Xerophyte

Habit

It is a geophyte stem succulent plant usually solitary and barely rising above ground level with a swollen underground root system.

Central Spines

Absent.

Description

Gymnocalycium triacanthumSN|14405]]SN|21403]] is a small single headed, flattened cactus, with peculiar grey bodies with short adpressed spines in clusters of three. It is one of the several species of the variable Gymnocalycium bodenbenderianumSN|21403]]SN|14405]] complex, however it is hard to tell it apart from the three spined "bodenbenderianum", and most authors choose to lump them together.

Flowers

Near the apex, white to pale pink, 3,5 to 6 cm long. Flower tube narrow with green scales tinged brown; outer tepals pale brownish-green; inner perianth-segments linear-lanceolate, white or pinkish. Throat reddish.

Blooming Season

Blooms appear recurrently from June to autumn. It flowers quite readily as a young seedling.

Ribs

11-15 low, rounded and slightly tuberculate, with tubercles separated by furrows.

Stem

Flat, disc-shaped, 2-3 cm tall and up to 8 cm in diameter, grey-green to dull brownish-green.

Radial Spines

usually 3, occasionally up to 5 or more, up to 10 millimetres long, sharp, stout, but not harmful, backward curved, blackish brown, becoming grey with age.

Fruits

Blue-green, ovoid, up to 2 cm long (or longer) and up to 1 cm in diameter.