CactiGuide.com

Hi all,

I received a small cactus as a gift a few years ago, and I would love to know what species it is. My interest was recently peeked because I found what I am 99% certain was a cluster of mature cacti of the same species at a botanical garden, but unfortunately it wasn't labeled and none of the staff knew what it was. I know my cactus was originally purchased in a gift shop, so I suspect it is fairly common (unfortunately not on the Top 10 list though). Mine is roughly 6" tall; the mature plants grew up to around 3'. The shape is similar to a young Saguaro, but the spines are small, soft, and golden. There are roughly a dozen per cluster, with a slightly larger one in the center. The ridges with the spines are continuous for the whole height of the plant, and run vertically. Unfortunately, mine has not yet flowered, so I can't give any details on that front. Any help is appreciated!

My plant, sitting in the window.
Mature plants (foreground) of what appears to be the same species.

I'm not sure that your plant is the same species, but the in-ground plants in your photo are Neobuxbaumia polylopha.

Your plant is a Notocactus leninghausii, known these days as Parodia leninghausii. It is a different species from the one in the botanical garden.

They will often start to flower around that size. An inclined angle on the crown towards the light is normal for that species, so only turn it on a windowsill if the stem itself is leaning excessively towards the light, but preferably in that case give it a lighter place since turning plants from their natural orientation to the light can often inhibit flowering since nobody keeps turning them in habitat.

http://violapinnata.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... ge-jr.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always seems strange that though the crown is angled the stem still keeps growing straight up!

Thank you all! I'm glad my mix-up with the in-ground plant didn't throw things off, since I was apparently wrong about that. I'll take the advice about rotating it to heart; I had been doing that regularly to keep the stem vertical, but I will definitely dial back on that. I noticed in several of the photos that it appears in clusters - is this species one that will grow multiple stems if it has room?

Needs to usually be about 6-8 inches high before it produces offsets at the base.

Some pictures of it in habitat, often growing on vertical cliffs (click lower pictures for slide show)

http://www.cactusinhabitat.org/index.ph ... cie&id=149" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A little more light would help growing it more compact and with longer spines.

Jordi