Xerophyte

Central Spines

1-4, subulate, nearly 2,5 cm long, stout, typically rusty red or horn coloured, but ranging from pale-yellow to dark-brown, becoming grey as the age, sometime with black tips, all curved upwards, base swollen.

Seeds

Dull black.

Description

Eriosyce bulbocalyxSN|1818]]SN|1818]] is a solitary globular cactus with unique and remarkably beautiful shape. The apex is characteristically covered with very thick, incurved, rust-coloured spines.

Note

Specimens from natural habitats generally have a thicker spination and a thicker epidermal layer.

Flowers

Subapical, from the centre of the plant, urn-shaped, 2,5-5 cm in diameter, straw coloured, yellow or green yellow with red throat. Scales with dense wool and several bristles.

Chromosome Number

2n = 22.

Ribs

12-13(-17), swollen beneath the areoles.

Stem

Globose to sub-globose or short-cylindrical as it becomes old, grey green, up to 12 cm in diameter, eventually up to 50 cm tall.

Radial Spines

7 to 12 about 1,5-2 cm long, similar to the centrals or paler.

Fruits

Small, almost spherical, dry, green often disintegrating at maturity.

Areoles

Conspicuous, oval, woolly and hairy when young (with yellowish felt), later naked.