Xerophyte

Central Spines

1 ascending, curved, about 1,5 (rarely to 2,4) cm long, white, creamy-white to brownish, becoming grey or whitish.

Seeds

1 mm.

Description

Melocactus matanzanusSN|17767]]SN|1964]] is one of the smallest and most popular species that produce its cephalium (the structure, where the flower buds will form) and flower when quite young. It is perhaps the best and more commonly grown species. Plants of this genus attract more attention in collections than those of any other cactus genera.

Cephalium

Cap-like, globose to shortly cylindrical, (hence the common name of "Turk's Cap") 4-6 cm in diameter, 5-9 cm tall covered by tightly peaked areoles that bear wool and dense orange-red bristles.

Flowers

Small, rose pink to carmine, about 2 cm long, similar in form to Mammillaria flowers. They do not emerge fully from the cephalium.

Ribs

8-9 (rarely up to13) acute.

Stem

Spherical or slightly depressed, pale green, 8-9 cm high, and 8 to 9 cm thick. When the plant has reached a certain age it shows at the growing tip a cephalium .

Fruits

Clavate berry, 1 to 2 cm long pink to lilac-pink. Ripened fruits are present on the cephalium.

Habit

It is a single stemmed perennial succulent plant with determinate growth (in which the axis does not continue to elongate indefinitely being limited by the development of the cephalium).

Blooming Season

The flowers arise annually in mid summer from the cephalium in a ring. The flowers are diurnal and opens for a few hours at about lunchtime. It starts flowering in 4 to 5 years.

Radial Spines

(5-)7-8(-9), recurved, up to 2 cm long, but usually less than 1,5 cm long.

Areoles

About 8 mm apart.