Xerophyte

Central Spines

Robust 1-4, acicular, subulate up to 8 cm long yellowish to reddish brown.

Description

Oreocereus celsianusSN|5952]]SN|5952]], or the "old man of the Andes" is a columnar, cactus growing in clumps that, in the wild, may reach and exceed 3 m of height (but usually less than 2 m tall). It is difficult to see the shape of the ribbed stem, as it is thickly clothed with silky white hairs.

Flowers

Diurnal, tubular or slightly funnel-shaped, slightly curved , pale purplish pink to dark red, 7-9 cm long and 3 cm in diameter. They appear laterally almost at the top of the plant and only after the plant is several years old. Floral tube covered by short scales and long white and black hairs. Outer tepals greenish brown, the inner ones mauve pink to dark red. Filaments red.

Blooming Season

Spring

Ribs

9-25 straight, about 1 centimeter tall, with just prominent rounded tubercles and green-grey to dark green epidermis.

Stem

Thick, erect, cylindrical up 8-12 cm in diameter, covered in a downy white hair, with greatest density at the tips of stems receding to near-bare at the base. The stems branch with time at the base, the new branches are either prostrate or ascending, erect above.

Radial Spines

7-9 up to 2 cm long.

Fruits

Globular, 3-5 cm in diameter dry, yellow that split open at the base with several black seeds.

Areoles

Large and white, oval, with white silky hair up to 5 cm long and densely spiny.