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.

Thelocactus buekii (La Escondida, Nuevo León)
Flat reddish stem with  bright purple flowers in early summer.

Description: Solitary , depressed to globose.
Stem: Flat with indistinct  ribs and completely divided into broad tubercles, glaucous green to dark brown or magenta, 5-22 cm tall,11-16 in diameter ; tubercles 1.5-2.5 cm long;
Spines: 3 to 7 grey to reddish central vertical spines, up to 2 cm; 7 to 12 radials.
Root system: Fat underground tap root.
Flowers: Bright purple diurnal , up to 8 cm wide, in early summer.


T. buekii and matudae are sharply distinguished from T. tulensis, for the different seed micro-morphology.

  •  buekii (Typical) short tubercles, few spines and small stem
  •  matudae longer tubercles, higher spine number and the larger flowers.
  •   jarmilae smaller size and flowers.
  •  santaclarensis with rose flowers.

Cultivation: Easy to cultivate. Water moderately from Spring to Autumn. Keep dry in winter, can tolerate frequent moderate frost, above approx -7C,  Sun Summer grower needs full sun exposures.

Reproduction: Nearly always from seed, since the plant rarely produces plantlets.
 

Photo of conspecific taxa, varieties, forms an cultivars of plants belonging to the  Thelocactus bueckii/matudae/tulensis complex:
Note: The different  variety of this Taxon are not clearly differentiated and intermediate/intergrading form are also present in habitat.

• T. buekii
• T. tulensis var. matudae forma variegata (buekii)

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Scientific name:  Thelocactus buekii (=bueckii) (Klein) Britton & Rose
Published in:  Cact. 4: 8 (1923).

Origin:  Mexico (Nuevo León) at 800 to 1000 m elevation.

Habitat: Matorral xerofilo on limestone and, rarely, gypsum hills.

Conservation status: Listed in CITES appendix 2.

• Echinocactus buekii Klein ('buckii'),
  Published in: Gartenflora 8: 257 (1859).
• Thelocactus tulensis var. buekii (Klein) E.F. Anderson, Bradleya 5: 65 (1987).
• Thelocactus tulensis ssp. buekii (Klein) N.P. Taylor, CCI 5:14 (1998).
• Thelocactus buekii ssp. jarmilae Halda & Horacek, Acta Mus. Richnov. Sect. natur. 7: 38 (2000).
• Thelocactus matudae Sanchez-Mej. & Lau, Cact. Suc. Mex. 23: 51-52 (1978).
• Thelocactus buekii var. matudae (Sanchez-Mej. & Lau) E.F. Anderson, Bradleya 5: 66 (1987).
• Thelocactus tulensis ssp. matudae (Sanchez-Mej. & Lau) N.P. Taylor, CCI 5: 14 (1998).
• Thelocactus buekii ssp. matudae (Sanchez-Mej. & Lau) Mosco & Zanovello, Bradleya 18: 62 (2000).
• Thelocactus santaclarensis Halda, Kupcak & Sladkovsky, Acta Mus. Richnov. Sect. natur. 7: 39 (2000).

Grey to reddish vertical spines.

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.