-13 mm long; all spines, ± curved towards the apex and/or
diagonally to the sides, almost completely black or only top part black,
lower section whitish - pale grey, young spines partly horn coloured;
later becoming ± completely grey, easily removed from the Areole, often
as a whole bundle.
Flowers: from the
apex, wide,
funnel-shaped, about 13-22 mm wide,
on the outside pale
greenish-white, on the inside white-cream to very pale yellow, both sides
always with plain purple-reddish-brownish mid-stripe. Stamens
with glassy white
filaments and dark yellow
anthers curved towards the
style at full
anthesis.
Turbinicarpus swobodae is part of the
lophophoroides
aggregate of taxa, together with the following:
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