Xerophyte

Habit

Plants forming clusters.

Description

Rebutia ritteriSN|25492]]SN|25492]] is an attractive dwarf cactus covered with characteristic with short spines and light green tubercles barely covering the body. It is a free-flowering species with fiery vermilion blooms. It is quite variable and has received numerous unnecessary names of no botanical value, representing no more than local phenotypes.

Flowers

Flowers produced halfway up the stems, curving upward,flame coloured to crimson, throats reddish violet, to 4 cm long and 4,5 cm in diameter. Tube narrow.

Blooming Season

Flowers all tend to come in one late Spring rush, rather than spread over the Summer, and remain open for up to six days.

Spines

8-10, erect, fine, needle-like, all more or less similar, whitish grey with dark tips and bases, to 1 cm long.

Ribs

Up to 18, forming distinct tubercles.

Stem

Roundish to slightly elongated, depressed at the top, grey-green, to 5 cm high and 3,5 cm in diameter covered by distinctive conical tubercles with hexagonal bases similar to a Mammillaria, that are easy to see through the small spines.

Fruits

Tiny, spherical, berrylike, brownish to olive green.

Areoles

Rather large, elliptical, brownish-tomentose.