Xerophyte

Central Spines

4-partite yellowish or reddish (N. ferrugineus) acicular, sharp and flexible up to 15 mm long, the lowest of them longer and pointing downward.

Seeds

With distinctive longitudinally-oriented fine striate cuticular sculpturing.

Description

Notocactus werdermannianus is a (usually) simple stemmed small cactus with bright yellow flowers. This species shares some characteristics with wigginsia

Note

The "forma mostruosa" (Monstous form) is a rare oddity with areoles merging to form concentric lines. The epidermis is harder than in the normal Notocactus and cracks easily, but this is not a defect and the plant will not suffer for this, and also the fact that the body splits open permits to the plant to develop original and strange shapes.

Flowers

About 6 cm long, up to 7 cm in diameter, pale yellow and satiny. Tepals lanceolate darker at the tip, style quite long rich egg-yellow coloured, stigma lobes10-12 carmine red.

Ribs

up to 40, vertical, straight rounded with many small tubercles.

Stem

Globular to slightly cylindrical, often flattened up to 13 cm tall and 10 cm in diameter, yellowish-green to green.

Radial Spines

About 15-20, setaceous, more or less erected, whitish or yellowish 4-5 mm long.

Areoles

White, wooly and closely set one to each other.