Xerophyte

Seeds

Black, egg to pear-shaped, 1 mm long with very small tubercles.

Description

Turbinicarpus pseudomacrocheleSN|12802]]SN|12802]] ssp. krainzianus is a small geophytic cactus with twisty relatively safe spines. It is at first solitary, but almostalways branches from the base in age. It has creamy-white or greenish-yellow flowers with yellow centres.

Roots

Deep napiform.

Note

this species is one of those turbinicarpus which pass a purely radial-spined youth stage in which they are already floriferous. Most of the plants after several years develop the long curled central spines, giving the plant its fuzzy appearance.

Tubercles

Rhomboidal at the base, tapering at the top, to 4 mm tall.

Flowers

Diurnal, apical up to 2 cm long, with about 12-16 narrow yellow cream or greenish yellow tepals, but other flower colour varieties exist. Ovaries green. Styles white, with 4 white stigma lobes. Anthers lying below the stigma, yellow.

Blooming Season

Summer.

Spines

Curved wiry 12-30 mm long, the uppermost the longest, flexible, not piercing, in new growth yellowish-brown later becoming grey with dark tips, dropping off from older areoles.

Ribs

About 11 spirally arranged.

Stem

Elongated up to 4 cm high, 8-12(-30) mm in diameter, dark green. This taxa seems to be fairly variable in body diameter and in most cases it has a thin transitional continuation to the thick tuberous root, up to 3-4 cm tall, 5-8 mm wide. Cultivated specimens also generally have a larger diameter than that shown in the description. Apex white wooled almost concealed by the spines.

Fruits

Spherical to oval, mostly from the top, 3-5 mm long, bare with remnants of dried flower. Green turning red at maturity, with persistent dried up flowers remains. They open split vertically when ripe and contains 20-25 seeds.

Areoles

On the apex of the tubercle, white woolly becoming bare with age.