Xerophyte

Central Spines

Missing.

Seeds

1.5 x 1.9 mm in size, testa papillae, glossy black.

Description

Discocactus silicicolaSN|33218]]SN|12052]] has been treated as belonging to Discocactus heptacanthus which is one of the most widespread and morphologically variable taxon. This species forms a cephalium when it reaches about 10-12 cm in diameter. The names D. silicicola is not accepted by many botanists that treat it as synonym, but it still has a value for a collector because they identify plants with particular characters.

Note

“silicicola” translates as "loving quartz" and means that this species grows exclusively in alluvial quartz sands.

Cephalium

About 25 mm wide (in cultivation up to70 mm) and 20 mm high composed of white-grey to light brown wool and up to 30 mm long brownish bristles.

Flowers

Funnel-shaped, 70 mm long and 35-40 mm wide, white.

Ribs

10, straight or in slight spirals, divided into tubercles up to 35 mm wide and 25 mm high.

Stem

Mostly single, but in cultivation older plants may produce several offsets, spherical flattened, up to 150 mm wide and 50 mm tall, dull grey-green or dark green, aften red-brown under stress condition; this pigmentation protects the plant from the sun, like tanning in humans.

Fruits

Club-shaped, up to 30 mm long and 6 mm wide, white to pinkish with dried remnants of its flower.

Areoles

Oval, up to 8 mm long and 5 mm wide with yellowish to greyish wool.Radial spines. 3-6, usually curved toward the stem, yellowish-white to greyish-brown, the lower the longest, up to 40 mm long and 2 mm thick, the other two pairs of spines nearly equal directed obliquely to the sides, the upper spines significantly shorter and weaker.