Xerophyte

Central Spines

0-1 straight, more or less pointing upwards, apex pinkish-brownish, sometimes grey with a brown tip, 14 mm long.

Seeds

Bell shaped, c. 1 mm, light brown to black, finely roughened.

Description

Parodia erinaceaSN|20203]]SN|20203]] is a simple, flattened-globular to short-cylindrical cactus, very woolly at top, the ribs are obtuse, strongly undulate with areoles in the depressions on ribs. The central spine is not much longer than the radials. The flowers are yellow broad when fully open with bright red stigma-lobes. It is a widespread and morphologically variable taxon. The young plants generally are very different from the more woolly, older individuals.

Phenology

The flowers appear in summer, open in the late morning and close early in the afternoon, they are self-fertile. The fruits appear about after 4 months, or more commonly the year after fertilization.

Flowers

Glossy yellow, 3-5 cm long, 4-7 cm in diameter, broad when fully open, borne singly or 2-3 arising together from the stem apex. Pericarpels and floral tubes short, partly immersed in the densely wool stem apex. covered by dense brownish to almost black wool and narrow, rather pointed, green scales, darker at the tip, each with a brown bristle. Inner perianth segments straw yellow, silky, extremely glossy, spreading, oblong to spatulate, acute, often serrate above. Outer perianth segments heart-shaped, reddish at the edges, with dark curved tips, mostly bent outwards. Stamens bright yellow with whitish yellow anthers. Stigma-lobes approximately 10 bright red.

Spines

Awl shaped, straight to strongly curved, whitish, yellowish, grey or brown, subulate, 10-20 mm long.

Ribs

12-15, in age 23-30, obtuse, sharply acute and distinct. Often oblique or undulate, transversally furrowed with increasing age, laterally compressed and thickened at the areoles.

Stem

Plants solitary, light to dark green with a very woolly stem tip in older plants (often referred as pseudocephalium), depressed globose to globose (the largest part above-ground), or in age short cylindrical, to 15(-20) cm high, 6-30 cm in diameter.

Radial Spines

Spines 2-12, mostly 8, flattened against the stem surface, 3 of which smaller, fine, bristles-like, pointing upwards like the central spine. The remaining five stronger, 10-14 mm long, two of them paired on the sides, and the last median one, somewhat smaller, pointing downwards, but neither bent nor adpressed to the body.

Fruits

Elongating when ripe, club shaped, at first greenish with sticky pulp and completely hidden in the woolly stem apex, later when mature pink or reddish, partly naked, dry and hollow, 5-7 mm thick, 2-3(-4) cm long, contain approximately 70-150 seeds..

Areoles

About 10 mm apart, born in the depressions on the notches on ribs, when young, covered by tufts of dirty white wool, up to 2 cm long which is only lost in age.