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

F. recurvus v. greenwoodii (or whatever the synonym is)
is a beautiful plant. The young  spines have a great looking red.
 

Description: Ball-shaped or flat-topped barrel cactus.
Stem: Flattened to spherical (in cultivation), diameter up to 16 cm, 10 cm tall.
Ribs: ± 13, sharp areoles, large with grey to blackish felt.
Radial spines: 4-5, translucent, cream-yellow up to 2,5 cm long, straight spreading out the central spines, they have almost no width at all.
Central spines: 1, thick apically bent downward, amber-coloured to grey-red (bright red when very young), up to 4cm long.
Flowers: Beautiful “glassy” straw-yellow, up to 6 cm long and 3 cm broad.
Blooming time: Late autumn to early winter but usually only if the weather is warm and sunny ( need a fair amount of bright sunlight to form) This species blooms very early, many young plants will bloom when they reach 10 cm in diameter.
 

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Common names: Devil's Tongue Barrel, Crow's Claw Cactus, Candy cactus

Origin: Origin: Oaxaca, between the cities of Oaxaca and Tehuantepec in the valleys of Totolapan and Nejapa

Synonyms:

• Cactus latispinus Haw. 1824
• Ferocactus latispinus ssp. spiralis (Karwinski ex Pfeiffer) N.P. Taylor,
  Cactaceae Consensus Initiatives, 5: 13: 1998
• Ferocactus latispinus v. flavispinus (Haage) Backeberg & F. M. Knuth,  Kaktus-ABC 352., 1935
• Ferocactus latispinus v. latispinus (C. F. Forst.) Backeberg & F. M. Knuth,  Kaktus-ABC 352., 1935
• Ferocactus latispinus v. recurvus (Mill.) Lodé, Cact.
  Aventures, cf. Repert. Pl. Succ. (I. O. S.), 27: 29, without basionym ref; 46: 10 (1995 publ. 1996): 1995
• Ferocactus latispinus v. greenwoodii (C. Glass) N.P. Taylor,
  Bradleya, 2: 27: 1984
• Melocactus latispinus
• Mammillaria latispina
• Cactus recurvus Mill. (Nom illeg.) 1768
• Ferocactus recurvus (Mill.) Borg,
  Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas: 299: 1992
• Ferocactus recurvus f. flavispinus (Haage ex C.F. Foerst.) G. Unger,
  Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas 316, 1992
• Ferocactus recurvus f. spiralis (Karwinski ex Pfeiffer) G. Unger,
  Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas 294, 1992
• Ferocactus recurvus v. greenwoodii (C. Glass) G. Unger,
  Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas 229, 1992
• Ferocactus recurvus v. latispinus (Haworth) G. Unger,
  Die grossen Kugelkakteen Nordamerikas 302, 1992Bisnaga recurva subsp. latispina (Haw.) Doweld 1999
• Cactus nobilis L. (Nom illeg.) 1771
• Ferocactus nobilis (L..) Britton & Rose 1922
• Echinocactus nobilis
• Echinocactus cornigerus DC. 1838
• Bisnaga cornigera (DC.) Orcutt 1926
• Ferocactus cylindraceus v. greenwoodiae (Glass) N.P. Taylor, Bradleya 2: 27., 1984

Cultivation: Slow growing to start but does well under cultivation.  Use very draining soil, water during the aestival growth cycle (this plant need plenty of water) But needs to be avoided  wetting the bodies of these plants while they are in sunlight. A wet cactus in the sun light can cause sun burning which can lead to scares or even fungal infections and death.
Needs full sun. Keep dry at 10°C in winter, but can tolerate sporadic light frost.

Reproduction: Seeds are the only way of reproducing.

USE: The "Candy cactus" is used to make sweets. The middle is cored out and soaked in sugar, then chopped up and eaten.

Attention: The spines that hook around can graph you if you get too close.

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms and cultivars of F. latispinus.
 

• F. latispinus   
• F. latispinus v. flavispinus  
• F. latispinus v. flavispinus forma cristata  
• F. recurvus v greenwoodii ( = latispinus)

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